Kenneth Copeland - When We Walk In God's Authority, We Are In Great Faith
— Hello everyone, we are talking about the command of a follower of Jesus Christ, the Authority of the believer. Hallelujah. And this book is the most precious thing there is, the Holy Bible. The Bible simply means a complication, a hodgepodge of ideas. There's a shooter's Bible and all that, but I'm not interested, I'm interested in the saint. That means there is blood involved. The blood of animals, the blood of men through circumcision, all of this is about the sinless blood of Jesus, who ratified all of the covenants. Say the word. Jesus said, "The sower sows the word. These are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown". In Matthew chapter 8, "As he came down the mountain, great crowds followed him. Then a leper came and prayed and said, 'Lord, if you can, you can make me clean.' Jesus reached out and touched him and said, 'I will be a thousand clean.' And immediately the leprosy was gone". Verse 5, "When Jesus came to Capernaum," which is now his hometown. This is the place where his ministry was established. "They came to him a centurion". The Word "Centurion" means "hundred". This is a Roman officer who meant that there were at least a hundred men under his command. There is no guarantee how many there are, but at least a hundred. Then a centurion came to him and asked him and spoke : Sir! Servant lies at home, sick with paralysis, painfully tormented. Jesus said: "I will come and heal him". I will come and heal him. "The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, and have soldiers under me. And I say to this man, "Go", and another comes, and he comes. And to my servant, "Do this"'. Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith. No, not in Israel". Just speak the word. And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and the kingdom of heaven. "But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus said to the centurion..." His name is Cornelius. He is a garrison commander. "And Jesus said to Cornelius, Go, as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed that same hour". So, Acts 10. What did Cornelius say at the crucifixion? This was truly a man of God. For this was the Son of God. He has seen many types of crucifixions. But he had never heard anyone cry out, "Forgive them! for they know not what they do". Hang in there, no, he's the only one.
— He did not see people on the procession to the cross, with the cross, stop and serve the people.
— Yes. I mean, he just stopped.
— Because he was part of this whole thing.
— He turned around and served some women there. He stopped. He's on his way. But that's what he came here to do.
— He forgave the guy hanging next to him.
— Yes.
— And then he gives up the ghost. The sky turns black. The earth is shaking. This is what he looks like. OK. That was the one who...
— Yes. And the veil of the temple was torn from above downward. 40 feet wide and four inches thick. An angel tore it apart. And the sun refused to shine on this thing. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Now come to the 10th chapter of Acts. Once upon a time there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian Band. So you see, it was the same man. So his name was Cornelius. He built the synagogue at his own expense.
— In Capernaum.
— In Capernaum. He paid for it.
— Capernaum was a trade route. They crossed paths. If you go to Caesarea to Jerusalem, you would go through Capernaum, most likely. And the other trade route went in the other direction. And there was the tax, the tax station there, Roman tax station, which he is responsible for. And this is the place where Matthew worked. And this is where Jesus set up his headquarters. So now he's back where he's stationed in Caesarea.
— "A pious man, one who gave God to God with his whole house, which gave many alms to the people. This is quite a beautiful man. He saw in a vision, apparently around the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God God came to him and said to him, 'Cornelius'. And when he looked at him, he was afraid and said, 'What is the matter, Lord'? And he said to him, 'Your prayers and your alms will be a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and call for a Simon, whose last name is Peter. He lives with Simon, a tanner, whose house is on the shore of the sea. And he will tell you what to do.'" And when the angel spoke to Cornelius as he went away, he called two of his domestic servants and a pious soldier of those who waited for him constantly. He was what a general is today. He came through the Romans Ranks, which is hard, has spent time in battle, has been through, seen a lot of bad things "A loyal soldier of those who served him constantly". And when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next morning, as they continued their journey and neared the destination of the city, Peter went up to the roof of the house to pray at the sixth hour. He became hungry and would have eaten. But as they prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heavens opened and a certain ship descending for him who had knitted a large leaf at four corners and let it down to the earth, in which all the matter of four-footed animals and earth and wild animals and creeping things, birds of the sky. And a voice came to him, saying, Arise, Peter, and eat. Peter said: Not so, Lord. I have never eaten anything that was mean or unclean. And the voice said to him the second time, What God has cleansed you shall not call common. This was done three times. And the vessel went up again into heaven. Now Peter doubted what the vision he had seen meant. Behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius made inquiries about Simon's house and stood at the gate and called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodged here. As Peter pondered the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. Arise now, and go down with them, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men who came to him from Cornelius and said to them, "Look, I am the one you are looking for". What is the cause before you come? They said: "Cornelius the centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God and has a good report among all the nations of the Jews, was warned by an angel to hear. Then he called them and sheltered them. And the next day Peter went with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him". Now, this great quote "The word that God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is the Lord of all, this word, I say, you know, that was published throughout all Judea. Published throughout all Judea was and preached in Galilee after the baptism with John How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth anointed Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, which is the power, and went to do good and to heal all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him, and we are witnesses". And that's how we got in. We are the wild olive branch grafted into the truth.
— What strikes me is that Peter is bragging about something I've never done before. I've never eaten any of it. And he dwells with Simon the tanner, which makes him unclean. I mean because he stays where they make skins and making leather from animal animal skins, which he can't go to the temple. He is unclean until he purifies himself. Well, Dr. Luke, so his boast is like, would you stop doing that? You have to go up here. Because he's trying to show him these centurions aren't unclean. This guy isn't it. Dr. Luke gives another account of the centurion in chapter seven of the book of Luke. "When he had finished all his speeches in the audience of the people, he entered Capernaum". Jesus, his hometown. "And the servant of a certain centurion's servant, who was kind to him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard about Jesus," just like the woman with the blood, just like, "When he heard about Jesus, He sent the elders of the Jews to him of the Jews to entreat him". Well, that's what the covenant is happening here: "Ask him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they immediately begged him, saying that he was worthy" that we just heard in Acts 10, "that he was worthy for whom he should do this, for he loved our people and built us a synagogue". I've been to this synagogue before. I stood in the synagogue where this happened. "Then Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, the centurion..." So people say, which of these accounts is true? Both. Both. First the Jews went to Jesus. When he went to the house, the centurion spoke to him. "The centurion sent friends to him and said to him: Lord! Do not worry, for I am not worthy of you coming under my roof". Verse seven: "Therefore I did not consider myself worthy to come to you, but only speak the word and my servant will be healed, for I am a man under authority". And now you come down to verse nine, Jesus heard these things and marveled at him in Luke chapter seven, verse nine, that the people followed him. "I tell you, I have never found such great faith in all Israel". You have several things here. Genesis 12:3, I will bless those who bless you. I will curse the one who curses you. And you shall bless all the nations of the earth. Well, the Jewish elders make the case that it is the Abrahamic Covenant. He built us a synagogue. He's worth your leaving. But the centurion said, "I'm not worthy". But the Jews said he is worthy. And I find that very interesting, because we have an advocate here. We don't know anything. We don't know anything about the servant. But I have a centurion, a Roman centurion who intervenes on behalf of his servant. Maybe this servant is Jewish and taught him about the covenant, taught him about the ways of the Lord. The authority never sits above Instance. He said: "I am under supervision. I recognize that you are subordinate. That's how it looks". I don't even know where the servant who was sick, I don't even know about his faith, whether that servant had faith or not. The fact is that faith wasn't even mentioned until authority had been mentioned. So we learned that it's about faith and great faith, and that. But it's more about authority than faith. Because once the authority is mentioned to Jesus, you are subordinate, I am subordinate, you have great authority. Once authority was mentioned, Jesus now mentioned faith. Brother Copeland, I submit this to you and the class, that when we walk in His authority, we are by faith.
— Yes.
— Indeed, we have great confidence. We have people trying to strengthen their faith. When you learn to walk in His authority, authority, Jesus will be amazed at your faith. Jesus will tell people that your faith has made you well today. They didn't know that they were in faith. They believed in him. And when we fix our eyes on Him, we go into authority to speak out. You are in great confidence. When you understand this authority, you have great faith.
— So turn to the fourth chapter of Markus. "And he, Jesus, began to teach on the shore of the sea, and a great multitude was gathered together, so that he got into a ship, and sat on the sea. And the whole company was by the sea". That's right there at the Galilee. "And he taught them many many things by parables, and sat with them, saying, 'Hear. Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it came to pass, as he was sowing, that some fell through those by the wayside, and the birds of the birds of the air passed by and devoured them. Some fell on rocky ground where there wasn't much soil. And immediately it sprang up, for it had no depth of earth. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered. Some fell among thorns, and thorns grew up and choked them, and it bore no fruit. And another fell upon good ground, and brought forth fruit, which sprung up and multiplied, and brought forth some, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred.' And he said unto them, 'He that hath ear to hear, let him hear.' And when he was alone, those who were with him, with the twelve, asked him about the parable. And he said to them, 'To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to them that are without, all these things are done in parables. So that they can see, see, but not perceive. Hearing they may hear, and not understand, that at any time, that at any time they should be transformed, and their sins should be forgiven them. And he said to them, 'Do you not know this parable?' How then are you supposed to know all the parables"? They're all in here. "The sower sows the word, and these are the ones who stand by the side of the road where the word is sown. And when they have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts". Listen, the word has done its part. It went into the heart. "These are the ones who sown on stony ground are who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with joy, and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time after, when tribulation or persecution arises for the Word's sake". Just do the math. This is where I'm so upset. For the Word's sake, for the Word's sake, not for my own sake. For the sake of the word. Why? He said, "The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Glory be to God. There was a woman in Tulsa, the Tulsa, who was walking around and told everyone that Oral Roberts is a liar. He's not in the ministry. That's where he gets all his money. The wasn't the Abundant Life Insurance Building. That was their first office building before he moved out to the university. It's a beautiful building. A lot of things in the archives Hear word, and the cares of this world, and the deceit of wealth," not wealth, but the deceitfulness of it. Now if I could just get a little more money. If I just, well, I just don't have enough money. That's my problem is not your problem. "And the desires of other things choke the word, and the word becomes unfruitful. These are they that are sown on good ground, as the heart is the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some 100. And he said to them, Like a candle placed under a bushel of earth, or under a bed, and not on a candlestick, is there anything hidden that will not be revealed? Nothing should be kept secret, but that it should go abroad".
— If anyone has ears and has ears, let him hear.
— Yes. Do you have ears to hear? Yes I know.
— Yes I know.
— I have ears to hear.
— And I'm not easy to offend, because when you look up That's what happens. Then it is stolen to be easily offended. We have to live in a world today in America where we are easily offended by anything. And we have to get it, we can't let this take root in us.
— I was in Shreveport, and I had this little pain, and I didn't know what it was. And right there in my groin, and oh man. I would go out onto the platform and that was all I could do to keep from screaming. It just hurts so much. And I go out and it would stop under the anointing, three weeks of it. And I said, "Lord, you can't miss it. Where did I miss it"? And in my mind he said, "Kenneth, you keep quoting all your writings. Remembering what a potato tastes like doesn't get it into the system". Oh, I said, "Lord, I repent, I repent. Oh, God". I just quote these things without going into the book. And so Gloria wasn't there. She stayed home with John and Kellie and we took the highway there. We lived in a small project house on the south side of the city and I was just in so much pain. I said, "Dad, that, oh, and the devil said, 'I'm going to kill you.' I said, 'You're not going to kill anyone.'" He said, and we're out of time. Well, he doesn't.
— No, you are here.
— We went home. My mother started to pray. She said, "That's it". And I never had that again I stopped memorizing learn. And go to the book itself. Thank you, Lord.
— Well, it's been another outstanding week, don't you believe it?
— Yes, sir. Thank you! We'll be back in a moment