Kenneth Copeland - Command Authority is in the Name of Jesus
— Hello, I'm Kenneth Copeland, and this is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. And once again, Professor Greg Stephens. Greg, it's good to see you again today.
— Good to see you, sir.
— And I have our Greek Bible here. Can't read a word of it.
— It's all Greek to me.
— But my granddaughter's here.
— Yes, sir. And she can help us. Amen.
— And it'll be good.
— It'll be good.
— Yes, sir.
— So, we're talking about the command authority of a follower of Jesus Christ, the authority of the believer. So, let's open our Bibles to the book of Philippians in chapter 2. One thing to point out in this little book... Now, the great apostle, the apostle Paul. Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, that's the way it opens up. And he was in, I understand, a terrible prison. Yet, in one form or another, he used the word "joy" 19 times in this book. And the joy of the Lord is our strength, we know that, right? So now, and we have some very special guests with us today from Nigeria. And we are so glad to have them here. Praise God. And close to my good friend, David Bishop Oyedepo. And so, welcome to the Believer's Voice of Victory Broadcast. Thank You, Jesus. Philippians chapter 2. "Let nothing be done in strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves". Now, listen to this. "Look not on every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And let this mind be in you. You have to let it. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God". You have to let that mind be in you. In you. Who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Well, are we not joint heirs with Christ Jesus? Scripture says it. Now, "But made of himself no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness, praise God, of men. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself". Now, that is a key. It's a key to life. You humble yourself. And the Scripture said, "Don't be like a mule and have to have a bit put in your mouth". You humble yourself. So that your routine is in your life, is a form of humility. And I woke up early this morning, and I said, "Praise God. This is my receiving day today". And before I ever got out of bed, I love the Lord my God. So let this man, now, Greg, that is a covenant statement.
— Absolutely. That's where all his power came from. That's where his identity came from, from the covenant. The Jewish people's identity came from the covenant, were supposed to. What we're reading right here, all those little attributes you just said, if you go to Philippians chapter one, here's something, we talk about the fruits of the Spirit all the time, Brother Copeland, but look at this. Right here in verse 10, "That you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense, excuse me, until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness".
— Well, and this was a partner letter.
— That's exactly what this is. And he's describing what these fruits of righteousness look like, unto the glory and praise of God. Everything Jesus did was for the glory and the praise of his Father, not for the praise of men.
— Well, let's continue to read here, and that's what we see. "Made of himself no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant". He called himself a bond slave and was made in the likeness of men, the apostle Paul did, called himself a bond slave. "Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and hath given him a name". Put a little line through that. And has given him His name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Now notice things is in italics. Here's the way that should read. At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Names in heaven, names in earth, and names under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. There's the command authority.
— Right there. Every knee at that name. We could go all the way back to the third chapter of the book of Acts. Let's do that.
— Okay.
— Go back to the third chapter. "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about the temple asking alms". Now how many times, how many times did Jesus go into the temple? Well, just take the book of Mark. Time and again, time and again, time and again, time and again. And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them. Well, of course he did. Of course he did. Every time they came by there, Jesus didn't pass him up. And Judas put money in his hand, put money in his hand. Expecting to receive something from him, he looked up and said, "Ho, ho, ho, ho. These are my boys, here they come". Expecting to receive something of them. Now watch this command authority. "Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them. And Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He took him by the right hand, lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength and he leaping up stood and walked and entered into the temple walking and leaping and praising God". Wow. Now, what did he say? What did Peter say?
— Peter then goes on and he begins to explain how this power came and how this happened. In verse 12, "You men of Israel, why marvel you at this? Why look on us? So earnestly on us as though by our own power, our holiness we made this man walk. And his name through faith in his name..."
— There it is.
— ...has made this man walk. Peter made sure that we understood where this authority came from.
— Yes. His name.
— Now that's fulfillment of Psalm 118 because he will quote the stone the builder rejected and so they are fulfilling Psalm 118 in what they're doing in that temple that day. It's beautiful.
— "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers that glorified his Son Jesus whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate and he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One, the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince of life whom God raised up from the dead whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you know, which is by him hath given this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now brethren, through ignorance you did it and so did your rulers. But those things which God before showed by the mouth of his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out and the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which was before you preached unto you whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers of prophets..."
— We have several covenants there. You've got Abraham's covenant mentioned. You've got Moses' covenant mentioned. And then you've got the new covenant.
— I was rather expecting you to comment on that.
— Well, you see it. You see it, three different covenants being played out right there in that one sermon. But so many people get stuck on one thing and that's what the Pharisees were. They were stuck on the covenant of Moses and the new covenant of life and power and authority is standing in front of them. They can't receive it. They can't see it. And this is why Peter makes sure that they know who did this. It wasn't us. We're just representatives, carriers of the name. And because we're carriers of the name, we're carriers of the anointing. And therefore we use that name and it was at that name that this man was set free. One of the things I saw when we were taping before in this, fulfillment of Psalm 118. You get over to Acts chapter four. "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there any salvation in any other". That's Psalm 118. They're fulfilling Old Testament prophecy in scripture but it was not Jesus doing it this time. It's the apostles doing it in the authority and power of Jesus. And so if you look at Acts chapter one, of all that Jesus began to do. Brother Copeland, you and I still have the ability to fulfill things that were supposed to be long ago. Prayers that my grandparents prayed that have never been answered. In the authority of Jesus' name, we have the ability to reap where they sowed.
— Now this is a little humorous. I was with my grandfather and he was full blood Cherokee Indian. Born in Indian territory for the turn of the century. And my grandmother's name was Nancy Pearl. So I was with him and he began to laugh. He was working in the barn on a piece of machinery. Now this goes to what we're talking about. He began to laugh. I said, "Papa, what are you laughing about"? He said, "I'm laughing how close you came to being a Mexican". I said, "What are you talking about"? Well, he said, "I was on my way to Mexico. But my plans got changed". I said, "What changed it"? He said, "Nancy Pearl".
— Amen.
— She changed it. I have a picture of the two of them on their wedding day. And it was hand-colored. Oh, and they were such pretty people. He couldn't read or write, but he played like he could. I won't go into all of that. Well, his father had PTSD really, really, really bad from the Civil War. And he left home early. I won't go into all that. But my main point is, God's plan was fulfilled in him to keep him out of Mexico. He wasn't supposed to be in Mexico. That was not the plan of God. But Nancy Pearl Winchester was.
— Amen.
— And oh, I'm telling you, she was strong Southern Baptist woman. And she was teaching Sunday school in Littlefield, Texas. The farm was at Fielton, which is just a few miles away. She was teaching Sunday school in Littlefield. And they brought her a telegram. She read it, put it back in her purse, and finished her Sunday school class. And it was the news that her older son had been killed in World War II. She finished her Sunday school class. She went back and wrote God a letter, thanking Him for all of the years. Thanking Him. And she held on to it until they brought him back. And of course, he was an officer in the United States Army. And they went through that and presented her that flag. She's a strong Christian woman. Strong. Wouldn't let go of it. And after that, that's fine. She lost it as he's going home service. But after that, she considered herself, had a job to do, and she continued. And part of it was to help raise me.
— And she deposited that same Spirit in you.
— Yes, she did.
— And attitude. Jesus walked past that man every time He walked to the temple, but He never healed him. Because He only did what the Father told Him to do.
— That's it right there.
— It wasn't for Him to heal him. It was for those disciples.
— 14th chapter of John. He said, "I only do what I see my Father do. I only say what I hear my Father say". Let's go over there. Because there's something right there that... Now, from the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th chapter of John is all John's record of that final supper. Now, the artist's rendition of this big table of Jesus in the middle. No, no, no. No. If any table at all, it was very low on cushions. And John was resting on his bosom. John 14:1. "Let not your heart be troubled". Oh, now get this class. Let not. Hey, let this mind be in you. Let not. These are commandments.
— Absolutely.
— All of this is backed in the blood of animals, the blood of circumcision, and then the sinless blood of Jesus. Well, he's on his way to the cross.
— Yes, he is.
— And at this point, they don't understand that. "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. If it were not so, I would have told you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Let not your heart be troubled". Verse 13, here we are. Whatsoever you shall ask is translated demand.
— That's correct.
— Oh, whatsoever you demand in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you demand anything in my name, I'll do it. That's what Peter did. He demanded it. I command you in the name of Jesus. So it's the same power. Here, the Master delegated that power. If you ask anything in my name, I'll do it. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he'll give you another comforter that you may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it doesn't see him, neither knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you, and he will be in you. Verse 21, "He that has my commandments..."
— If you're in the military, that'd be your orders.
— Yes, sir.
— I gave you an order.
— Yes, sir. "He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me, love my Father, I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him". Glory to God. If a man love me, he'll keep my commandments.
— Verse 23, "If a man love me, he will keep my words". In verse 23. "And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him". So faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the words of God. In the Greek, it's the Word of Christos, his words. See, Jesus only spoke the words of the Father. I only speak the words of Jesus. He's my commander. My authority. He's my access to the Father. I'm seated with him in heavenly places.
— And we're out of time.
— And we're out of time.
— Whew. Glory to God. We'll be back in just a moment.