Kenneth Copeland - How the Fundamentals of Faith Work
Let’s turn to John chapter 20 and we will look at the 24th verse. «Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, of the twin, the other disciples therefore said unto him, We’ve seen the Lord. But he said unto them, 'Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.' After eight days again, his disciples were within, Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, doors being shut». That’s a glorified body. Now, he sat down and said, «I am not a spirit», and he sat down and ate, but he has a spiritual body, but he could still eat natural food, and walk through the wall and not open the door.
You say, I don’t understand that. I don’t either. I’m looking forward to it. No, that’s a spiritual body, not a natural one, but it’s not transparent. I mean, you couldn’t see through him and watch the food go down. The difference is, there is no blood in it. He said, he doesn’t see flesh and bone, but the glory of God running in his veins, the resurrected life, the glorified life. He sat down and ate. Now, listen to what he said now. «The doors being shut, stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. And he said to Thomas, Reach here your finger, behold my hands. Reach here your hand, thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet they believe».
Well, I’ve never seen Thomas. I saw Jesus in a vision, but he had a frown on his face. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas preaching for Happy Caldwell. About four o’clock in the morning, I woke up just wide awake, and there was Jesus right between the two bedposts. And he was standing here with a big tray of cookies. And he said, «Have a cookie». I was kind of dumbstruck. And he said, «Your response is, I believe, I will, I receive it, I take it, I have it, the six eyes of faith,» and I repent, I forgive. The six eyes of faith. Well, I went back to sleep then and had a dream that matched it. I was at a party, and someone walked up and said, Brother Copeland, «Have a cookie». I said, «No, thank you, I have one». «You have one»? «Yes, I do». By faith. I have a cookie, thank you. I learned a new way of renewing my mind. I had to get off of snacks.
And so people would come up and offer me, and I’d say, «No snack you». I’m not snacking. No snack you. To control and renew my mind to the scripture. Continually, constantly. Forgive before you go into a place. Gloria and I have done that time and time again. Before we go into a restaurant, I’ll say, Gloria, let’s forgive everybody in there before we go. That’s what you do. And Jerry and Jesse and I were in Hawaii. Middle of the afternoon. I said, «Let’s go in this restaurant». And when we walked in there, there was a man bussing the tables, and the Lord said, «Give him $100». And so, I walked up there and did. And Jerry said, «Well, I’m getting in on this». And Jesse’s getting in on this. And he began to cheer up. He said, «You guys don’t know. You just don’t know». That’s our job.
So the fundamentals of faith. Faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. Glory to God. And I believe Genesis 12:3. He’ll bless those that bless you and curse him that curses you. That’s it. Forever. And you watch the different administrations and see who prospers and see who does not. But you watch and find out what is done behind the scenes. Whether it’s a college president, Oral Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University. I spent a lot of time with him. And he didn’t know how to tell a joke. I was driving. And he tried to tell a joke about the talking dog. And he got so tickled trying to tell it. And Evelyn said, «Oral, you don’t, you can’t tell a joke».
He got so tickled. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got down on his knees in the car facing the seat. He laughed so hard that it was funnier than the joke. People didn’t know that about Oral Roberts, but I did. It’s one of the reasons I miss him so. So he was in Palm Springs. They had a place there. He told Harry, he said, «Turn up in that driveway». He said, «Oral, we don’t know these people». He said, «Turn up in there. I want to see this place». And the man came out to see what was going on. And he said, «Who are you»? He said, «I’m Oral Roberts. I told this fool not to come up in here…» He said, you’re Oral Roberts. He said, «Yeah, I’m Oral Roberts». He said, «Get out of that car and come in my house».
Those are the things that nobody else knew about him. First time I went back and preached, I’m still on the fundamentals of faith. And I went about each department preaching fundamentals of faith. We went for lunch. And the fundamentals of faith, believe it in your heart and say it with your mouth. Faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. Abraham’s blessing cannot be received with Thomas’s faith. Faith calls things to be not as though they were. Faith demands corresponding action. And so he just sat down on the floor. He said, «Kenneth, you sit down, take your shoes off, sit down there. Gloria, take your shoes off, sit down here. Evelyn, take your shoes off». She said, «Oral, I am not taking my shoes off». He turned around there and looked at me. I mean, he looked me right in the face, straight in the face. He said, «Teach me faith». I said, «Sir, you’ve got to be kidding me». «No. I’m the hungriest man for God on this planet».
And you boys have learned the saying part. And I want to know how to do that. So I just went through the whole thing. Just like I did right then. And he said, that’s wonderful. In the fifth chapter of Mark, he went to Gadara, to the Gadarenes. «Always night and day, this madman was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones». So he was a cutter. «When he saw Jesus so far off, he ran and worshiped him and cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, you torment me not». That’s that devil talk. «…For he had said unto him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And he asked him, what is your name? And he answered, saying, my name is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him that he would send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him».
Now, the people that were with him heard that conversation, but Jesus heard this one. They didn’t. «All the devils besought him saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith, Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. There were about 2,000 that were choked or they drowned. And they that fed the swine told it in the city. They went out to see what was done. They come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the Legion sitting clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid».
Where did they get the clothes? Where did they get the clothes? Faith prepares before it goes. It’s quite obvious. Don’t ever get the idea that these people were poor. Poor people don’t need a treasurer. And Jesus had a tunic that was seamless. Do you know how expensive that would have been back in the day? It had no seams. So it must have fit him perfectly. So it is very obvious that he said, «Go to where we have our clothes made. You go to where we have our clothes made». Because he said to them, «Don’t take any money. You’re working for me. The labor’s worthy of his hire». Well, they didn’t wear the same clothes for three years. I said that in the prison, and one of those little women said, «We do». I said, «Yeah, but it’s not the same one».
And everybody just laughed. But that’s obvious what he did. I am going to call the man to preach. I’m going to send him back home to his family, and I don’t want him looking bad. Because I’m going to call this man to preach. So they took the clothes with them. Clothed and in his right mind. It scared the whole neighborhood because those pigs were food for the Roman army. So that frightened the people. But this man went about the Decapolis, the 10 cities roundabout. And then the next time he went back, the place was packed out because this man preached, and he looked good in his new clothes. Can you imagine what happened when he got home? And his family said, «Where have you been»?
Some of them probably thought he was dead. They didn’t hear from him. But he came home dressed up. He said, «I met a man named Jesus. I fell in and was possessed with unclean devils. But I met this man named Jesus, and he set me free. And he put me in the ministry. And he even provided my clothes. And I love him. And I’ll serve him». When we get to heaven, we’re going to find out what his name is. His name is not Legion. That was that devil answering. I want to know what the woman’s name is with the issue of blood. A certain woman. Faith calls things that be not as though they were.
Now, turn over in the book of Romans chapter four. «What shall we say then that Abraham our father pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth… Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness».
14th verse, 13th verse, «for the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: For the law worketh wrath: for where no law is… Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee the father of many nations before him or like him, whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and call of things that be not as though they were».
He staggered not at the promises of God. So he’s going around saying, «My name’s Abraham». «I thought your name was Abram». «No, it’s Abraham. I’m the father of many nations». This old man’s lost his mind. He didn’t even have any children. Really? But then Isaac was born… by faith. In the Amplified Classic. Verse 17, «As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. He was appointed our father in the sight of God in whom we believed, who gives life to the dead and speaks of non-existent things that he has foretold and promised as if they already existed». Oh yeah. As if they already existed.
Hebrews chapter 11. «Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. For by faith, trust, holy fervor, born of faith, the men of old had divine testimony born to them and obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the worlds during the successive ages were framed, fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose by the Word of God so that we see was not made out of things which are visible». No, it was made out of an invisible force, which is a guarantee. It is the title deed of the things we hope for. It is the evidence. It is the evidence. It is not a feeling. It is the evidence. There’s blood in this book.