Kenneth Copeland - Messiah Means Anointing
Kenneth: Merry Christmas everybody glory to God and welcome to the believers voice of victory broadcast.
Gloria: Thank you Lord.
Kenneth: Father, thank you. Oh God, we are so thrilled today. We're just, Oh, it's beyond words and we thank you and praise you, Jesus. We open our hearts and minds today for revelation knowledge concerning the birth of Jesus, concerning why Christmas, concerning what it's all about, glory to God, and in depth ideas and revelations concerning it, the truth of it, in Jesus' name, amen. Praise God.
And again, welcome everybody to the studio today. We love y'all. Glory to God. Amen. How many on staff at KCM? How many partners with KCM? Oh, glory to God, hallelujah. Well, how many are not on staff at KCM? There's not that many people in here, I mean. Glory to God. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew, chapter one. Now, remember yesterday, now we were talking about the fact that the word Christ is the Greek translation of the word Messiah. Messiah is the Hebrew word anointing. So when the Jews talked about Messiah, the one anointed of God, the deliverer, now we know it was Jesus. Amen.
And so where are we got, I mean, where the curve ball came was in the translators not re-translating it out of Greek, the word Christ. Some people think it's his name. Some people think it's his title. It's neither. It has to do with what he preached.He preached, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Now how would that sound? The spirit of the Lord has christened me. It would mean exactly the same thing using the Greek word and now you understand why other other denominations use that. Particularly the Catholics use that, to christen. And we are Christians and they first called us Christians at Antioch because all we preach was exactly what Jesus preached until the apostle Paul came along.
That's all, now I mean that's all, when they say Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ, what did he preach? The same thing that Jesus preached. Same thing Peter preached at Cornelius' house. How Jesus went out doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Anointed, God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and power. Amen. So the apostle Paul then came along. He's the first one educated in the scriptures about, now the others went to synagogue. Well, you know what they heard? They heard the curse, but they weren't students. Peter's a fisherman and all of them, wealthy men. But now, the apostle Paul came along. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. I mean, he was a learned man. But then he took that message, that very same message, and then he began to expound on it. Ah. Oh, glory to God. Hallelujah. And he talked about it and he lived it and he preached it. Hallelujah.
And that's the reason that God called on him to write two thirds of the New Testament. Now, none of them knew they were writing a New Testament. They were writing letters. You understand? But God knew. Yeah. I'm putting this new covenant together. Now why was it so tough on the apostle Paul? Why did he have to go through so much? I asked the Lord that one day, and you know the word, the way he told Ananias, he said, "I have shown him what he must suffer for my namesake", and I said, "Lord, why"? And very clearly the Lord said to me in my spirit, he said, "Kenneth, he had to prove that what would become the New Testament would work in the field against everything the devil could throw at you".
Gloria: Praise God.
Kenneth: He couldn't kill him. He tried, killed him once or twice and couldn't keep him dead. I mean, he did it believing God. He did it, believing in his heart and saying with his mouth the word of faith, which we preach, glory to God.
Gloria: Praise God. Amen.
Kenneth: How? I done preach myself happy and the joy of the Lord's all over me right now. Amen. That's the reason, see, Mass is celebration. Christ is anointing. That's the reason we shall not break this anointing and celebrate his coming.
Gloria: Praise God.
Kenneth: Hallelujah. That's what Christmas is all about.
Gloria: Thank you Lord.
Kenneth: And it's about giving and it's about a lot of fun, but that's what's behind it and that's the reason we celebrate. I'm going to say the same thing I said to you yesterday. These people come up saying they're not going to celebrate that. That's a pagan holiday. It ain't been a pagan holiday for probably a thousand years. So get over it, will you? We took this holiday over. It belongs to us.
Gloria: Praise God.
Kenneth: And the whole world celebrates it. Except, I won't go into, but anyway. All right, Matthew 1:18, "Now the birth of Jesus, the anointed was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband being a just man, a righteous man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately".
We touched on that yesterday, right at the close of the broadcast. Where men that, even jokingly, it ain't right to downgrade your wife. It's not right for a woman downgrade her husband. Even if they're out eating with friends or just visiting and just, I don't know, just yak, yakking it at one another. Glory to God. No, that ain't right. It's not good. Christian people especially ought not be acting like that.
"But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, 'Joseph thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. She shall bring forth a son. Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all of this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold, a Virgin shall be with child and bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.' Then Joseph being raised sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took onto him his wife".
Thank you Lord. "And knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship him.' When Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together and demanded of them where Christ, the anointed one should be born and they said unto him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophets and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared and he sent to Bethlehem and him and said, 'Go and search diligently for the young child'".
They were not at the manger. There were no wise men at the manger and there was not three of them. They carried an entire band with them, entourage that traveled with them. They had military protection. These are Kings. Wise men, they're Kings. And but people over the years have traditionally put that there's three wise men, where they got that is there were three gifts. Okay, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So now I'm not saying that that's wrong, but it's better to know the truth about it. They were not at the manger, so no.
Verse eight again, "He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search diligently for the young child. And when you found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also.' When they had heard the King, they departed and lo the star, which they saw in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was". Not the baby. "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding".
And let me tell you something, particularly those of you in the radio and television audience, don't get uppity over that, and just say, well that... No, no, no, no. Don't be that way. It's a composite and how else would you do it? You're going to have 50 wise men out here in a house or so. Get over it, all right. Amen. But it's good to know the truth. So, "And when they were coming to the house", Not the manger. "When they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother and fell down and worshiped him. And when they'd opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh".
That word presented is act, and find, you'll find it in a cross reference in many Bibles. They offered. It was an offering and they worshiped him. It was a worship offering and they were worshiping a baby King. He wasn't a baby, but he's still wasn't but two years old or so. He's just toddler and, but they fell down and they worshiped him. Amen. "And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And when they were departed, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, 'Arise, take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt'".
Now this is me. Flee into Egypt, now that you have the money to do it. Lot of gold, then frankincense and myrrh. Amen. Of course, all three of them were very symbolic, but frankincense was a medicine. And I won't go into all that, but it did represent big time. But the main thing here is the gold. Because he didn't, I mean, he had a good business. He's a carpenter and he's not a poor man, because he had to go to Bethlehem to pay taxes. And we'll talk about this tomorrow.
But I want you to notice something when, and the only reason he's in a manger, particularly those in the radio and television audience, or it wasn't because they were poor. It's because the scripture says they were slowed down because of her travails. She's about to deliver. And anyway, there was no more room in the inn, they had the money. I mean, it wasn't that. And did you notice that there were no shepherds paying taxes? Poor folks don't pay taxes. That there is where you say, Amen.
Gloria: Think about Mary. Now if Kenneth had said when I was nine months pregnant, let's walk to Dallas. I don't know if I would have gone or not.
Kenneth: Worse than that, Gloria, she rode a donkey.
Gloria: Oh, no.
Kenneth: No, no. No, but that even makes it even more...
Gloria: My goodness.
Kenneth: The divine timing of the whole thing.
Gloria: Yes, they were bold.
Kenneth: Amen. We're going to see a lot of things like that in tomorrow's broadcast. Verse 14, when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod. He was there awhile. And it took money. And they left the middle of the night with their pockets full of dough. Hallelujah. Until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, "Out of Egypt, have I called my son". Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise man, was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coast thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time, which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Gloria: Now that was sorry, wasn't it.
Kenneth: And I said, Oh God, all those babies, all those children were killed on account of Jesus and on account of us? And the Lord said, They're all martyrs. They're all martyrs. They have great heavenly reward. Can you imagine being a baby slaughtered for the sake of Jesus, the Messiah, and the kind of palace in which they live in the heavenlies. Glory to God. Thank you Jesus. Then it was fulfilled that which was it spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet saying, "In Raymah, there was a voice heard, a lamentation and weeping in great mourning. Rachel, weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not".
And when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, "Arise, take the young child and his mother go into the land of Israel. For they are dead, that sought the young child's life". And he arose, took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father, Herod... Archelaus, excuse me. He was afraid to go there. Notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene".
Now, here's what I want you to see out of this. How much time have I got? Ten, please? Perfect. Every picture you see of Jesus, he has long hair. The reason most artists picture him that way is because he's called a Nazarene. A Nazarite vow did not allow you to have your hair cut. Samson was under a Nazarite vow. Are you listening? Jesus was not. He was not. And I don't believe he had long hair.
I won't go into all the reasons why I don't believe that. But, one way or the other it doesn't matter, but here's what does matter, he was not under that vow. He could have cut his hair if he wanted cut his hair. Amen. Glory to God. Well, I'll go ahead and tell you what the apostle Paul said, he made the comment, now it wasn't a law and he said so, but he made the comment that, and this is according to the old covenant, "Unless", and I'm adding this to it, "Unless you're under a Nazarite vow, it's a shame for a man to have long hair". And when you go the Hamash and other places to look at that, the hair to be long enough for it to curl up at the end.
Gloria: Hmm.
Kenneth: Well, what about all the men got all that long hair? Shut up. That's their hair. They can grow it however their wife likes it. Amen.
Gloria: You tell him.
Kenneth: Thank you Jesus. I mean it now, just keep your mouth shut about that. Glory to God, because we're not under that, we're not under a Nazarite law either. Glory to God. Amen. Thank you Jesus. Are we okay? How much time we got? Oh, I've got just the perfect amount. Okay. Yes sir. Let's go, well let's just go to the fifth verse.There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron. And her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.
And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they both were well stricken in years. It came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest office, his lot to burn incense and so forth and the whole multitude of the people who were praying with them. And there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord standing on the ride side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell on him.
And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear the son and thou shall call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness. And many people shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he should be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord, their God. And he shall go before in the spirit and the power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Zacharias said to the angel, Whereby, shall I know this? I'm an old man, my wife is well stricken in years. And the angel answering, said until him, I'm Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these things. And behold, though shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day of these things shall be performed, because you believe not my words. I'm going to have to keep your mouth shut. Keep you from fouling this thing up. Glory to God. And shall be fulfilled in their season.