Kenneth Copeland - Bring the Love of God From the Inside Out
Open your Bibles to Mark, chapter 11. Jesus answering, saith unto them, Verse 22, "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe". Believe what, Jesus? Believe that those things, believe that those words, which he saith shall come to pass. That's what you believe in your heart. And say with your mouth. He shall have, now listen to Jesus, shall or will, it's the same word. That is the strongest affirmation in the English language. He will. He will. Say I will. He will have. He shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore, I say unto you, "What things soever you desire, when you pray, when you pray, that's when you start believing". When you pray, believe that you receive. That word translated, receive. I looked it up the night before last, again. It means to take in order to carry away. Take it and walk away with it. Amen. Now see that doesn't take anything away from Jesus or away from God because he's offering it. Therefore, I say unto you, "What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them and you shall have them". And, say "And". When you stand praying, forgive if you have aught. That's anything against any. So that your father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.
Now we know. We know that the Bible says, "Faith worketh by love". Say this, "God. Is. Love". He doesn't have love. Say it. He is love. He has faith. Come on, say it with me. He has faith, but he is love. In the beginning of love. Created the heavens and the earth. Hallelujah. All right. Now then, faith does not work in an unforgiving heart. It won't work in an unforgiving atmosphere. Now I'm going to tell you something, I didn't realize this until I heard brother Hagan say it. He said, "You can just go check out Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John".
Now, there are other hindrances to faith, but this is the one that Jesus brought up and it's the only thing he said about it. This one goes at the top of the list. Then you can see it. Once you know that, you can see it in his other teachings right here. Let's look back here at the fourth chapter, Book of Mark, 14th verse. "The sower soweth the word. These are they by the wayside where the word is sown, but when they have heard Satan cometh immediately". When? Immediately. What does he do? He steals, he kills and destroys.
Now let me warn you about something. I've noticed this. Well, I didn't notice it, but the Lord called my attention to it, as I listened to other people preach and teach and so forth. It seems the tendency, and I know it was mine, I quoted it wrong. I kept saying, "This is from John 10". I kept saying, "The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy". That's not what Jesus said. He put the stealing first. Steal what? The word. If he can't steal the word, he can't kill you. If he can't steal the word, he can't destroy anything you have. His primary goal was not to kill, it's to steal. He's the thief and the killer and the destroyer.
So practice that. Practice that. Keep yourself aware of it. When you hear other people said, "Look, don't judge him". You just notice. No, no, no. If he can't steal the word, he can kill me. Don't put killing first. Are you with me now? All right. Now then. Thank you Lord. Let's get back where we were. On the act of forgiveness, it is an act fulfilling the commandment of God to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and strength, New Testament, and love your neighbor as yourself. What does that do? That fulfills the law. Then one step further, Jesus said, "And love one another, even as I have loved you or love the brethren, even as I have loved you". Amen.
Now forgiveness falls in an area of commandment, not a suggestion. We're born again believers. We're Holy Ghost people. This is the way we live. Yeah, "But Brother Copeland, you don't know what they did to me". "No, I don't. And bless your heart, get over it". It's a commandment, babe. This isn't something for you to play with "Yeah, well, I'm not going to do it". Your in real danger. That is a dangerous position to take, especially when you know better. You can get a hold of something like that and walk in it and let it pass until you just forget it, and it just ride right there in your spirit.
Do you know, if you listen to what the Bible says, there are people weak, sickly, and die prematurely for not discerning the Lord's body. I'm not talking about discerning what he did on the cross. I'm thinking about his body in the earth for not forgiving, judging somebody, and then just go and kind of forget about it. You got poison down in your spirit. It's poisoning you. Your faith isn't working. I don't care how many confessions you make. "Oh, don't we", You might as well sit down and shut up. You don't have any things say. It's like people that don't vote.
"Well, I don't like what Mr. Trump". Just shut up, you don't have anything to say. You can pray, but you don't have any comment until after November, 2020 and you go get yourself up there and vote "I don't see how come we got socialism. Now we got a Muslim". Because the body of Christ sat on their hands. That's not the fault of the people. That's not the fault of the people that voted for those folks. It's the fault of the church for not voting. I'm going to get on you now and I'm going to ride you like you had a saddle on you, sweetheart, until November the second of 2020.
You're going to get in there and you're going to vote and you're going to vote the way God tells you to vote. And thanks to Jesus and Donald Trump, I can preach politics any time I want. I don't mind telling you right now, and all the rest of you out there, and you can just shut me off if you want to, you just try it. I'm voting for Donald Trump when it comes up 2020 in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Why? Because I don't kill babies. And I don't vote for anybody that does. And I vote. I haven't missed an election in years and years and years, glory to God. "Brother Copeland, why don't you just keep preaching the gospel"? "I just got through preaching the gospel to you. If you don't like it, go wait in the car til I get through". I ministered a long time.
Now forgiveness. I want to tell you something. I walk in forgiveness where those things are concerned. I'm very bold about it, but I don't judge the people. I pray for Nancy Pelosi, bless her heart. I pray for her, and I found out her daughter is in a full big praise God full gospel church. Now see, you can go start judging her and be way out of line. She's Catholic, but I saw her standing there right at George Bush, seniors casket, his lying in state. She stopped and went back and stood over that casket. And I said, "Oh God bless her. Oh God bless him". "Well, you don't know what her motive was".
I don't care what her motive was. I love that woman. I love Chuck Schumer. I don't go along with his politics. I love him. You got to love him, and you've got to forgive and walk in love, glory to God. Hallelujah. You vote, I love you. You don't vote, I love you. You vote for the wrong side, I love you. Oh yeah, "I love you, but we need to talk". Thank you Lord. Praise you Jesus.
Now where was I? I want us to go from this place over to First John, and I want to us to look in the fourth chapter of First John, praise God, verse 16. "We have 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. For here is our love made perfect or comes to maturity. That we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world, there is no fear in love". Say it, "There is no fear in love".
There is no fear in love. You don't have to be afraid to forgive somebody. I don't care who they are, how nasty they are or what they're liable to do to you, but perfect, that's not talking about perfection, that's talking about practicing love, that's talking about living in it, working in it, developing in it, allowing it to develop in you because God is love. He is perfect. That love is perfect and it will begin to perfect you and me, but you have to walk in it, think about it, meditate on it, get it in your hearts, say it with your mouth, glory to God. You could put it that where Jesus said "Have faith in God".
You can put it right there. Have the God kind of love. That's not something you pray to get. You got it when your born again. Amen. You're born of love. You born from above. You're not born of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God, the word of love, translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. You look up the word dear and it's agape, the Son of his love. The love Son is your Lord and your blood brother. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Perfected growing, living love, casts out fear. It doesn't manage it, it gets rid of it. Fear is the master. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Fear of death is the master fear. All other fears come from the fear to death. You're not afraid of flying. You're afraid of dying. The first death was a murder. All kinds of fears, fear of people, fear of what they're going to do to me and all that kind of thing. "Well, I can't make myself vulnerable here. I can't do that". "No, come on. Yeah, you can. You love them, just love them". "Well, I don't fell anything". I didn't say, "Feel for them". I said, "Love them". You may not even like them, but you can love them.
Jesus said to Peter, "Peter, do you agape me"? Agape, is not an act of feeling. It's an act of the will. I will. I love you regardless what you do. That's the love of God. He loved you before you were born. He loved you when you were born. He loved when your mean, before you got saved. Oh Lord, I look back on Kenneth B.C. and it... But I want you to know he loved me and he put me with a woman that loved me unconditionally, and between Gloria and Jesus, they have jerked a whole lot of slack out of me. Glory to God. Can you see that?
That's agape love, and Gloria has proven that out in 57 years of marriage, 13th of next month. She's proven it out. She's loved me at my worst. She's loved me at my best. And I'm sitting there all grumped up. She reached over and put her hands on me and just very sweetly she said, "Kenneth, I find no fault in you, and I know Jesus doesn't either". Oh, changed that day. There were two specific days like that that really just changed the course of my life. You can do that, but not without a decision, not without a decision. You have to decide. I believe I will. I take it. I take that kind of love. I have it. I'm so grateful for it, and I forgive if I have fought against it. Thank you. Give him a praise right now. Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus.
Say, "Jesus. Here's this pain. It's gone from me. Not my pain, you bore mine". Glory be to God. When you begin to keep that commandment, how many things you start straightening up? Thank you Lord.
Now I'm getting somewhere with this, something the Lord said to me earlier this morning. Why is it that God is so interested in your being free, and my being free of fear because fear hath torment, worry hath torment, unforgiveness hath torment. Things torment you. The news torments you. Politicians torment you. People come around you and say things just smiling and it torments you, just irritates you, just aggravate the sap out of you. And you think, "Why do they aggravate me? Those are nice people. I don't know, but get them out here". It's fear. Well, I don't have any fear of them. It doesn't have to be fear of them. It's living in you.