Kenneth Copeland - Renewing Your Mind to Receive the Salvation of the Cross
We want to live by faith, and we serve the God that is more than enough. Thank You, Jesus. Father, we come before the reading of the Word of the living God, and we thank you for blessing it and blessing us. And we give You praise and honor for the integrity of this written Word, because Your Word, Your blood covenants is just as much God as You are. Thank You, Jesus. We praise You for it. Romans chapter 12, if you’d turn there with me, please, «I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy». Holy comes from the fruit of the Spirit. The nine fruit of the Spirit produce holiness. «And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove…»
Now, look, we want to prove something here, «what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God»? Now, let’s continue with this. «I say through the grace given unto me,» now notice, «to every man that is among you», not everybody in Rome, «not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt unto every man among you, the measure of faith». So we know from that, since it took faith for us to get born again, we had a measure of faith to start with, whether we knew it or not. «Do not be conformed to the world. Change the way you think,» Proverbs 23:7. «For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, say he to thee, his heart is not with thee».
What you think about most of the time, you eventually will become. What you spend most of your time thinking about, whatever you or I or anyone else compromise to keep, we will eventually lose it. Those are spiritual laws. I mean, there it is right there. As he thinks in his heart, so is he. Owe no man anything but to love him. And I’ll begin to close it with this. Negative thoughts produce fear. Positive thoughts produce faith. Think God’s thoughts after him. Thoughts are taken by saying. Jesus said, «Why take ye thoughts saying»? Why take ye thoughts saying? What shall we do? What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Your heavenly Father knows you are in need of these things. So ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. A-S-K. Then you begin to see it everywhere. Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he’ll flee from you.
In the tithing scriptures, let’s turn to Malachi. «Behold the day comes that shall burn as an oven and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. The day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch, but you shall fear my name as the sun, S-U-N, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings». Not S-O-N, S-U-N, a burning star. The star, the star of righteousness, that’s Jesus. David said, now David wasn’t even old enough to be in the army. Jesse sent him to check on his brothers and Goliath, what was frightening about him was his size and he was nearly 10 feet tall.
David said, «What I get if I kill him? I want to know what I get if I kill him». «Well you get the king’s daughter and you’re exempt from taxes. Why»? «Well, I was keeping my father’s sheep and a lion and a bear. Well, I took my father’s sheep. I killed the lion and I killed the bear and that uncircumcised Philistine is no different». Whoa, that giant was dead right then. That’s the reason he was a man after God’s own heart. He would use that covenant and he just kept on saying that and saying that and Goliath cursed him. It is God’s… famous last words. I come at you in the name of the Lord, God of hosts. So he put the angels and that sling.
Now when I was young, after reading that, I made a sling. I want to see that. Oh, that thing’s dangerous. And the longer it is, and you see young men using them in the Middle East today because you give about three slings of that thing and turn it loose. It is like a rifle bullet, but being accurate with it is something else, but he hit him right there and he was running towards him, wasn’t any of this Hollywood. He was running right at him. The scripture said he hastened towards him, running at him and he cut that rock loose. He had five smooth stones, but he didn’t use but one and down he went. And then he took his own sword and cut his head off, which you know, as big as a basketball. This teenager had a trophy. Well, it emboldened all the Israeli army and they went after him and chased them all the way back to Goliath’s hometown. He turned the head in to the king and took his armor and put it in his tent. He’s a teenager. That’s what teenagers do.
So I spent a lot of time meditating on that. You talk about getting stirred up. It still stirs me up to read it. Just talk about it. And I was praying over it one day and well, it had been several days meditating on it. Meditating the scripture is a positive way to renew your mind. Looking at it and meditating it. That’s what God told Joshua to do after the death of Moses. Meditate in my Word day and night and you’ll observe to do what is written there and not let this Word of the law proceed out of your mouth. Meditate about it on it day and night. So he was victorious. And instead of sending out 10 spies, he only sent out two because he and Caleb were the only two that made it.
So the Lord asked me, he said, «Who made David king»? I said, «Samuel». He said, «No, Goliath. He made him king». And David was true to his honor. Even when Saul was trying to kill him and he sneaked up behind him and cut a little off of his robe. And then he repented for doing that because he didn’t want to touch God’s anointed. All that, a sinful man, quick to repent, but I’m looking forward to hearing him sing. I want to hear Jesus sing. Moses was a singer. David was a singer. A psalmist. In the Amplified, the 22nd Psalm starts with, «My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me»? And ends with, «It is finished».
And Jesus took that, put it in his mouth and went into hell to buy our redemption. Three days and three nights. It was a high Sabbath. John said so. He said, «As Jonah was in the belly of the big fish three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth». It doesn’t work at Friday. It started on Wednesday. I mean, you might as well get it right. And for your information, rabbits don’t lay eggs. But I found out that that came as a tradition from a boiled in the egg part of the Seder meal so that it was baked in the shell and it marked each egg differently. I didn’t know that’s where it came from, but dipping them in dye and all that kind of thing.
Father in the name of Jesus, we’re a traditional people, but we thank You that Your book is traditional, that this book is just as much a manifestation of You because of the way it begins, in the beginning God, in the beginning Elohim, plural, said light be, light was.
Our first meeting on our own in Wichita Falls, Texas, Allie Arnold, sweet lady, she was in the real estate business, found an old abandoned drugstore building for our evening meetings, but no place in Wichita Falls, so there was a rabbi she knew. And so in the morning we came to the synagogue. So I met him and he called me, he said, «Brother Copeland, now here’s my study. And just make yourself at home». And I found in that study a writings that said instead of «Let there be light», that God said, «Light be,» light was. And the first 24 hours, 16 billion miles of universe, and that’s the Spirit that’s planning our lives. Thank You, Jesus.
Would you stand with me, please? Did you get anything out of this tonight? Good. Yeah, we’ll learn a lot through this. And we want to talk about thinking like the world thinks is a recipe for disaster. Over 40 million people in the USA, 65 or older, most are dependent on someone else for life’s necessities. Think God’s thoughts after him. Matthew 6:31. Thoughts are taken by saying. Read the Sermon on the Mount, both in Matthew and in Luke. Well, did you know it says, «Give and it’ll be given unto you again, pressed down, shaken together, running over». No, it didn’t say that. It says, «Judge not that you be not judged and give and it’ll be given unto you». You and I are not qualified to judge. We judge ourselves. Amen.
So that when someone comes up and says, «Well, now you know how I love pastor». Oh man, here he comes. But if I’d have been him, I wouldn’t have done that one. No, just wait a minute. Just think about how stupid that is. If you’d have been him, that’s exactly what you’d have done. That’s none of your business. If the pastor has prayed and deemed that it should be done that way, then you follow him. I don’t see anything wrong with going to him and say, «Sir, I’d like to inquire of you and inquire of the Lord why you chose to do that like that. I’d like to know. And might I make a suggestion»? And that’s all it is. I just thought of maybe that this might help. But no, you’re the pastor. I’m not.
I founded Eagle Mountain International Church, but I’m not the pastor. Never was. And it took a while for Pastor George to show up and do what he’s supposed to do. Anyway, anyone in the sound of my voice that has never made Jesus the Lord of your life, don’t let this time go by. It’s so easy. Jesus said, «Anyone that comes unto me, I will for no reason turn him away». I baptized a serial killer in the Berry County Jail in San Antonio, Texas many years ago. Steve Morin… became his spiritual advisor. And he confided in me and said, I said, «Stephen, you have time here to become an expert on prayer if you just get into the Word». Oh, he said, «I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I’ll do it».
But he said, «Brother Kenneth, I don’t have any family anymore. I only have one five-year-old boy, and I don’t even want him to know I ever was alive. And I don’t want to stay on this earth. So promise me now that you won’t try to get a stay of execution». So I was there the night in Huntsville, Texas, a little cage there. He was up here, and I was down here. I said, «Stephen, do me a favor». He looked down at me and said, «Sure, what»? I said, «You know, Scripture says grace is sufficient». «Oh, yeah». He said, «yeah». He said, «I believe that». I said, «Let me know». He said, «If it’s sufficient»? I said, «Yeah, just let me know». I was about 10, 12 feet away. He looked down there at me and did this. And that thing went bang, and he was still smiling. And he lunged like that. and he was gone. A serial killer. What the gospel can really do. So if you’ve never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, don’t put it off. So easy. So let’s just lead them to the Lord. Put your hand over your heart.
Oh Father in heaven, I believe with all my heart that You raised Jesus from the dead. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Take my life and do something with it. I believe that God raised You from the dead, Lord Jesus. Fill me now with Your precious Holy Spirit just like on the day of Pentecost. Now that I’m born again, now that I’m born from above, according to what the Master said in John 3, 16 and 17. And I praise You and thank You for that. I receive it. I believe it. It’s mine. And now by faith, I say it. I am born again. For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness and confession is made unto salvation. I praise You for that. And so by faith, I say it. I am a born again, Spirit-filled, new creature in Christ Jesus.