Kenneth Copeland - Focus on the Extraordinary Love of God
Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Hey. Whoa-hmm-hmm-hmm. Whoa-ho-ho. I'm telling you, it's already on. See, you just got here. Amen. We done had church before you showed up. Ha-ha-ha. Amen? Did we not? Glory to God. Hallelujah!
Oh, thank You, Lord Jesus. We thank You tonight. We open our hearts and we open our minds for revelation from heaven. And we bless You, Sir. And we thank You that the greater One that lives within us, our teacher. We place ourselves in Your hands, Holy Spirit. We place ourselves in Your mighty care and teaching. And we receive in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Open your Bibles with me again tonight to I John 4. Now, last week, we were talking about believing the love. So let's begin reading Verse 7 of the 4th chapter of I John. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love". Say it with me, "God is Love". Say this: "God has faith. But He is love. He has joy, but He is love". Amen. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins".
"Propitiation" just simply means a sacrifice. He sent Him to be the sacrifice for our sin. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world". Now, Jesus is God's gift to the world. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to the church. Very, very important information. Jesus is God's gift to the world. Amen. And the Holy Spirit is God's gift to the church. You know why? Just because He loves you. Glory to God. I tell you what. I just love saying it. Well, let me, "hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwelleth in God, and God in him".
Now, we began last week talking about most people, most people do not believe that God loves them. Now, everybody that's a Christian, everybody, agrees that God loves them, but they don't believe it. "I do, too". Well, then you need to be acting like it. Just let your feelings just get a little bit out of line. "I don't understand how come God let that out on me. Don't you care"? Hey, that ain't going to work. See, his own disciples did that, didn't they? When the storm, they said, "Sir, do you not care that we perish"? Now, listen. James pointed out, "The double minded man cannot believe anything". Let's go over there to the 1st chapter of James. I want to show you that. Don't lose your place there in I John. "James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations".
Now, that word translated "temptation" is translated "tests, temptations, and trials". "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith". Do you hear that? "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways".
Now, the example of a double-minded man, Peter said, "Master, Lord, don't you care"? See, called Him "Lord," but then claimed He don't love Him. Why? He's in trouble and Jesus is asleep. It don't look like He cared to me. "Somebody wake Him up". "Really? You do it". "No, you do it". "I'll do it. Master, don't you care"? In one moment, he calls Him "Master," and the next word, he says he doesn't care. So he's double-minded and he's not believing anything. And Jesus said that, didn't He? "Where's your faith? How come you didn't do something"? Well, it would be unjust for Jesus to say that if He couldn't have done it. Amen. Now, a double-minded person.
So a person with one mind says, "Oh, yes, I know God loves me". But just let the pressure get on, because you didn't say that in faith, you said it as a religious mental assent to that fact, "because everybody knows God is love. I just don't understand how a loving God could send somebody to hell". You don't believe God loves you. "Yes, I do. See, I'm not going to hell". Really? No, don't do that. Okay. Yes, sir. Next time I'll pass that opportunity up. Now, you see what the apostle John here is referring to? "We have known and believed the love". We've known it, but by faith, we believe it. I believe He loves me if all of the natural, mental evidence on earth says that He doesn't. Yes, He does. And when you don't feel like He does is when you better believe He does. Have you figured out yet your flesh will lie to you? Your flesh doesn't have, it has no brain at all. It has no mind at all.
Now, your brain is part of your flesh, but your mind uses your brain. But your flesh don't know anything. All it knows is what it's been taught. And we talked about that last week. It is trainable. It has to change. It has to have its mind changed and renewed so, "Oh, oh, oh, yeah. So this is the way we talk now. Okay". But until that happens, until you renew your mind that God is love, and He loves me and He loves you and me just as much as He does Jesus. That is hard on the natural mind. "Oh, Brother Copeland, I just, I just, oh. Well, Brother Copeland, after all, we're only human". What did you say? What? We are only human? Father, I pray for every person in the room that's not saved. They're only human. Amen. See, we're not human people anymore. We are born-again human people. Amen. Hallelujah. And when you begin to see that, hey, this changes everything.
The first time I ever read that, I was a student at Oral Roberts University and I'm reading through the great love chapter, the 17th chapter of John. Let's turn over there because there's something there I want you to see, 17th chapter of John. Big John, we've been reading little John. 17th chapter, just moments before Jesus went to the cross. Now, notice Verse 20, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their words".
Now, directly or indirectly, every person in this room, every person on the air, every person that's watching or hearing this broadcast anywhere, by any means, every one of us that have been born again came either directly or indirectly through the lives of these men. Amen. So He's praying for us. That's good news, isn't it? Particularly when you realize that any two of you on earth... He was on earth when He prayed this. So let's get in agreement with Him. Amen? "Any two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst". Amen. Well, that's what I was doing that day. Now, I want you to know something. I said, "Wow, He's praying for me. Glory to God". "That they may all be one", oh, isn't that wonderful? "...as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have", what?
I never heard that. The only thing I ever heard is, "Don't touch the glory, don't touch the glory, don't touch the glory". I was singing in a Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship one time. I hadn't been born again all that long. And this guy came up. I don't remember how many times he said this, "No flesh glory. No flesh glory. No flesh glory. But that sure was good singing. No flesh glory". Okay. That sounded good to me. No glory. No glory. I ain't going to touch it. You going to touch it? "No, I ain't going to touch it". No, no. But look at what he said. Well, I had all of that (see, I didn't) man, I was a scriptural illiterate, you understand, when I got to ORU? And I didn't understand all these things about the glory and that stuff, but here's one guy telling me, "No flesh glory," and here's Jesus telling me He's going to give me the glory. I was like, "I don't know if I'm going to agree with that or not".
It wasn't because I didn't believe he said Jesus said it, but I just couldn't bring myself to cross my religion, what little of it I had. And it's just ignorance more than anything else. I ain't going there. In my case, there still is. Boy, I've learned a little bit over the last 50 years. But the more I learn, the more I find out how precious little I know. Oh, I'm the hungriest man. I'm going to tell you a little, little story just for a moment. Is that all right, boss? I can do it? Okay.
So, first time I spoke at Oral Roberts University, and after I had gone out in ministry full time, you know, and we were doing well, and Brother Roberts invited me back to speak. And I spoke several times then during the day. And at lunch, he said, "Come on," to Gloria and me. He said, "Come on, we're going to our house and we're going to have lunch together". So I thought, "glory to God," you know, I'm going to finally get him cornered in one place and I'm going to find out what he's got to say, you know? And he kicked his shoes off and sat down on the floor. He said, "Kenneth, take your shoes off and sit down right there". I said, "Yes, sir". "Gloria, take your shoes off and sit down right there". So she did. He said, "Evelyn, take your shoes off and sit down". She said, "Oral, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to sit in this chair". He said, "Okay".
So he had his Bible. He always, always carried a legal pad with him and a blue flare pen. Wrote his partner letters, everything, with that. And he had that pen and sat down there. Man, I got my Bible and got my notebook, you know. And he said, "Now, Kenneth, now teach me about faith". My mouth fell open. I just stuttered. I said, "You've got to be kidding me". He said, "No, sir". He said, "You boys have learned some things about faith that I don't know, and I'm the most hungry man you've ever seen for the Word of God". I did the best I could, you know. Amen.
See, that's a true man, true prophet. And he didn't care where it come from. He wanted more. And that's what I'm talking to you about tonight. Amen. If you get to where you're thinking, "Oh, man, I've heard that. How many times is Copeland going to preach on Mark 11:22-23"? Till you get it. But see, if you're only hearing it the first time, it's seed. Then you hear it again and again, it's being watered. Amen. So now, I want you to notice this. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know".
Now notice this. I mean, draw a red box around it. This is written in red. Point at it. Put arrows, stars, whatever it is you do in your Bible. "...that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as you have loved me"! People don't believe that! They do not believe the love! I stood there, my knees were literally shaking because I had already told God, "I'm going to believe this. I'm going to set myself in agreement of this. I'm believing every word of it".
And, I mean, it struck me. I was shaking all over. I didn't know whether I dare said that or not. But I couldn't get over that 20th verse. He's praying this thing for me. See, I didn't know what I had in the new word. That was coming. I was learning. But at that point, I really didn't know what I had. But I said, "He said it, I'm going to say it". And I'm walking around that little old room. I had my Bible. Whew! "And hast loved them, as thou hast loved me". I was trembling all over, but my insides, my spirit man was saying, "You've finally given me something to eat. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on". Believe the love.