Kenneth Copeland - Jesus Operated In Delegated Authority
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is Professor Greg Stephens. I call him that because that's what he is, in Kenneth Copeland Bible College, which is an accredited college, and there are other universities that will take our students' credits, can go right from where we are into their programs, a number of them. And he brought this up. Greg, I want you to read that scripture in John 12.
— John chapter 12, we're talking about, we talked about it yesterday, and then you've taught it on it, delegated authority, that Jesus is operating in an authority that has been delegated to him. And he says so right here in John chapter 12 and verse 49, "For I've not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a command" or commandment. So the Father gave him a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And this commandment is everlasting life. Jesus never said anything on his own.
— No, no, no, no, no, no.
— He never reacted or was defensive when somebody would attack him. He was very purposeful in every word that he said... came out of his mouth, because he knew the power.
— And when he was tempted of the devil, he used his orders.
— That's it.
— We are soldiers in the army of the Lord. And this book lays out our chain of command. And it needs to be followed.
— Matthew 28, after his death, burial and resurrection, he says this in verse 18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth". Then he gave a command.
— Yes, you go.
— Go, you go. Now he's authorizing you to go. "Therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded".
— So let's don't attempt to change the order of baptism.
— No.
— Or argue about it.
— Whether it's sprinkling or dunking or whatever else. But go do what you saw me do. Do what you saw John...
— Like that guy said that his dad was a deep-water Baptist. And so he was wanting to marry a Methodist girl that's going to be sprinkled. And he's no, no, no, no. I'm deep-water Baptist... Whatever that is. He said, "So you're saying that you had to be a deep-water Baptist..." Now this is, I'm telling you, people do this kind of stuff. You have to be a deep-water Baptist. You have to get the top of your head wet. That's right. She qualifies because that's what they're wet. A deep-water Baptist. You know, what struck me was being in Desert Storm and watching the chaplains. They were baptizing people with water bottles. As we were sending them off, you know, I was watching the airborne unit. The airborne, when they came in to the theater, they started baptizing those guys one right after the other with water bottles and sending them off to the front. Delegated authority. Let me give you a few...
— Now the group that I'm associated with, they expected body bags.
— That's right.
— That didn't happen. And then they took the body bags and lined these big tanks of water and used them to baptize...
— That's correct. I saw that. I saw that happen. Yeah, I saw it happen. We had to cover the red crosses on the hospital tents and stuff because of where we were and cover that because there couldn't be a cross to be seen or anything. But at one point they just didn't care. They began baptizing people in the body bags. And you know, that makes sense, doesn't it?
— I'm glad you grabbed a hold of that.
— It took me a second. I had to downshift, but I got there.
— It was a burial preparation bag. And they lined the tub or whatever they were using.
— That's right. I remember it.
— With that. That was through A.L. Downing.
— Well, I saw it.
— And the group of chaplains and so forth that we supported all the way through.
— Isn't that something? I watched them do it. Now, when I was there, I wasn't living for God on purpose. And I was watching all of that happen. We had two chaplains that were assigned to our flying squadron and the group that we were with. And one, he was, he's chain smoker and grumpy and mean and chaplain. And the other one would hug me all the time. He'd just hug everybody. He was always there when we'd leave at O-Dark 30 on an aircraft. When he'd come back, I thought, this is the weirdest guy. And he would just hug you. He'd come up and, Brother Copeland, I flew one time with an IV line in my hand. Because we're medics, you know, just to keep going. We had to keep going. Couldn't be sick. And he came back and he gave me a big hug. And I got so mad at him. And I was angry and didn't feel good. And I said, "Are you a homosexual"? He's major. And I caught myself, my bearing. And he goes, "No, man, I'm just, this is from all the people back home. Because I couldn't figure out why this guy kept hugging me. But he knew the love of God".
— Yes, he did.
— The other chaplain didn't. That's the one I saw baptizing people. He was the hardest working chaplain I ever saw in my life. He would be there when we went out, say a prayer over us. He'd be there when we came home, hugging us, you know, on every single mission.
— We had a chaplain that had been in combat. And he was discharged and went to school, purposely to become a chaplain. And I ran into this same thing. And the different chaplains come in and talk to you. But, and he was, he was Southern Baptist. But he just, I'm telling you, he was so kind. And so he just gave me a little New Testament that was carved and that had come from Israel. Whoa. And, you know, I was lost as a goose in a hailstorm. But I'm telling you, he got my attention. He really got my attention. So I didn't want to think about the rest of them. What are we talking about here?
— Delegated authority.
— Delegated authority and the Christian chain of command.
— See, your chaplain and my chaplain were both operating by love, which is what he talked about.
— And A.L. Downing got out, attached to the Navy, Naval chaplain in the Marines. And the Lord called him back. Go back. And he said, "No, uh-uh, I've gained weight".
— Go back.
— Through the training?
— Yes, go back. What he didn't realize that he would eventually, through him, through him, I was in Frankfurt, Germany as the United States Army closed down there in Frankfurt.
— Ryan Mine Air Base, yes.
— And I met Colonel Walker. And the last day we were there, I gave him my motorcycle riding jacket. He put the jacket on, said, "You look good in it, Colonel". Amen. And there were other connections there, but I don't, I don't want to get away from this. You don't do anything in the military without someone above you evaluating the situation, the mission, the personnel. So what is the Christian chain of command? The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, the father, the wife, the children.
— It's true.
— And I won't go into right now to criticizing people, but that's what the book says. And when you flow with that, ah, the peace. We are a family that we have, by following that, Gloria and I, our next April, we'll be married 63 years without fussing or fighting and going on the whole time. And John and Kellie. And then Terri, Amen. George. I mean, we just have a great family, but it's a book family. And we see to it that the command comes from where it should.
— God uses that to bring order out of chaos.
— Oh, yes.
— And that's what he did at the very beginning. The earth was in chaos. And so he created with his command, light be. And God said, gave an order.
— In 24 hours, 16 billion miles of the universe. And that's my Father.
— Right. And then he put a man, he put mankind here to run it for him, be stewards of it. Stewardship's a big thing with God. And that only comes through delegated authority as well. And so he delegated that authority to this earth. Well, then you know what Adam did with it. He committed treason. So a second Adam has to come. That's Jesus. To bring order out of chaos. And that's what he did with the family.
— So it's called the law and the prophets. Not the prophets and the law. Because Cain killed Abel but there was no law against it.
— That's right. So God judged it. Adam wasn't able to judge it. So God himself will judge that. And then once he begins to make covenants, we get to Noah. And now he says to Noah, the people after that, now you're gonna start to judge one another in my law. And because now we're gonna have things written down. So we've got the whole Word. And we have orders and commands given to us. Jesus is the fullness of the delegated authority of God himself in the earth.
— Now Jacob is a good example of this. He became a debenture slave. Because he loved Rachel. But he got Leah. Oh no. So seven more years. He had no way of knowing. And God the Father, he wasn't about to tell him this. Out of that came the 12 tribes of Israel. Out of that became a nation. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they changed Jacob's name to Israel.
— Started with a family in that authority line. Husband, wife. And then a bigger family became a nation. And from that nation will go back to a family, another tribe. Back to Jesus, which is the tribe of Judah. And from that tribe of Judah will come one girl. And a guy named Joseph. So you see how God's using all of mankind first. Then he goes to a family. Then the family grows to a nation. Then he goes back to a tribe and a family within a tribe. And that's what he's done. It says in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus is the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person. We read it yesterday. If you've seen me, if you've heard me, you've heard the Father. It says in Colossians 1:9 that it pleased the Father, that in him should all the fullness dwell. Well, now here's the thing. You and I, class. You're in Christ. So all the fullness dwells. This is why you can't just...
— And the wisdom is in that scripture.
— Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father". It's Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God. And that's what the scribes didn't have. For all their study and meticulous training of the Word, they weren't speaking the Word. They didn't let the Word get in them. It's in their head. But it wasn't in their spirit man. Because the fullness of the Godhead was standing right in front of them.
— Well, now, I know the Ten Commandments. I can quote them in order. Quoting them, these are commandments of the heart. When you read those commandments, the blessing is involved. It's not just the commandments. Remember my commandments and the teachings of your father and mother. When you roam, they will direct you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you're awake, they will speak with you. The commandments are in the Bible. But there's other things attached. Your sleep is attached to it.
— Amen. Jesus will say something at the end in John chapter 20. There's a lot of statements about authority in John 17. But in that final address that he's given to his disciples, in John 20:21, he says, "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be unto you.'" Shalom. That's what he said when the storm was raging. He brought order to chaos. We live in a world that seems to be full of chaos. We're the ones that are supposed to be bringing order. Here's why. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. So our teachings should be Jesus' teachings. Our unity should be his unity. Our authority should be his authority. It's not the authority that Greg has, other than what's been delegated to me through the head of the church. I'm the body. The body without a head is weird. The head without a body is a weird thing. No, we're part of the body.
— Yeah, ask Goliath how that worked out.
— I'm seated with him. So if I'm seated with him, all of this other that we get so concerned about, you get so worried and so fretful about, is under your feet when you recognize your authority position. Now, you don't lord authority over other people, but you lord authority over the planet and over the evil one in His authority. Knowing that it's all delegated authority. When the sergeant major gave an order, it was because an officer above him had given an order.
— Yes, he knew what the mission is.
— Yes, sir. And the officer told him a thing or two that he didn't tell the men about, this is what we're gonna do because this is what we're gonna do because this is what they said to do.
— And you take, that North African campaign against Rommel was, oh, it was nasty and dirty and hot. And it just, he just didn't wanna be there. But he was. He's a foot soldier. Now those were tank battles. So his job would have been to follow behind that tank. And use that Sherman tank as a... and being a sergeant major, he could talk on a phone that would communicate to the inside of the tank. And he's there communicating with him and relaying the message into the field. And he's in there.
— That's like in World War II, the bombers, you have the pilot and the co-pilot and the navigator. But there was a point when it came time to drop the ordinance, the pilot would say to the navigator, your airplane, the navigator said, my airplane. He's now director.
— The Norton bomb site was top secret thing. And it tied into the autopilot of the airplane.
— That's it.
— And he could actually move it around.
— So he's actually moving the airplane, although he's not piloting the airplane.
— Yes, he is.
— He is. The pilot gave him command of the airplane till those bombs are dropped. And then he would give it back to, and that's how our authority in Jesus Christ works. It's not my authority. It's His authority. As a husband of a household, he is, this is a mystery, the Christ in the church. He is the husband of my wife. So any authority I have in that house is joint authority, submission one to another as I submit to Him. Paul made that very, very clear. So it's a command authority, but it's a delegated authority.
— Oh, that's strong and powerful. I love it. And in 2 Corinthians 10, "Now, I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent, I'm bold toward you. But I beseech you that I may not be," now look, verse three, "For we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons..."
— There you go.
— "We're soldiers for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty", dunamis, "through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience", and I put of thought, "when your obedience is fulfilled. Do not look on things on the outward appearance".
— Yes, sir, yes, sir.
— And there's something that's just getting all over you and there's some person that's just said something that's terrible and nasty to you and you just, and it just goes, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I cast that thought down and I jail it. I don't touch that in my thoughts. I take command of my thoughts. I said, I take command of my thoughts.
— Surround it.
— Yes.
— Surround that thought with God's thoughts.
— Yeah, and tell that, I love that person. And we'll be back in just a moment.