Kenneth Copeland - Expect God To Fulfill His Promises
— Would you join me again today in welcoming Jerry Savelle to this broadcast? Jerry, this has been a dynamite two weeks. I just have, I'm telling you.
— We've got some fun, haven't we?
— Oh, it's just so rich and so good. And I'm reminded again, like we were talking about yesterday, that the path, the light of the righteous just keeps getting brighter and brighter. Amen.
— It does.
— And by seeing that, and seeing that, the brighter it gets, the more you see. And whatever you see in the Spirit, you can have it.
— That's right.
— Amen.
— That's right. Praise God. We've talked about the blessed life, we've talked about the good life, we've talked about the privileged life, which are all one and the same, what God designed for us. But I think on today's broadcast, we ought to go into Isaiah chapter 54, and here it talks about the winning life. Praise God. Hallelujah.
— All right.
— And I think that's something that the body of Christ needs to become more aware of perhaps than at any other time, because there's a lot of things going on in our world today. A lot of chaos, a lot of trouble out there, and people are hurting and suffering, and a lot of people don't know where to turn. A lot of people have given up, and caved in, and thrown in the towel, and they don't have to. God's people don't have to give up. No matter what Satan throws our way, thank God we have this promise from God. Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord". Now, the Amplified Bible says, "Triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord". Triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That says that it is my covenant right to be triumphant, that I never have to settle for win a few, lose a few, that it is my covenant right that I'm triumphant always. Hallelujah. Now, here's the reason why. You know, just like I just did, I started Isaiah 54:17. Most people do. Let's back up to verse 16. I love this. This is God speaking. "Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work. I have created the waster to destroy". Now, if you don't go study the rest of the Bible, it sounds like that God is saying, I'm the one who created the devil for the purpose of bringing destruction.
— Yeah, and that's not accurate.
— But that's not what he's saying. That's not what he's saying at all. God did create Lucifer. He wasn't known as the devil or Satan. When he created Lucifer, He was an anointed cherub. In his original state, he was the anointed cherub. He held a high-ranking position in the kingdom of God in heaven. But the Bible said pride was found in him and that he decided that he wanted to exalt himself above the Most High God. And he led one-third of the angelic host against the throne of God. And when he did that, attempting to overthrow God, he learned firsthand why God's called Most High.
— Yeah, he did.
— Yeah. And God kicked him out of heaven. And from that point, he became that old dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan. Now, here's what God's actually saying. I am the one who created Lucifer. He became Satan, the destroyer. God's not saying, I created him for the purpose of destruction.
— No, because it said in the day that he was created, he was perfect.
— That's right.
— And iniquity was found in him.
— That's right.
— So he wasn't a destroyer when he was created.
— Satan became a destroyer by choice.
— Yes, he did.
— All right, trying to exalt. He wanted to be higher than the Most High God. But you don't get any higher than the Most High God. There's no such thing as most or high. Most high is as high as it gets. Then he became the destroyer. And I believe this is what God is saying. You got to read verse 16, then verse 17 becomes even more powerful. I believe what God is saying is this. I created Lucifer. He became Satan, the destroyer. And since I'm the One who created him, I take full responsibility for his actions. And I promise you, nothing he attempts to do against you will prosper.
— So none of these weapons will work.
— None of them will work. I'll see to it, praise God.
— Hey, that flows right in with the third chapter of the book of Malachi. When he promised to the tither, you prove me in this. I will rebuke the devourer for your sake.
— Right, praise God.
— I created him. I'll handle him. You just believe me. Isn't that good?
— Isn't that a good life when you know no matter what the devil tries to do, I'm covered by God.
— Yes, sir.
— That's a good life, man. That's a privileged life. That's a blessed life.
— It is.
— No weapon. And then I love that Amplified version that says, "Triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord". It's as much my right to live in total victory as it is my right to be saved and go to heaven.
— You're supposed to.
— That's right.
— I'm supposed to be blessed. I'm supposed to be in victory. Thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumph. So that's the same thing in the New Testament. They match right there, don't they?
— They do.
— God promised it here. Jesus bought and paid for it with His blood.
— And Paul picks up on it and says, "Thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph". Now, the religious mind will say, there's no way you can win all the time. There's no way that you can live in total victory. Well, that person needs to go argue with God because he seems to think you can. Amen. You know, when I first started Little League Baseball, I played baseball all my young life. And I'll never forget the first Little League team I went out for. Man, we practiced for weeks and weeks. Then we had our first game. And the coach lined us all up out there on the ball field, getting ready to play our first game. Man, we were excited. Bunch of little boys. Man, we got our uniforms. We are ready to play. And that coach walks up there, lines us all up and says, "Now, boys, it's not whether we win or lose today. It's how we play the game that counts". I think I was seven years old. And I thought that's the dumbest thing I ever heard. And it's still the dumbest thing. I thought, well, if it doesn't matter whether we win or lose, why'd we do all that practicing for? Why didn't we just all show up? Nobody know each other. Nobody know their position. If it doesn't matter whether we lose or not, why do we practice? Well, it mattered to me. I went to the extent of showing up every day to practice. Losing is not fun. It mattered to me whether we won or lost. Championships are one... You go to championships if you win. You know, ask the lady who's been told that her little child is dying of some incurable disease. Ask her if winning or losing matters.
— Now, that same principle is applied to that situation by carnal-minded preachers and that whole religious mindset. Well, you know, we win some, we lose some, and we never know. You just never know. You just never know how these things turn out. But one thing we know, and da-da-da-da-da. It's all on that equalizing of the curse and the blessing. And that ain't right. Because Jesus has given us victory over death. He has given us the triumph in life. You play the game right, you win.
— That's right. Well, I discovered this about baseball. Why do teams lose? Errors. They didn't play the game right. If you get those errors corrected, then you're going to win. And it's likely you'll win every time. That's the reason they call it errors, because you didn't play the game right.
— That's right. You didn't play it right.
— Well, praise God. This is our manual for playing the game right.
— Boy, you play this one right, and I'm telling you, and you come to a place in His favor that when you make an error, He says, "Hey, don't sweat it, kid. I'm right behind you".
— I love the fact that He's the umpire, too.
— Oh, yeah.
— And you get more than three strikes. I get to bat until I hit one.
— My Father's the umpire of this game.
— That's right. Praise God. I love what the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8. He says that if God be for us, then who can be against us? That's Romans 8:31. And the Message translation says, "How can we lose? How can we lose when God is for us and not against us"? Now, tie that in. Go back to Isaiah 54 and start in Verse 9 because I know God gave you some great revelation there.
— Oh, I'm telling you.
— He's for us, not against us.
— In that 8th verse, he said, "In a little wrath, I hid my face from you for a moment". Now, when did that happen? In the 53rd chapter. That when Jesus took upon Himself sin, sickness, fear, the whole curse, that was that little moment. But with everlasting kindness. Now, Jerry, this is a covenant word. It has to do with the Hebrew word is "hesed". It has to do with that covenant attitude. It is as if when I'm for you, everybody else better watch out because I'm covenanted to you, little brother. An enemy comes against you one way, I'll see that he runs seven. That's what God told Abraham. And he said this, "With everlasting covenant kindness will I have mercy on you, saith the Lord, your Redeemer". So now who's talking here? The Redeemer. Hey, your Redeemer's talking. Listen up. This is as the waters of Noah unto me. Let me ask you something. Is there ever going to be destruction of the earth again by water?
— Never.
— Never. It ain't going to happen. You stop nearly any Christian on the street and ask him that question. If they don't know anything else, they know about that. Oh no, man...
— And they know that's what that rainbow's about.
— That's what that rainbow's for. And that's a covenant promise, wasn't it? He put the bow in the sky to remind you this ain't never happening again. But, oh, Jerry, oh, Lord, listen to what he said. "This is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed. But my covenant grace shall not depart from you, and neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on you". God, I preach me happy, man. Glory to God.
— Yeah. That means that God will never be mad at us again.
— Not again.
— Never.
— I don't care how bad you fouled it up, you don't come to Him and Him say, "I ain't having nothing to do with you. You jerk. Look what you did yesterday". Never. Never, never, never, never, never. It ain't going to happen any more than the flood of water is going to destroy this earth. He swore it. You come to Him and you say, "Oh, Jesus. Oh, Lord, I missed it. Oh, God". He said, "Okay. All right. I forgive you. I cleanse you from all unrighteousness".
— Oh, but Lord, you don't know what I did. He don't know what you did? Hey, when you confessed that sin wasn't when He found out about it.
— That's right.
— And He's not mad about it. Why? He's already dealt with it.
— Everlasting kindness.
— Everlasting. You'll never going to come to Him. And He's got a mad on His face. He just said, "Come here, baby. Now, I know you fouled it up".
— Yeah, but you know, I mean, I killed my best dog, man. Look what I did. Oh, no, no. No, uh-uh. No, no, no. The scripture said, "He's faithful and He's just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness". So on that, if He cleansed me, when? When I confess that. If He cleansed me of from all unrighteousness, what's left? Righteousness. All that's left is righteousness. And He said, "Hey, baby, come here. Come in now. Let Daddy talk to you a minute". Oh, Jerry.
— Isn't that good?
— Oh, I tell you, it's so rich.
— They were trying to tell people, well, you don't qualify for this blessed life they're talking about. You don't qualify to live this good life He's talking about. Oh, yes, you do.
— Yes, sir.
— All you got to do is make Jesus Lord of your life. And you qualify just as much as Kenneth Copeland or Jerry Savelle. I don't care what you've done.
— He'll hear you just as quick.
— That's right.
— Jesus said, "Anyone comes unto me, I will for no reason cast him out". I was preaching in maximum security prison one time. And there was an old boy sitting right in front of me. We were in the prison chapel. And he was just as close as me to the edge of that table there. And I'm telling you, I got into some of this right here. And Jerry, he couldn't take any longer. He jumped and he screamed. You'd have thought somebody stuck him in. He jumped and he screamed. He went to running around this room. Ah! Whoa, God. And he about three turns around the room and fell right in front of me. He said, "Oh, Brother Copeland, Brother Copeland, put your hands on me. Put your hands on me". I laid my hands on him. Oh, Jesus. He's just going. And he said, "Oh, I'm going to preach this gospel, Brother". He said, "I want to preach this". Well, I was talking to the chaplain after he kind of got settled down, and they got him back in his seat there. I said, "Tell me about him". I said, "You know, how much, how much time is he doing"? He said, "700 years".
— 700 years.
— So I didn't need to ask any questions. He'd been ugly somewhere that long. But see, I mean, God bless that old boy. I mean, the Word got in him. Why? He ain't the man that did the crime.
— That old man died.
— That old man died. And he got a revelation of the fact that God wasn't mad at him. God wasn't holding it against him. Now, whether God does a miracle and gets him out of prison, which has been done before.
— Yes, it's been done.
— Or, if he preaches in that prison the rest of his life, God sees it as a job well done.
— I had an old boy in my Bible school one time, spent 21 years in prison, most of it in the hole. And God got him out, and he graduated from my Bible school and went to preach the gospel all over the world. Praise God.
— Isn't that a marvelous thing?
— And he was in for life. And God got him out, 21 years. He had a group of Christians come through there witnessing. And this one lady, you know who I'm talking about, Bear and Dove Morgan.
— Yes, I do.
— And old Bear, they called him Mad Dog when he was in prison, you know. And Dove come in there witnessing with a bunch of church people, you know. And the Lord pointed Bear out and said, "There's your future husband". And, I mean, this guy's bad. He's mean. I mean, he's in for life. And she got him led to the Lord, you know. God supernaturally got him out of there. And the first thing they did was come to my Bible schools. Graduated there, went to preaching all over the place. Praise God.
— Well, you remember, he came in, in a morning service of the motorcycle rally that we were having here on the property. And he walked in there that morning. I was speaking at the morning service that morning. This was one of the first rallies we had. And we still had the meeting set up out there in front of that small hangar before we had the big one. And they'd set this flatbed trailer up out there. And I was just about to walk up the steps on it to be able to preach. And he and Dove walked in. Well, I didn't know who they were. And he walked over to me. I mean, he was just zero in on me. And he said, "I just got out. I just did", what was it, 21 years?
— 21 years.
— "I just did 21 years. I came straight here". And he had this pendant that he had made for me. And he said, "I come to bring this to you because I want you to know how much I love God". And he put that on me. And he just started crying. He was a bear old man. And he just, old bear, so tender. He just couldn't. Oh, God, here he went. Oh, man. And then here I went. Oh, you know.
— One day at the Bible school, the Lord told me to give him a brand-new Harley I just bought. And I'd just been blessed with. I didn't have, I don't think, 500 miles on it. And so I told my director at the school, I said, "Have everybody out in the parking lot when I pull up there". And I rode that brand-new Heritage Softtail Classic in there. And I said, "I've been teaching you guys about faith, about seed time and harvest. Now I'm going to demonstrate it". And I said, "Bear and Dove, come up here". I said, "I'm giving you this bike, and I want you to use it as a tool for evangelism". Old Bear just started crying. And when he quit crying, he said, "Brother Jerry, it's the first Harley I've owned that I didn't steal". And you know what? He left on that thing and went to the grocery store while Dove went in to get something. He sat out there still crying over that bike. And some guy walked up and saw him. And he said, "Sir, are you all right"? And he said, "Yeah, I'm all right". And he said, "What you crying about"? He said, "God just gave me this motorcycle". He started witnessing to him. His first convert on that motorcycle was a backslidden preacher. And led him to the Lord.
— I hadn't heard about that. My, my, my, my, my. Yeah, it's something. Yes, sir, it's something.
— And talk about a man who began to enjoy the good life. I looked up one day and I'm preaching in Wales. I'm in Newport, Wales. And I look and there's Bear out in the audience. I'm thinking, how in the world did he get over here? Now, 21 years in prison, you don't get a passport anymore after that. You know, you don't get that privilege anymore. And God was showing him that he was indeed a new creation. And that old man had died and passed away and God got him a passport because somebody over there asked him to come give his testimony. And he was enjoying newness of life.
— Now, you think about that.
— Yeah, isn't that something?
— Oh, praise God.
— I'm telling you, God is so good and he wants his blessings and his benefits manifesting in our life every day.