Kenneth Copeland - Faith in the Love of God Drives Out Fear
Hello, everybody. We're Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. Welcome to the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast, Arkansas. Praise God.
GLORIA: Arkansas.
KENNETH: Yes, amen. We're in southwest Arkansas at our prayer cabin and our laughing place. This goes back a long time. In fact, tomorrow, which we're taping this April, this is the 12th. And tomorrow's the 13th. And Gloria and I's wedding anniversary is tomorrow. We've been married 55 years. And we are thrilled and counting, praise God. Amen. Happy anniversary, sweetheart.
GLORIA: Thank you. You too.
KENNETH: Now, right after Gloria and I were married, her grandfather gave us 4 acres here, which, in years past, had been a peach orchard, and the trees had overgrown and they quit producing. And they just pushed them all up, dozed them over. So he gave us 4 acres out of this place. And then, as time went by, just wonderful things began to happen. And every so often, as he got older, Gloria's granddad, Pop wouldn't let you give him anything. Nothing. I mean, no. He'd give you everything he had, but he wouldn't let you give him anything. And so, I'd say, "Pop, what do you need"? "Nah, I don't need anything". And I'd say, you know, I'd try to help a little bit, particularly after he quit working and so forth. "No, no, no. Be all right". And I had a little red pickup that I brought up here. And he liked that pickup. I said, "Well, Pop, I'll just give it to you". "No, no. No, no. We can't do that". And I said, "Well, let me just leave it at the house, and you can drive it any time you want to". "No". He said, "Bring the title with you the next time you come".
GLORIA: He'd had time to think about it.
KENNETH: Yeah. And so I said, "Let me tell you what I'll do. I'll trade you for so many acres". I don't remember now what it was. And I told him how many acres I wanted. And, of course, I knew pretty well what the land was worth. And, of course, I knew what my pickup was worth. But I didn't want to make a deal with him. And I gave him more pickup than he did land. Back there then, the acreage wasn't worth all that much back then.
GLORIA: Pasture.
KENNETH: And so, you know, "That'll work. Yes, sir, that's fine". And so somehow or another, some way or other over the years, 4, 5 acres here and 4, 5 acres there, I said, "Pop, I'd like to buy another few acres of land here," because I knew he needed finances. "Yeah, sure". And so I paid him more than what it was worth. And that way we wound up eventually with this whole 180 acres here. Well, God blessed it. And I was thinking about it just before we started, just before we turned the camera on. So many of the major decisions of this ministry, particularly in the early years, we made them up here in prayer...
GLORIA: Mm, yeah.
KENNETH: ...the prayer time we spent when our children were just babies. And we learned from God how to lay hold of our family with the Word and the blood and the name. And we brought everything up here and spent several days praying in the Spirit and receiving the wisdom of God according to James 1st chapter, and then praying about television. Well, praying over radio and all that. But, boy, when it came time to pray about television, whew, that was so big. And it hasn't gotten any smaller either. But boy, back there then, it was such a huge financial decision. We didn't have the money to do that. We've never had the money to do anything God told us to do. If you walk in the anointing, you're going to walk on the water. I mean, if this is just something you can do all the time, God wouldn't get any glory out of it. Anyway, we'd been up here and praying, I mean like all weekend long, just praying several days. And we started home. We were driving in those days. And I don't remember why we were driving. The airplane was in the shop or something. We had a small airplane back there then anyway. But we got to Texarkana, and we stopped at Denny's for breakfast.
GLORIA: We got hungry.
KENNETH: We got hungry, went in there to Denny's, and we sat down there and was looking at the menu, and I remember looking at that menu and it just dropped in my spirit, why am I not seeing this here? Ha-ha-ha-ha. And I said, "Gloria", because we couldn't figure out what to do. What do you do next? You're going to go on television. Who do you call? I mean, we didn't know anything about it. I looked at her, I said, "Gloria, we just need to do it". She said, "Yeah". She said, "It'll be easy". Well, see, when your faith climaxes like that, that's the spiritual gift of special faith. And all of a sudden, the problems just...
GLORIA: Forget that we had no money.
KENNETH: Yeah.
GLORIA: Forget that we don't have any television experience.
KENNETH: When that just comes on you, this is different than saving faith. This is a manifestation of special faith, which is part of the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12. And when it manifests, whoa. "Let's just do it". Okay". We got in the car and drove to Fort Worth, just praising and thanking God. "Well, yeah, we can do this. Yes".
GLORIA: That's been a lot of years ago.
KENNETH: "yeah, we can do this". Glory to God. Hallelujah. And so many things like that came about in this place. Father, we thank You for this broadcast today. We thank You for this place where You've blessed our family, where You've blessed the ministry, You've blessed and blessed and blessed this outreach for God all over the world.
GLORIA: Praise God.
KENNETH: And we give You praise for it, and we thank You for it. We open our eyes, we open our hearts to You today, to know You and to know the power of Your resurrection, to receive revelation from heaven. And we take it by faith, and we give you the praise and the honor and the glory, in Jesus' name, amen.
GLORIA: Amen. Thank You, Lord.
KENNETH: Let's open our Bibles today to I John 4, and let's begin reading, first of all, I want to read the 8th verse. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love". Do you get that? "For God is love". "Ah, we know that, Brother Copeland. Everybody knows that". Really? God is love. He doesn't have love, He is love. God is love. Now, let's go down to the 16th, I want to read the 16th, 17th, and 18th verses. "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect", Now, don't let the word "perfect" throw you. That doesn't mean flawless. The Greek word translated "perfect" there means developing, perfecting. What you practice you perfect, right? You're walking in love, you're listening for love, you're talking about love.
GLORIA: Right. Then you're loving.
KENNETH: Well, yeah. Ookay. "We've known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect," or developed, "that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world".
GLORIA: Praise God.
KENNETH: "There is no fear in love". Now, I want to take a real good look at that. There is no fear in love. Well, of course not. God is love, and there's no fear in God.
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: "But perfected love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love". The love of God is not developed in him. It's in there because it's been shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost. And it is the love of God. And God is in you. If you're born again, God's on the inside of you. If you're baptized in the Holy Ghost, God has come on you for service.
GLORIA: Praise God.
KENNETH: And the Spirit of God is dwelling in you in a higher dimension. Every born-again child of God needs to do that.
GLORIA: Makes all the difference.
KENNETH: All the difference in the world. Now, but when you walk in love, that's a commandment of the Church. Amen.
GLORIA: It's not optional.
KENNETH: No, it isn't optional at all. It is a commandment from on high, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and strength. Love our neighbor as ourselves. Love the brethren even as he loved the brethren. Jesus said, "Love one another, even as I have loved you".
GLORIA: He gave His life for the brethren.
KENNETH: Now, when you're doing that, and that is commanding your life, you're walking in that, that is your way of life. And the moment you step out of it, you repent instantly.
GLORIA: Yes.
KENNETH: Now, those of you that are hearing this for the first time, we're planting seed. Those of you that have heard it a lot, we're watering seed. Amen. So don't go starting around, "Well, you know, I've heard all that". No, you haven't. If you'd heard all that, you wouldn't say that. If you'd heard all that, if you'd really heard all that, you'd be so hungry for some more of it you'd be coming back to the table. So now, I said that in love, too, you understand? Because this is the day and time that we're in, you cannot afford not to walk in love.
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: Chapter 5, Verse 18, "We know that whosoever is born of God". Okay, now wait a minute. Now wait a minute. This Book is about God is love. "We know whosoever is born of love sinneth not". Well, what sin is He talking about? He's talking about not loving the brethren. So now, he keeps himself, keeps himself in love. Now, Jude wrote this in his book. You know, he said in the 20th verse, "Building yourselves up in"
GLORIA: "in your most holy faith".
KENNETH: "...on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping yourself in love". So praying in tongues is part of that practice, empowering your spirit, strengthening your spirit, because the Scripture said, in I Corinthians 14, that a man that prays in other tongues edifies himself, or builds up his spirit. And the Scripture says, "The strong spirit of a man sustains him in times of trouble and bodily pain".
GLORIA: That's what it says.
KENNETH: So all of these things are referring to keeping ourselves strong and getting...
GLORIA: Yep.
KENNETH: ...stronger all the time. Fear tolerated is faith contaminated. Fear weakens the spirit. It weakens the soul, and it weakens the body. I'm not talking about managing fear. I'm talking about perfected love that casts it out.
GLORIA: Casts it out, yes.
KENNETH: Well now, go back over here to the 18th verse. "Whosoever is born of love sinneth not; but he that is born of love keepeth himself, and that wicked one", that's talking about the devil, "that wicked one touches you not". The wicked one is the tormentor.
GLORIA: Yeah, that's right.
KENNETH: Didn't we read that? Look back over there.
GLORIA: The thief, He's come to kill, steal, and destroy. So he can't kill, steal, and destroy when you keep yourself in love.
KENNETH: That's right.
GLORIA: If he touches...
KENNETH: Because the blessing is in operation.
GLORIA: That's right. Praise God.
KENNETH: What happened in the life of Job? There was only one sin involved in the book of Job, by the way, and that was "curse God". Satan told God, he accused him, he said, "You put your hand on him, and he'll curse you to your face". Well, God didn't put his hand on him. He doesn't put his hand on anybody to destroy them. Satan is the destroyer.
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: And I can prove it from the Scripture.
GLORIA: Yeah.
KENNETH: Anyway, Satan is also the tormentor, right, Gloria?
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: He is the tormentor. Now, notice this. "We have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear; but perfect," or developed, "love casteth out fear". Why? God does not want you having any fear at all because it has torment.
GLORIA: It gives Satan place.
KENNETH: It does.
GLORIA: He operates on fear like God operates on faith.
KENNETH: Well, yeah. It's a spiritual law.
GLORIA: Yeah.
KENNETH: In fact, fear is faith...
GLORIA: Perverted.
KENNETH: Yeah. It's fear twisted.
GLORIA: Twisted faith, yeah.
KENNETH: So now, think about it. Fear...
GLORIA: It's faith in the wrong thing. That's why you're afraid.
KENNETH: That's right. Fear is... well, you said it very well. It's faith in an animal's ability to hurt you. It's faith in a disease. It's faith in...
GLORIA: A storm.
KENNETH: ...people hurting you and people stealing from you and all that. "Well, Brother Copeland", and don't start whining about how fear is going to do you good because Satan can't get through to you, like Gloria said, he can't get through, he can't touch you without fear connecting to him the way faith connects to God. And God can't do anything for you without faith. He can't. "Oh, God can do anything". Well, He can't lie. Let's go back. We need to get down to the very basics in faith itself because we're going to go there in a little bit I'm believing sometime during this week. But I wanted to touch this in the 6th chapter of Mark's gospel. Now, Jesus had gone to Nazareth. I mean, He'd preached in Capernaum, and they had fabulous miracles. You know, mighty works of God. Oh, all kinds of things. But He came to His own hometown, and He said, in the 4th verse, 6th chapter of Mark, "A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and his own house. And he could there do no mighty work". No blind eyes were opened. No ears were opened. No sicknesses and diseases were broken. No dead was raised there. It didn't say He would not or He chose not. He could not.
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: "He could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick," or a few sickly.
GLORIA: One translation said, "with minor ailments".
KENNETH: Minor ailments. "And healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching".
GLORIA: Wouldn't that be awful for Jesus to marvel at your own belief?
KENNETH: Oh, my, yeah.
GLORIA: People would be saying, "I can't imagine such a thing".
KENNETH: Now, let's take a look here in Luke's gospel, Chapter 8. You remember Jairus?
GLORIA: Yep.
KENNETH: And Jairus had besought the Lord and said, "My little daughter lies at home sick and she's dying. Come lay your hands on her, she'll live". And right in the middle, they stopped and ministered to the woman with the issue of blood. And right just then, someone came up and said, "Your little daughter's dead. Don't bother the rabbi any further," the master. Now, Jesus turned to Jairus, and look what He said, "When Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she will be made whole". "Stop the fear or there ain't nothing I can do for you".
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: And we're out of time.
GLORIA: Already?
KENNETH: Already, we're out of time. We'll take it up here tomorrow. And Gloria and I'll be back just in a moment.