Kenneth Copeland - God's Word is Your Medicine
Proverbs chapter 4. Look at the 17th verse. "For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence, but the path of the just is as a shining light that shines more and more unto a perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not of what they stumble. My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those that find them and health to all their flesh".
The cross reference says medicine. So what good is medicine sitting there at your nightstand? I didn't know your story until I saw that yesterday in partner service. She is the nurse at our clinic, right there on property. Ah. Bless your heart. Thank You Jesus. While I was in the hospital when they removed my appendix, and I mean this, and every nurse in the sound of my voice, she is to a doctor what a mechanic is to a pilot. Without her, he cannot do a good job. And without a mechanic that pays attention to what he's doing, I don't want to fly the airplane after him. And thank God, Kenneth Copeland Ministries has two of the finest aviation mechanics in the world. We need it. We went to, this is because of what I'm about to read. We needed an intermediate airplane.
Now, do you know how big Mike Barber is? No, you don't, until you get up next to him. I mean, this man was all pro. He won his football, his Bum Phillips. He won his coach, professional football player to the Lord. And he goes to prisons. Mike Barber and his wife, Shaheen, and they are, oh, listen. Well, we had him in a Cessna 421 and he filled the airplane up. Well, and Cessna doesn't build those airplanes anymore. Well, we found out about a Swedish airplane called a PC-12 Pilatus. And they have a, you guys have a picture of that airplane? I'd like to show it if you would, please. I think you have. No, not that one. That's the inside of it. I don't want the inside of it. Get outside. There it is.
I want you to notice the tail number. November 91KC. I said, "Does the owner want to keep the tail number"? No. Well, checked it out. It had been on a Cessna site (this airplane's built in Sweden) on a Cessna Citation years and years ago. And he said, "I want this airplane in a hurry. And so just grab the next, the next tail number you get". The God that knows everything put the 91st Psalm with my initials on it. Because we fly, we fly Mike to prisons. Prisons are in out of the way places as they should be. And we fly him to different places around the United States. Well, he can go in that one. And he thanked me. He said, "Oh, Brother Copeland. I can stretch out in that airplane".
See, that's what these things are for. Mike Barber was having to drive his truck all over the state of Texas. And the Lord said, "You get him in those prisons". And I preached in prisons. There was a time... Well, we, our ministry puts satellite receivers in every prison in the state of Texas. Then some in Arkansas and a few in Colorado. And he got to the place where the Texas Department of Corrections said to Mike, "Anything the Copelands want to do, you don't have to check it out with me. So whatever they want to do".
So I baptized a serial killer in the Berry County jail in San Antonio. And I was there when he was executed. And there's this little deal here, and, so in course I was on his list as his spiritual advisor. And I said, "Stephen, Stephen, you know, the apostle Paul said, 'Grace is sufficient'". Don't get the idea that that lethal injection is any fun. That thing makes a loud bang when it goes off. Thank You, Jesus. March 13th, 1985. And uh, Lawrence Harvey was a warden there and we had become very good friends. And he's a spiritual man. And he said, "Stephen..." I was as close as from here to you. Little railing there. He said, "Stephen..." now this, I want you to listen to this because this is part of what we're doing here today.
Oh, someone needed to hear this. Someone needed to hear this or I wouldn't be doing this right now. Oh God. Thank You. And he's up here in this mesh. I said, "Let me know if grace is sufficient". And I was as close as to here. And they had him on gurneys like this. He's all strapped down. And he started preaching. Now they said, "Now what the Holy Ghost could do for somebody like me". And he said, "Now I don't want any stay of execution. I don't want, I don't have anybody in this whole world, but my little five year old boy. And I want to go on to heaven. I don't want to hang around here one second more than I need to". He said, "If that Holy Ghost could do something with somebody like me, think about what he could do for you".
And he began to quote scripture. I told him, I said, "Stephen, you have long enough here to become an expert on prayer". And he was. I could go on, but I don't have time. But he looked over there at me and he's with a smile on his face. That's what Mike and I do in those prisons. The great healing's in there. "So now, thank You, Lord Jesus. Heavenly Father, I give thanks for this time, the time that we've been together, the fellowship in Your Word, the Christian family presented to me, and he called names of the personal witnesses. Allow Your Holy Spirit to flow as I know Your love has been showered upon me. Forgive them for they know not what they do as I know that You've forgiven me as I have forgiven them. Lord Jesus, I commit my soul to You. I praise You and I thank You".
And that's the way he went out of this earth, a serial killer that had killed at least 21 women. Well, all they had to do was convict him of one. Hallelujah. Greater is he. Hallelujah. I know someone had to hear that. Thank You, Jesus. Glory to God. Now then, I'll get back on track. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. It is extremely important to know, I know you do, but I'm speaking to the radio and television audience. It is extreme important to know that this book is the will of God. So, we take our medicine, the Word is our medicine. Now, Isaiah is fulfilled. Go to the 27th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. Thank You, Jesus.
"And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when you shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord God giveth thee, that thou shalt set up great stones, plaster them with plaster, and write upon them the words of this law. When you are passed over, you may go in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that flows with milk and honey, as the Lord God of our fathers has promised thee. Therefore, it shall be when you go over Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there you build an altar to the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, that lift up, and you shall not lift up any iron tool upon them".
He's setting up the... God, through Moses, is setting up something that is very holy. "And thou shalt offer burnt offerings, their own, unto the Lord thy God. And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and eat thereof, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt write upon the stones all the word of this law, plainly". This is the only way they had of doing this. "And Moses and the priest and the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying, Take heed and hearken, O Israel. This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God". This day.
Now, all the old guard was gone. And the Lord just said, "You just keep saying, we're going to die in this desert, and I've heard your voice, so you're not getting out of here". And you can find that in the book of Numbers. Didn't mean they went to hell. They just griped too much. All 20 years old, plus Joshua and Caleb. Anyway. "You'll stand upon Mount Ebal to curse". Now, wait a minute. "These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people. And when you are come over Jordan, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin".
Now, that included Jesus and the apostle Paul. "And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice". Now, you got roughly a million people on one mountain and a million on the other one. Now, this is one of the reasons I did what I did. You see what happens when you go with a loud voice. You get up on another level spiritually. "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image. Abomination to the Lord and work of the hand". And went all through them.
"Cursed be he that removes the neighbor's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be that make a blind to wander out of the way. And the people said, Amen. Cursed be he that pervert us the judgment of the stranger, fatherless and widow. And the people shall say, Amen. And cursed be he that lies with his father's wife, because he overcomes the father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. And cursed be he that lies on any matter of beast. And all the people said, Amen. Cursed be he that lies with his sister, daughter, and father".
He's just laying down, he's laying down the moral laws. And these exist today because they're in this book. "Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay... And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law".
Now, this is going on all day with roaring sound that you never, ever forget. "And it shall come to pass, if you'll hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all of his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee high above all nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come on thee, overtake thee, and thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God".
Now, here's the blessing. These are the blessings of Abraham. Now, they went through all this whole drill. Verse 15, "And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to go to the right hand or the left, but it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do all of his commandments and his statutes, I command thee this day, these curses will come upon you. Curse shall you be in the city. Curse shall you be in the field. Curse shall be your basket and your store".
Curse, curse, curse, curse. "And smite thee with fever and consumption, inflammation, and the sword". And it just goes on and on and on. Now, the Lord nailed me on this 47th verse. "Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things". And the Word of the Lord came up on the inside of me. And he said, "You don't ever do that". Oh, I'm telling you, it hit me hard. It hit me very hard. And so I repented and received my forgiveness.
So now, and we'll get the bottom line of this right here. 30th chapter, verse 15, see, "I have set before thee this day, life and good, death and evil. In that I command thee this day to serve the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgment, that you mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God will bless thee in the land".
Verse 19, "I call heaven and earth to record or to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore you choose life, that both you and your seed may live, that you may love the Lord thy God and may obey his voice. And that you may cleave to him, for he is your life. He is your length of days, that you may dwell in the land of the Lord thy God. Tell your father Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob to give them". Say amen, somebody. Thank You, Jesus. Whoa. Life and death, choose.