Kenneth Copeland - Receive Your Covenant Promises by Having a Willing Heart
Turn with me to Isaiah chapter one please. Now we were, we were having some difficulty financially, it seemed like financially we were bottled up and, this is several years ago, and I had checked are we walking in love? Yes. I mean all these things, and I said Lord, what is this? Then, I quoted this scripture in the 19th verse, "If you'd be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land". Now you notice the willing part is first. The willing part is first. He said, you don't qualify for that. What? He said, you do not qualify for that. Well, okay. He said you've been obedient all these years, but you were not willing. Well, you know, it kind of stumped me there for a moment. I didn't know what he was talking about. Now you have to understand, I've not heard the audible voice of God.
Now I heard it one night that to me it was audible, but he wasn't talking to me about something like what I'm talking about now. I was flying home one night and I'm in the airplane by myself, and just as I was flying home, I heard it. I thought it was audible "coming to you from the revival capital of the world". I looked down and checked my audio panel to see if I'd left the low frequency radio on, which I never do that, but I thought maybe I had. But I hadn't, and I thought, I know where the political capital of the world is, Washington DC. I know where the, entertainment capital of the world, it's, it's Hollywood, it's Los Angeles. I know where the country music capital of the world is, Nashville, Tennessee. Where is the revival capital of the world?
Well, by this time I was so close and to needing talk to approach control that I just set it aside and didn't think about it. Just a few days later, one of our board members, and he's in Heaven today, thank God he and his wife both. Anyway, he called and he described this property to me and so we went out to look at it and it's the property that, that the ministry is on today, which was, a Naval air station during World War II, or Marine air station, well, Navy, same thing. Then a man by the name of Pewitt bought it out of the government and it's a, it's a long, very interesting story that I don't have time to tell you right now, but then with no money, we bought it from him and he, my goodness, and he helped us, and he was a very sweet man.
Anyway, I still wasn't thinking about that situation. We went out there and looked at that place, and I remembered it then from my high school days, they used to have car races out there and stuff. So I decided, I held a barbwire fence open, Gloria called crawl through it. I stepped over it and I heard it again "coming to you from the revival capital of the world". Then in here the Lord said, this will be called the revival capital of the world and you are going to build it. That's important that the Lord wanted me to tell you that because it, it fits now right along in here with what we're going to talk about.
Well, we were on weekly television. We were on Sundays and, we had been on radio, we were in Australia during the time that we were there. There were several real, high profile, ministry, TV ministers, scandals, and my we were watching that. We were watching that, and everybody's talking about televangelist. One, you know that I was, the Lord said, "when you get home, I want you to start a daily broadcast". No, no, no, no. I don't think I want to do that. No, no, no, no, no, no. For one thing, I was very unwise in my scheduling and so forth. At one time, even in recent times, something happened to me with a lot of pain, I said, Lord, what? What is this? He said, Kenneth, I called you to rest 52 days a year. You don't rest 52 days in five years. Uh Oh. So I had to learn that lesson and here, fast forward, he said, you don't qualify for this, this verse. He said, you've been obedient all these years, but you were unwilling.
Now turn with me please, to 2 Chronicles. I'll finish that story as we look at this. Look at 2 Chronicles 25, first two verses, "Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign, He reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in the sight of God, but not with a perfect or not with a willing heart". He did what was right, he obeyed, but he was not willing to do it. Now look at 2 Chronicles 15:16 verse "And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the King, he removed her from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa cut down her idol, and stomped it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel", so he disobeyed there. "Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war under the five and 30th year of the reign of Asa".
Now, he didn't get it all right, but he had a willing heart. If you have a willing heart, God can deal with you. You can do everything right and not have a willing heart and, you're not even really getting any credit for it, and that's the shape that I was in. He said, and all the way home, I'm telling you that 13 hour, 747 ride from Sydney to Los Angeles, I sat there that whole time. I said, Lord, I don't know, I don't know whether I can physically live over this or not. I was so exhausted. That was my fault, not God's. I kept adding stuff to that schedule that He never told me to do. That's a lesson that young preachers need to learn. Anyway, and I just did not want to do that at all. I tried my best to talk him out of it and He just wouldn't listen.
So I said, okay. And man, I hurried home and got ahold of Terry and George. Terry was our oldest daughter was, was our TV producer that time. I called her, I told her, I said, Terry, we're going to have to go on, what was this George in 1989? Oh man, I didn't want to do this thing. So, but they got busy, and the building that's our studio now, started out to be a warehouse, but it wasn't finished. Man, we got in there and changed that into a TV studio and so forth and got it all ready for that daily.
I thought, well, I'll ask my spiritual father about this, Oral Roberts. I said, what about this sir? He said, Kenneth, it is so daily. You know what he was telling me? The Lord told you to do it, so shut up and do it. I said, yes, sir. The Lord said to me, I'm talking about it was just a few years ago, he said, you haven't had a decent thing to say about daily television since the day I told you to do it. He was right. He took me to Deuteronomy 28:47 and the curse of the law. Well, let's just turn over there and look at that. This is worth taking the time to do this, Deuteronomy 28 the first 13 chapters of the 20th chapter of Deuteronomy is the blessing of Abraham. Then you come, it begins then in the 15 chapter, "It'll come to pass if you're not harken to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and do his commandments and statutes, which I command thee this day, all these curses shall come on you and overtake you".
Now look at the 47th verse. Let's read down into that, 45, "Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and thou shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till you be destroyed; because you hearkened not under the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: They shall be upon thee for a sign and a wonder, and upon the seed forever. Because you serve not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things". He said that right there is the problem, that's been just riding your coat tail all these years. He didn't say coat tail, but that's essentially what he said.
So I said, sure. Glory to God. I love daily television. I love daily tele, it don't take long to make an adjustment you know. So the very, the very next time to broadcast on the daily, I tell you, I sat down in there and of course one of the first things I said those of you that were watching, of course you didn't understand what I was doing, but man I'm taking care of business. I said, I want to tell you, I love doing daily television, glory to God. And when I said it on camera, now most of the time I'd go in there and I'd, I wouldn't smile until that red light came on. Now one time I went in there so exhausted, I just stared at the camera and I couldn't, I was so tired and so exhausted and I said, I'm going home. I quit. Gloria said, I'll do it.
Now you don't understand, Gloria was the quietest person I'd ever met in my life, and we'd have friends and she'd sit there all evening not saying anything. And of course I talked you know, she said, well, you talked enough for both of us. That was true. One of the first places we went where I was preaching in a, in a church, the pastor back in the speaker's room said, sister Gloria, when we get out, I'm going to invite you to read to people. She said, no thank you I don't do that. So of course she just, she didn't want to get up in front of anybody. She didn't like to even stand up and greet people.
Oh, those days are over, anyway, but he did it anyway. He said, sister Gloria, would you like stand up and greet the people? She stood up and said, I told you I don't do that and sat down. He said, okay. I knew it was coming, and I thought man you bet your going to wish you hadn't done that. But then she spoke up and said, I'll do it. She had to step out of her place and step in and do it and she's still doing it. Glory to God. Hallelujah. What a woman, willing and obedient. That first day I got in there and I said, I love daily television and the glory of God hit me, and I got up and danced around that table, man I'll tell you, and I've been having a good time doing daily television ever since.
Hallelujah. I love it, man. I absolutely love doing it. The same thing was true with the exercise room. Anything you say long enough for it to get into your heart, it'll control your life. And I had said since I was a young boy that I hated exercise. I was always overweight. I had to push so hard in playing ball. I just had to push so hard to do it and exercise in between times. I didn't want any part of it all. I didn't have any better sense to say I hate that. Well, I got all excited about it and you know, and I repented for not exercising all these years and God told me and all that, and I repented and thank God, I mean, I'm really excited about this thing.
Then I got in there and caught hold of those ropes, I'm going to start doing this you know, this is my first day. Glory be to Jesus. I got a smile on my face and I grabbed those things and I said, God, I hate this. It got out my mouth before I could stop it. I said, Oh no, no, no, no, no, no Lord, I love this. Please. I love this. I repent of that. I physically felt that thing leave my body and I get, I get laughing happy every time I walk in that room. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I consider not my body, 83 now, 83 years old, but only that which God had promised, which is 120 years. Amen. Thank you Jesus.
So now quickly I'll bring this to a close and show you something. Willing comes before obedience. Now 2 Corinthians chapter eight and you'll see this, 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich". He was not poor in his earthly ministry, anything but poor in his earthly ministry. Poor man, don't need a treasurer. Judas was the treasurer.
So now, when did he become poor? When he bore the curse of poverty into Hell. Can you see that? He became poor, he was made poor because, he was made a curse for us. The curse is threefold; Spiritual death, sickness and poverty. Amen. The blessing, the redemption is three fold. Healing our spiritual life, the new birth, healing and financial prosperity. Amen goes right there.
So now, 2 Corinthians 9:6, "This I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, nor of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that you, always having all sufficiency".
That always having say it, always having, always, always having, always having, I don't care what the signs are going. I don't care whether you're in recession or great prosperity that doesn't have anything to do with it in the kingdom of God. Praise God. Always having all sufficiency in all things. Say amen. Hallelujah. The El Shaddai, God in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, bought and paid for that. Hallelujah. Went to Hell to get it, so you and I don't have to go.
Oh, I'm already excited about that. "All sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work as it is written. He had dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness". A willing heart, a willing heart comes before an offering just simply saying, Sir, I'm a soldier in the army of the Lord. I am yours to command whatever you say, I'll sow it.