Kenneth Copeland - The Blueprint of Faith
KENNETH: Hello, everybody. We're Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. Merry Christmas.
GLORIA: Merry Christmas.
KENNETH: Praise God. This is a good time, isn't it, Gloria?
GLORIA: It is.
KENNETH: I remember on this Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve was huge in our house.
GLORIA: I'm telling you, your mother was serious about Christmas.
KENNETH: My mama was Christmas. She was Christmas, Christmas. Now here's the thing, my birthday being December sixth, so she would start on my birthday and she'd go ahead and put the Christmas tree up. Well Gloria, for 20 days, I was like this and presents would start showing up under that tree. I'm telling you, the anticipation was almost unbearable by the time it got Christmas Eve. And I remember as just a young kid they were talking about, well maybe we should not do Christmas Eve anymore. Maybe we should wait until Christmas morning. Wait? I'm not going to. I can't stand it. And they all laughed.
GLORIA: I can imagine.
KENNETH: They all laughed and said, "Okay, okay, we'll stay with Christmas Eve," and we all opened our presents. Oh, it was such a time. And I was sitting here just before we started, just before we turned the cameras on. The hope. See, hope is in the future. We're going to be talking about the simplicity of faith today, but hope and faith are two different things. And if you get hope mixed up with faith, your faith won't work. But that hope is so important. It's an expectancy. Glory to God, and I'm telling you, by the time it got to be Christmas Eve, I could hardly stand it. And one of the most dangerous things in my life would be to sneak in there and look at those presents beforehand. My mama, no, no. You don't be doing that.
GLORIA: And you couldn't shake them or anything?
KENNETH: Oh yeah, you messed with them, but boy, the skin on that thing better not be broken anywhere. Father, thank you for this time today with our partners and with our radio and television audience. We praise you and thank you for this wonderful marvelous time of year. We're reaching out to you by faith today, a revelation from heaven, about these days and times of faith in which we live. And we receive it and thank you for it. In Jesus's name.
GLORIA: Jesus's name.
KENNETH: Amen.
GLORIA: Amen.
KENNETH: Let's open our Bibles once again in our many, many studies have faith and so forth. The most, Mark chapter 11, this wonderful teaching that Jesus did in 11 Mark concerning faith, beginning with the 22nd verse. Jesus answering, sayeth unto them, "Have faith in God". Now, how do you have faith in God? Well, first thing you do is decide. Well, praise God, I have faith in God. Okay, then say it. "I have faith in God". I take faith in God. Now, the cross reference says, "The faith of God". So if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you're a new creature. Anyone in Christ is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new and all things are of God. Now, that new creature has within it the faith of God because it was the faith, faith is a spiritual force. So when you made that decision in your heart and mind to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, faith came. And that faith was the spiritual force that did the recreation action in your spirit person, the real you. You are a spirit. You have a soul. You live in a body. The spirit you is just like God and you have God's faith. You Have God's righteousness. You have all of God inside you.
GLORIA: You're born of God.
KENNETH: You're born of God. He's your very own father. You're his very own child. His faith is in there. So don't ever say again, "Well, I just know I don't have any faith". You might say, "Well, my faith is not working like it should," but no, you have faith. If you know Jesus as Lord, you have faith. So you just say it. I have faith in God. For whosoever, well see, this will work for anybody. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart the inner man, but shall believe that those things which he sayeth shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he sayeth. Therefore, I say unto you what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. And when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any that your father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. Now then, let's center up here for a moment on this 24th verse. What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now Gloria, that's about as simple and easy...
GLORIA: That is simple, easy to understand. Everybody can do it.
KENNETH: Everybody can do it.
GLORIA: And it works.
KENNETH: Now, let's go over to the book of Hebrews, Gloria, in this 11th chapter here, verse one. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for. As you read through this 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews and all the things that these mighty... This is the Hall of Fame of Faith, all of these great things that occurred by faith. Faith is a spiritual force. Spiritual forces are the most powerful, the strongest forces that exist. Love, hate, faith, fear, blessing, cursing. These are the real forces. Now you come down onto that, then you've got mental forces. Well, there's some strength there, but nothing like spiritual forces. Then you come down the next step. The lowest step is physical strength. Well, that's the least of the three. Faith is not a physical force, so you don't feel it physically. Faith is not a mental force. It's not of the mind. Now, there are different religions and so forth believe it is, but that's not Bible. That's not based on something. That's based on something else, not the Bible. God is a spirit and you know anybody any stronger than him? No, you don't.
GLORIA: No.
KENNETH: He is a spirit. We are spirit beings like him. Therefore, we can do in the spirit what he says do in and by the spirit. Now, notice this. Now, faith is the spiritual substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Let's just stop right here. Well Gloria, looks like there's nothing left to do except just hope and pray. Well, you wasting your time just a hoping and a praying because there's no substance there to bring what you hope for into the now. Notice, now faith is. Faith is always now. God is always now. He's never in the past tense. He's always now. He's the now God. Amen.
GLORIA: Amen.
KENNETH: Let's think more about this because this is where prayers get messed up. This is the reason people pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and don't receive what they're praying for. And they just decide there's no use in praying. Well, there's not any use in praying if that's what you're gonna do. Prayer doesn't make faith work. Faith makes prayer work.
GLORIA: That's right.
KENNETH: So faith brings the thing that needs to come from the spirit unseen realm into this natural seen realm. Faith makes that transfer.
GLORIA: Faith receives, the Bible says.
KENNETH: That's it. It receives. Now, it takes it. So just say that faith is now and I believe now. Faith is now and I believe now. Now, let's go back to Mark 11 and let's see that in what we were reading here. Look at Mark 11:24. Therefore I say unto you what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe in that now. And when you pray, believe. Brother Copeland, it can't be that simple. Well, it is. Now, here's the problem. We have been trained, educated all of our lives in the natural world. This is not natural knowledge. This is supernatural knowledge. This is the way things work in the supernatural realm. And if you try to take the way things work in the natural realm and apply them to the supernatural realm, it keeps you in the natural realm so it doesn't reach out there. It doesn't take anything out of the unseen world and bring it in. All you have is just what you can see and the natural progression of that. Well, that's fine until you get some kind of sickness or something that's killing you and nobody's got any answer for it in the natural world. Now you in trouble. And let me say this to you. If you wait until you need faith to build and get faith.
GLORIA: If you only knew it, you need it all the time.
KENNETH: All the time. Now, let me tell you one thing. I believe this will help people. I was thinking about this before while I was still in the dressing room today. Let's use this as an example of that. You get a report that there's a very dangerous cancer in your body and this thing is already, by the time you found out about it, it is already in such a place to where You better really get with the program here. Here's the problem. That cancer was growing in your body from eight to 10 years before you found out about it. Now, see how a head start the devil and that satanic oppressing disease has on you?
GLORIA: Yeah.
KENNETH: So what's the answer to that? Hey, get strong now. Stay built up now. Feed on the word of God. Feed your faith. Faith, Romans 10:17-
GLORIA: Use your faith when you're well.
KENNETH: Oh yes, I've heard you preach that so many times. Every time I think about that, I just see your face with that statement. Believe for your health and your healing while you're well and strong. It's so much easier. And that's when you build, and that's when you train. You don't just kind of Cadillac along until you just get blindsided by something. Then you're just scrambling.
GLORIA: That's right. Same thing is true with prosperity. Don't wait until you're bankrupt to believe God for your prosperity.
KENNETH: I'm glad you brought that up because let me tell you, the reason I talk about healing is because of the dire circumstances, but now exactly the same laws, exactly the same rules of faith work in the financial realm.
GLORIA: Same scripturals work.
KENNETH: Yeah. Isn't that amazing? But then there are scriptures that are definitely financial and are scriptures that are definitely healing.
GLORIA: They're all good.
KENNETH: Yeah, thank you Lord. Well, let's talk about hope. In Titus, chapter two, if you want to turn over there. Amen. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, little Titus. Where are you, Titus? There you are. Titus, chapter two and the 13th verse, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now you notice that's in the future. In fact, that is a point in the future that we don't know what it is yet. We don't know when that's gonna happen, but we know it's going to happen. Now, where's my faith? My faith is I know that's gonna happen and when it does, I'm on gonna be standing there looking at it...
GLORIA: I'll be ready.
KENNETH: So you see, I have a strong expectancy of that.
GLORIA: Yes, amen.
KENNETH: Now then, let's look over here at Philippians and we'll look in the first chapter there, verse 19 of the first chapter. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope. Now, it's kind of amazing when you look that up in the Greek text. The two Greek words are almost the same but both of them mean just a white hot expectation. I'm expecting this. I'm telling you this is going to come to pass just as sure as, I mean, you understand? This is coming to pass.
GLORIA: There's only one source for that, and that's what's written right here.
KENNETH: Yes. It's in the future. Daughter, I'm expecting this.
GLORIA: But if it's here, it's as good as done. If you'll take it.
KENNETH: Quit getting ahead of me, will you?
GLORIA: Well, I'm gonna go home if you won't let me preach.
KENNETH: We are fooling right down the same channel.
GLORIA: That's why we get along.
KENNETH: Now see, he's hoping something here that's actually not written. Over here on the blessed hope, that's written. We know that's coming to pass, but now he has based this on other scriptures that... Well, let's go back now in the healing realm. Let's look at Matthew chapter eight and verse 17. Matthew 8:17, when evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all that were sick. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Now my cross reference is Isaiah chapter 53. Okay, let's go back over here to Isaiah chapter 53. If I was feeding on these the way I do at home, see all these tabs on top my Bible? All of those are the healing scriptures. I can just go back over here to the book of Genesis and just start flowing just one healing scripture right after another. Just one right after another. What am I doing? I'm feeding my spirit. I'm getting these into my consciousness where they're there all the time, they abide there all the time. At the slightest sign of anything, these things just start jumping out of my mouth.
GLORIA: That's good.
KENNETH: So there's Isiah. So we want to come over here to the 53rd chapter and notice what he says. And verse four, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Now the cross reference in many King James Bibles will say, he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. The word translated sorrow is translated pain. It's also translated disease. So the literal Hebrew says, he has borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases and pains. We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are saying, with his stripes, we are healed. Now, notice that is not future. That's now.
GLORIA: We are healed right now.
KENNETH: With his stripes, we are healed. That's faith, not hope. Well Brother Copeland, I'm gonna be healed someday. You just took it out of faith and put it in hope. Without faith, you can't ever get that...
GLORIA: Faith is the substance of things hoped for.
KENNETH: That expectancy, I tell you, that's strong but it doesn't have substance. It doesn't have the substance that it takes...
GLORIA: Another way to say that faith is the manifestation.
KENNETH: Good.
GLORIA: Manifestation is the substance happening.
KENNETH: The hope is a strong blueprint for the faith, but until you get it over in here, you don't have that spiritual force that changes the disease to health. It takes power to blow that cancer out of there. It takes power to change your spine. It takes power to put a stop to that thing, and particularly when you're dealing with something that takes a period of time for it come to pass. Now I'm ahead of myself, but I'm going to put this in here right now. Well, I need a miracle immediately. That's wonderful and they do occur, but they don't occur all the time. Those are manifestations of the gifts of the spirit, gifts of healings, working of miracles, special faith and so forth, but they're as God wills, but this works 100 percent of the time all the time.
GLORIA: If it's worked.
KENNETH: Yeah, but now the laws that govern this are accurate. They're unchangeable. They are the laws of faith, Romans 3:27. In working these laws, I'm telling you what you have to be diligent at it, you have to feed your spirit. If I have a goal here and I'm working physically, and I have a goal with this physical body, and I'm doing these things, I can't sit here and just dream about the barbells in there in the room. I got to go in there and do the things that it takes. And it takes time. These are your spiritual barbells and we're out of time.
GLORIA: Already?
KENNETH: It's about time I figured out what I'm going to do here.