Kenneth Copeland - The Power of Worship
Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Praise God. We're here at EMIC at our place at Eagle Mountain, Fort Worth, Texas. And I'm going to let you in on a little something tonight. We've got a wild bunch here tonight. So it's all right. You just go wild right where you are. It'll be fine. Everything's going to be all right.
Father, we thank You tonight. We come before the Word with expectant hearts. We open our hearts, and we open our minds for revelation from heaven, revelation of Jesus. And we thank You for it, and we give You the praise and the honor in Jesus' name. Amen.
Hallelujah. Let's open our Bibles to the 15th chapter of the book of Matthew. Now, all last week, we began talking about the healing ministry of Jesus and the healings of Jesus. There are 19 specific cases in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, of Jesus healing. Now, of course, there were no telling how many people were healed in the ministry of Jesus. But the Spirit of God has chosen these 19 to instruct us, to bring insight into the ministry of Jesus. Now, you have to understand that what we have recorded is a snapshot of actually about 30 days or a little less out of better than three years of ministry.
Now, of course, John said, "If it had all been recorded, the world couldn't hold the books". There was so much that happened. But that puts a very high premium on this 19, doesn't it? Now, we're not even going to attempt to go all through all 19. There are several here that the Lord has directed me to share with you. And we've talked about a number of them last week. But now we're going to begin tonight in Matthew, Chapter 15. Let's begin reading with the 21st verse. "Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David". Now, she, in calling Him "Son of David," called Him "Messiah".
Now, I mentioned that several times last week. Tonight, let's just settle that. Right quickly turn to the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Verse 41. "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David". So you see, anyone that cried that out, you remember the blind man, in fact, we talked about the blind man that followed Jesus into His own house there in Capernaum. Home. Capernaum is where Jesus established His headquarters of His ministry, and His home was there, quite a large home. And we had a good time with that, and we'll see some more of it tonight.
But you remember, they called him "Son of David," so indicating they believed He's Messiah. And how could you say, "Have mercy on me, Son of David," and not have spent enough time in the Word to find out what the "Son of David" even meant, huh? So this indicates some contact with the Word of God, doesn't it? All right, let's look at it again now. She said, let's just start again here in the 22nd verse. "A woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord". Now, I want you to really, really take good notes about this if you're a notetaker. She called him, "Lord, Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil".
That word translated "vexed" is translated "demon-possessed". And we're going to see some more here that relates to what we studied last week concerning this. "My daughter is grievously vexed". So she's saying, "My daughter is terribly under the control of the devil". "But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him". She called Him "Lord," she called Him "Son of David". She cried out for mercy. And now she worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet," or it is not right, "to take the children's bread, and cast it to the dogs".
Make good note of that. Healing is the children's bread. Amen. We are the family of God. She, at that time, was outside the family of God. We're the family of God. Healing is our bread. Amen? All right. "And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is your faith: be it done unto thee even as you will. Her daughter was made whole from that very hour". Now, He called her a woman of great faith.
All right, now, let's look in the 7th chapter of the book of Mark, and we'll read that account of the same incident. Mark, Chapter 7, we'll begin with the 24th verse. "From thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, entered into a house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hidden. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit". Now, remember what we talked about, the madman of Gadara had an unclean spirit? One. Now, I want to go back over this again because this is such vital information. In the 6th chapter of the book of Ephesians, the Holy Spirit reveals to us in that chapter the rank and file of Satan's forces, starting from the least to the highest, beginning with principalities, powers, rulers.
So, obviously, these rulers rule over the principalities and powers. Amen? Principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world. So these are command devils. These are the devils that possess a person. A ruler is a possessor. So then the principalities and powers are under the command of that ruler. If that wasn't true, what would he be ruler of? But one more step up is wicked spirits in high places, or in the heavenlies. Now, that's not talking about the heaven where God is. Of course not. He got kicked out of there a long, long time ago. I mean, that war didn't last any time. Do you remember the Scripture said he fell like lightning? That means he got kicked out some kind of hard. Amen. But now, still, see, that used to be all one group. Lucifer was part of that structure.
So just because they are evil principalities and powers and rulers, that doesn't change the fact that the angelic forces follow pretty well that same rank. Amen. But, of course, every time I get talking about this, I just get so excited about it. We have not made nearly enough about the angels. Okay. Everyone in here raise your hand, everybody. Every human being in here raise your hand. Now, we have at least that many angels in here right now. So, but now, see, the angel that God assigned to you is the boss angel. And when your ministry grows, and your responsibilities grow, and it takes more angelic forces, amen, you have an angel that's in charge, and then your angel brings in outside forces, brother. I mean, you see, it works the same way. And this gives us a snapshot of how all that is constructed.
Those wicked spirits in the heavenly, now, there's the heavenlies just in the atmospheric heavens around this planet. Then there's the stellar heavens or what you and I know as space now. And then there is the third heaven, and that's God's place. Now, everyone again, everyone in here, raise your hand. All of us tonight are seated at the right hand of the Father. We have presence right now in heaven the same as we do at EMIC, at Eagle Mountain. Amen. Now, we need to become more aware of that, more aware of our place there than just what we see and bang around here in this place. Now, I've had people say, "Well, the Scripture tells us to set our affection, or set our thinking on high". "Well, you can get so heavenly minded you ain't no earthly good".
No, you can't do that. You can get so religious minded you're not any earthly good. But the more heavenly minded you get, the better you are in the earth. I tell you what, you do the earth a whole lot more good, too, when you get heavenly minded. You begin to think like heaven, act like heaven, talk like heaven, then you're thinking like Jesus, talking like Jesus. And when you start doing that, you begin to get the Lord Jesus' results. And that's what we're looking for, right? Amen. So, what excites me so, sometime, just take off 30 minutes and read the book of Malachi. You remember that's the little tithing book? Huh? Did you know, over 20 times, I believe it's 22 times in that little book, the phrase "Lord of hosts" is used, in that little book. That little book is full of angels. Amen.
Just take a look at it. "Bring ye the tithes into my storehouse, saith the LORD of hosts". That's a command of the angels. And when He's talking about rebuking the devourer for your sake, the angels are ready to enforce it. Glory to God. Your angel has command from heaven by the Lord of hosts to take care of these situations. But see, you're boss over that angel. "Well, I thought Jesus was boss". Well, that's what you get for thinking instead of studying the New Testament. No. "To which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those that are heirs of salvation"?
Well, the name of Jesus carries authority in that realm. Our authority is not just over devils. Our authority in that realm has to do with all the spirit beings in that realm. Amen. All the principalities, all the powers. So there comes a time when it's time to issue a command, a faith command, concerning your angel. A friend of mine was having some financial difficulties, and he was praying about these things, so forth. He was in a hotel, about to go preach in someone else's church. And he heard the front door of the hotel. This was back before the cards, you know. It was when it was keys. And he said, "Oh, no, they've given my key to somebody else". And he turned around.
When he turned around, the ceiling disappeared so he just stepped over in the Spirit, see. And when it did, he said, "There stood two of the biggest things he had ever seen in his life". He said, "If the ceiling hadn't have disappeared, like," he said, "they would have been from here up. Their heads would have been outside". They were so big. And they were standing there armed. He said, "Who are you"? They said, "We are your prosperity angels, and we've come to help with you that building problem". And he said, "Man, they're just standing there". He said, "What are you waiting for"? They said, "The command"! And he said, "Go"! They were up against it. They had one day left. The bank would give them no extensions.
They were on a lease purchase of their sanctuary. And they didn't want them to make it because, over the five years they'd had it, the property had increased in value something like three or four times, whatever it was. They were hoping they'd lose it. And they needed something a little over $300,000. And he and his attorney were in there saying, "What can we possibly do"? Secretary comes in and says, "This is the guy you need to see". He walks in there, he's still in his jogging suit. He said, "I don't know why I'm doing this. I heard you preach once, and I don't like the way you preach". He said, "In fact, you kind of frighten me". But he said, "I had to do it". And he had just the amount... Those angels got on him while he was on the jogging track. Amen. They wouldn't even let him go change clothes.
I mean, man, you know, they had to get him down there right now. That ought to encourage some of you tonight. Don't take these things lightly. Spend time before the Lord, inquiring of the Lord. Don't just jump up and say, "Angels, do this," and "Angels, do that". No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Spend some time meditating on those scriptures starting there in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, 12, 13th, 14th verses. Amen? Now, I wanted us to see that where the principalities and the powers are concerned because it is so involved in the ministry of Jesus, and it's involved right here. Amen.
So now, let's go back to 7:24. And "A certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, came and fell at his feet: the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation; she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not right to take the children's bread, to cast it unto the dogs. She answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs". It only took one crumb to deliver that daughter. Whoa. Yeah. Amen. Oh, glory to God. "And he said unto her, For this saying," because you said that...
Now, you remember, He said, "Great is your faith". The faith was released in what she said. Amen? That's important to understand this whole situation. Now, number one, she worshiped him. She worshiped him. Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Let's just do that for a moment. Oh, thank You, Lord, thank You, Lord. Thank You. Oh, we worship You, Jesus. We worship You, Lord Jesus. We praise and worship You, Lord Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Lord, thank You, Lord. If there is one thing that I could put my finger on, that is far too lacking, it would be worship. Now, worship and praise are actually two different things.
I heard Brother Hagin say this: "If you praise God long enough, the spirit of worship will come and then you worship under the spirit of worship, and the glory will follow". And most of the time, we never get past the praise stage because most people don't do it anywhere except church. And really, the most powerful places of praise, it's wonderful. Don't misunderstand me about praising in church. My goodness, that's what we ought to be doing. Amen. But that's not the most intimate place of praise and worship. That ought to be your prayer closet. That ought to be right at home. Amen. Hallelujah.