Kenneth Copeland - The Answers Are In Your Born-Again Spirit
Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast.
Father, thank you. We give you praise and thank you. We worship you today. Let's just worship the Lord for a few moments. Just minister to him. We minister to you, Lord Jesus. We thank you for all that you've done for us and giving us insight into these wonderful truths and these wonderful things for we're more and more and more looking into the perfect law of liberty and more and more and more the truth is making us free. Hallelujah. And we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, our text has been from Mark 11, but we're not gonna go there today, for the sake of time. We have pointed out from Mark 11 that you believe in your heart, and Jesus demonstrated the God kind of faith. You believe it in your heart, you say it with your mouth. Now, think about this. We know that by faith God created. The book of Hebrews very plainly declares that, not only there but it's backed up by other scriptures in the Bible, of course. He's a faith God. Excuse me. So, that's what He did. He believed it and said it, and it came to pass. Amen.
Now, in Romans chapter 3, there has been dealt to every born-again believer, the King James translation says every man, but when you take a look at that, he wasn't talking to every man. He's talking to the church in Rome. And he said every man among you. Amen. Excuse me. There has been dealt to every born-again believer the measure of faith. All of us got the same measure of faith. Now, it's what we do with it later. It can grow. It can lie stagnant, lay stagnant. Lie stagnant, lay stagnant, either way sounds right to me. Amen. Or unused. That's our decision. But faith cometh. That's a hundred percent. "Well, I'm praying for it". You're wasting your time, 'cause it's already in there. Amen.
Now, I'm saying these things to once again take a little bit different look at this inner man, and why it's so important for the growth... We desire the sincere milk of the word as babies, that we may grow thereby. The apostle Paul wrote to Thessalonica and said, "Your faith grows exceedingly". I like that. That means it's growing all the time. Hallelujah. Well, now, being aware, more and more and more aware of your spiritual surroundings. See, we have already been raised up together and made to sit together with Him in heavenly places, according to Ephesians chapter 2. And if you read that carefully, he said, "Jesus has been raised up and seated far above, far above, all principalities". Powers. Rulers. Far above. Not just above, far above.
Well, we've been raised up to sit with Him. Hey, that should be in our consciousness. We shouldn't be conscious, have a sin consciousness, praise God, but a righteous consciousness. A raised-up consciousness. This comes from time meditating in this Word and seeing yourself seated at the throne of Christ. Hallelujah. In that environment. Glory be to God. I'm seated at the family table in the presence of that devil and all his bunch. There ain't a thing he can do about it. See, that puts you in a place where you quite giving him so much credit. Meditating. I have the God kind of faith. Whoa! Yeah! I have a measure. Be good for you. Just run outside on a real clear night. I have a measure of the same faith that put those planets out there! My God! Hallelujah! I have a measure of the same faith that raised Jesus up out of hell! I have a measure of the same faith, the God kind of faith dwells in me right now! Hallelujah! Whoo! Meditation will get you there.
I was, this is, oh, I was still a student at Oral Roberts University. One bright, clear winter night, I was with my dear friend Tommy Tyson. He's in heaven today. And it was a full moon. It was so gorgeous. And Tommy had just spoken at this large prayer group, and man, we walked out, and there was that full moon. It's just staring us in the face. I said, "Glory to God, look at that". Tommy said, "Hahaha, my daddy made that"! And it kind of shocked me when he said it, you know. Oh, glory to God. I said to Tommy one time, I said, "Tommy, help me, brother". He said, "What's the matter, Kenneth"? I said, "I'm in the valley". He said, "Kenneth, that's where the lilies grow". I don't want to hear nothing about no lily! Oh, what was the matter with me? I was a baby. I was a baby. I don't want to hear about lilies!
Okay. Oh, my. First Peter, chapter 3. And let's look at the fourth verse. Let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. A quiet spirit. What does that mean? Entered into rest. Right in the middle of hell on earth. You remember, some of you know do, a number of years ago, there were six ministries that they've... United States, a particular senator in the Senate, took off after these six churches and it was a mess. Anyway, if you're not careful, stuff like that just really, really make you mad.
Well, Creflo Dollar was one of them. When Creflo and I talked back and forth. And I called him and I said, "Glory to God, Creflo". I said, "I'm at rest". He said, "I am, too. Glory to God". And he said, "You know, when we rest, God works". You're talking about the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews. And when we work, He rests. Well, this is a time I don't need Him resting right now. I need to be resting right now. He needs to be doing something. Amen.
Now, in the middle of all that, it was, boy, this stuff was getting run in the papers and all that kind of mess. In the middle of meditating that and believing God for his wisdom and just keeping my mouth shut... Now, we answered each thing they put up there. Our attorneys, one of the greatest attorneys known to man when it comes to church law and so forth... My, what a man of God. Anyway, I still didn't know what to do. This thing looked like it's just going to go on and on and on and on.
Just suddenly, it just popped into my thinking. The Lord said, "Have your son John take all of that material"... Which, is church material, inside the auspices of Internal Revenue Service. And all, everything in the Internal Revenue is confidential. So, but now, if you give up that, then it's no longer confidential. Anyway, and I saw it. Now, without a quiet and peaceful heart, I couldn't have done this. So, my instruction was to have John take all of the... It was a stack of stuff about this high of our records, and call the... There was a young man that we knew very well that was on the news. He was camera man on the news staff of one of the local news stations here, and so he said, "Call him, and have him be there with his cameras". And of course we had our cameras there.
Call over Dallas at the IRS headquarters of tax-exempt status of people that were in charge of all of our material and everything, the ones that we deal with and report to. Have him meet him, have him meet John out on the steps of the building over there and say, "Senator, here is all of the material that you asked for". And he just handed it to the IRS guy. Everything you asked for is right there. And here is a letter, sir, inviting you to come and inquire this ministry, in other words, audit this ministry any day of any week of any month. Our door is open to you, sir.
I want to tell you one thing, your books better be in order. You better not be having any... You see, if I'd have been afraid or if we'd had something in our books and all that, the Lord never would've even told me to do that in the first place. But I had a quiet spirit. I trusted. Amen. I trust Him. It ended right there. I wouldn't have dreamed that, I wouldn't have dreamed that up until this very day if the Lord hadn't said that to me. But I'll trust Him, and I'm quiet in his presence. Well, there has to be times when you get quiet in his presence. I mean, read that again. Let it be the hidden man of the heart. What's He talking about? You. The real you. That this is where the peace is. It's not in your mind.
I got tickled at Keith Moore, and one of my favorite people. I've got a lot of favorite preachers, but he's one of them. And Keith's a good friend. And he said, he's talking about worrying and having peace of mind and peace in your spirit and so forth and down the same lines that we're talking about. And he said, "Now, you're going to lay there all night long worrying". He said, "You're like a person that goes to a file cabinet and goes through each file from the front all the way to the back, then from the back all the way to the front, then takes all of the files out of the file drawer, puts them back in there one at a time".
It ain't in there! The answer to that problem wasn't in my mind! Hallelujah! Amen! It wasn't in my mind! It was in the Spirit of God! And the Spirit of God's living in my spirit, and He's living in your spirit, and you need to be able to hear what He's got to say about the situation. Hallelujah! And you get just as happy and wild as I am right now, 'cause this'll do something for your future, brother, sister! Amen! You quit sweating it. You quit worrying about it. Well, what about that son of mine? Let him go! Amen! Oh, yeah. Is he grown? Yeah. Well, you missed your chance. You raised him. Trust God. Trust God. Did you bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Yes. Well, he'll be all right. Did you bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Nah, wasn't even saved. He will still be all right, 'cause you're saying, now, the Lord understands every word of that. Amen.
So just do what God said, what Jesus said. The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are a few. So bind the devil and pray the Lord, send laborers across his path with a message of his salvation. And trust God! Quit worrying! Quit meditating on him going to hell and begin to see that young man just thrilled with Jesus. Amen! Oh my God, he's already in the penitentiary! Well, ain't nothing you can do about that! So quit worrying about it! Amen, and there's somebody in the pen that'll help him. One of the biggest revivals on the face of the earth is in the penitentiaries of the United States. Hallelujah! I know. I preach in 'em. Thank you, Lord! Well, glory, I better get down to my business here.
All right. Second Peter, now that was first Peter, 3-4, second Peter, and let's look at chapter 1. And, you know, let's look at the 13th verse. Let's read down in that. The 12th verse. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, or right, as long as I am in this tabernacle. Okay, now, there's another picture of the inward man and the outward man. I live in this tabernacle. Again, I like something that Charles Capps said. He said, "This is my earth suit". I can't live in this earth without this thing, like you can't live in space without a spacesuit, 'cause your environment. Your earthly environment is inside that suit, so you can survive and even work in outer space.
Well, this is an earth suit. You step out of this thing, you're out of here. There are no human spirit beings roaming around the earth. Somebody tells you that there is, they don't know what they're talking about, 'cause when you... A human spirit, now there are demon spirits roaming around here, and there are familiar spirits that mimic dead people, but they're not here. A spirit, a human spirit, is the strongest thing there is other than God. Now, what do you think about somebody like Hitler, released from his body and still roaming around the earth? Hey, that's what hell is for. Hell is a holding tank. It was created for Satan and his angels, not for men. It was not created for men. It was created for Satan and his angels. Amen. So, human spirits are the most powerful. We're created in the image and likeness of God Himself.
Now, that, I wanted you to see that tabernacle, that idea, this body is the tabernacle in which I live and have my being. Not me. So, everything that's going on should be going on in here. Now, I noticed this. Well, 1 Kings 19, please. How much time I got? We'll have time to introduce this. 1 Kings 19. And look at the 11th verse. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire; the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still, small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? The still, small voice. That's the voice of your spirit.
Now, even the natural world, natural carnal human beings have hunches. Sometimes, the telephone will ring. Hmm, wonder what Kellie wants? I mean, that's my daughter, you know. And I was thinking, that's Kelie. And 99 times out of 100, it is. And you pick up the phone, and she says something, and say, "Hey, Kellie". Well, how'd I know it was Kellie? I recognized her voice. So you need to be recognizing the voice of the Lord. Now, I'm going to get into this for tomorrow, and knowing the difference when God's talking and when the devil's trying to con you. Because the voice of your spirit, the voice of the Lord, is in here. The devil's voice is in here, and we're out of time.