Kenneth Copeland - When You're Fully Persuaded of Your Covenant
Kenneth: Hello everybody, I'm Kenneth Copeland. Greg Stephens, first of all, thank you man.
Greg: Thank you, sir.
Kenneth: For your knowledge of the Word and particularly your knowledge of the first covenant.
Greg: Thank you.
Kenneth: It has added such dimension to what we're studying here. And I'll thank you for it.
Greg: Thank you, sir.
Kenneth: Yeah, let's go. Let's go back over here where we were yesterday in the book of Joshua. Now just before we read that, I just heard something from the Lord and we're about to see in the book of Joshua an enactment. Blessing, cursing, then the death of a King. God almighty, the almighty God himself. Jehovah Raah, He is my shepherd. Jehovah Jireh, He's provider. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals me. Jehovah Tsidkenu, my righteousness. Jehovah Shalom, He is my peace. Jehovah shammah, he is will never leave me nor forsake me. Jehovah Nissi, he is my covering, He's my canopy. Whoa. Oh, glory to God. Jehovah Sabaoth the Lord of hosts, the angelic armies. Glory to God. Now he is all these, but Jesus is, he is Jehovah Raah in the flesh. He's my shepherd. I shall not want. He is my provider. He is my righteousness. He is my healer. He is my peace. He's the one that will never leave me nor forsake me. He's my canopy and my covering. And he is the Lord of hosts.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: And our angels are under his command. And that gives us when we, we speak and we, we, we walk in love, we walk in the commandment and, and, and we live there then we speak in the tongues of men and angels. Hallelujah.
Greg: A lot of people get confused in the names. Well, is he Emmanuelle or is he El Shaddai or is he Elohim or is he Jehovah rapha, is it the Jehovah names? J is Y, Yah, in Hebrew. Which is it? It's both because the El names first heard, first reference was in creation. So the elhistic names of God have to do with creating. The Yah names of God revealed to Moses have to do with redemption. Everything is redeeming. So he's redeeming my body from sickness. He's redeeming me from poverty. It's all redemption. So they all culminate on a cross outside of Jerusalem.
Kenneth: That's what I was trying to say.
Greg: They all culminate in him.
Kenneth: He just takes it and yeah.
Greg: So they take that plural Elohim name with the Jehovah names. This is why Jesus can be Emmanuel, because there was a creative miracle in that girl.
Kenneth: Yes.
Greg: And he becomes the Redeemer then with redeeming names, he is the covenant Redeemer and he is the covenant creator. And so then you come up with a name Yehovah Elohim Sabaoth, which is the Lord of hosts, it's all of it. Brother Copeland, in one person hanging on a tree in Jerusalem. Born in a manger.
Kenneth: Yes.
Greg: Born in a manger.
Kenneth: Born in a manger. Oh, we've just got to take the time one day on this broadcast to describe that manger. It was a, it was a tower. The shepherds could watch over those sacrificial sheep and, and Mary was in a place that had been hewn out. It was a birthing place. The manger was a birthing place for the, the, the...
Greg: Sacrifice lambs.
Kenneth: The sacrifice lambs were to be born and the swaddling clothes were that pure cloth they wrapped around these little sacrificial lamb to keep them from injuring themselves in any way. And she wrapped the lamb of God in swaddling clothes. And she gave birth in a manger, not in a barn. It was not a barn.
Greg: So the father, the covenant has to have words. It has to have a sacrifice. It has to have a seal to it. Every covenant.
Kenneth: That's right.
Greg: So the father gave the words, the son made the sacrifice in his own body. The Holy Spirit is the seal of our covenant. The fact that I can speak in tongues is proof.
Kenneth: Yeah.
Greg: That I'm sealed. So you have the, you have the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, Elohim, Jehovah, redeeming and creating. So that goes to the scripture. The fullness of God dwells in him bodily. He has all those names in him on it. Now that's going to be played out. Type and shadow back here, sir. In Joshua chapter eight, they have just defeated Jericho. Man takes the stuff not supposed to happen. They lose to this little town Ai, the first thing in the new land, they're not supposed to touch anything of it. Can I submit this to you and I'm willing to be wrong. Jericho was the tithe. Not supposed to take anything from Jericho. Somebody stole it. And as a result, they lose their next battle. They weren't supposed to lose any battles.
Kenneth: No, no.
Greg: But they did. Here we go. And Joshua chapter number eight, they, they defeat Ai here and they take the King alive. Verse 29 verse 28, Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even desolation unto this day. Verse 29 and the King of Ai, he hanged on a tree. That word there is, he impaled him, hanged on a tree until eventide, or evening.
Kenneth: Now get that. He wasn't hanging by a rope.
Greg: No.
Kenneth: He was impaled.
Greg: They hung him on a tree. Um, until evening was done, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree and cast it into the entering of the gate of the city and raise there on a great heap of stones that remain unto this day. And then in verse 30, he's going to build an alter. Now what I want to get the picture of, cause this is where he's going to do, he's going to write on stone and he's going to put the two people on the two mountains. So I want you to picture this one's to the North, the curse mountain, the blessing mountains to the South. They're going to build an altar at the base of the cursing mountain, not the blessing mountain. And they're going to hang the King on a tree in between the two mountains. It's a picture of them for them of what's going to happen to remove the curse.
Kenneth: That's right.
Greg: Cause cursed is everyone that hangs on the tree that the blessing might come upon. And so here's a Gentile King that's been impaled, might come upon the Gentiles as a picture. They have to hurry and get him down before the nighttime, before it gets dark. Well, that's exactly what happened in Matthew, I think 26 with Jesus. We've got to hurry and get him down and they cover him in stones. What do they do? They put, Jesus in Sepulcher and roll a stone. It's a perfect picture.
Kenneth: Yes it is.
Greg: I was going to play out what we're going to celebrate this next week. It's a perfect picture of that and then they're going to build an alter. Now this is where Abraham had built an altar and uh, that altar, I find this interesting, is that the base of the curse mountain. Now there are several words in Hebrew for sin and they all have different degrees of things, but the main word for sin in Hebrew is the same word for sin offering. Isn't that interest?
Kenneth: Yes, it is.
Greg: In other words, there's no sin that doesn't have a sin offering.
Kenneth: Wow.
Greg: There's no sin that you and I could have ever committed that Jesus did not provide a sin offering for. And you go all the way back. Here we go again all the way back to Cain and Abel. And the scripture says, even now says to Cain, even now, sin is crouching at your door. Or it could be your sin offering is at your door. You got a sin offering if you'll take it.
Kenneth: And he didn't take it.
Greg: He didn't take it. His brother did, but he didn't take it. And uh, so the sin offering for the people on the curse mountain is right in front of him. Because it's between the two, but it says in Joshua, verse 30 built an altar unto the Lord of Israel in Mount Ebal. So he didn't, he didn't build the altar for the removal, for the sacrifice on the blessing mountain. It's on the cursing mountain. It's where he built it so that they would know when you see this altar, when you see a King hanging on a tree, there is an offering right there for the curse that's over to you. So he, they weren't cursing half of Israel or half of the tribes, my gosh.
Kenneth: It was a picture.
Greg: It was a picture for you.
Kenneth: It was a drama.
Greg: Yes.
Kenneth: For a people that that weren't around.
Greg: Weren't there.
Kenneth: The first time around. So they needed, they needed graphics. They needed to be able to mark their minds and see what is...
Greg: And it's, it's interesting is the Northern mountain, because in David's time after David and Solomon are gone, that kingdom will split North and South and and sadly the Northern kingdom will set up at Bethel, which is not far from there, a golden calf, just like they did at Mount Sinai. There's your God. They did it again and this is why I believe the Holy Spirit had him build that altar. No, your altar is not there. Your altar will look like this and it's going to be in Jerusalem and here's where it's going to happen because it's been prophesied. It's all a picture for us of what Jesus did for us.
Kenneth: Praise God. I want to go to Romans as we close this up. Chapter four, oh now it just unfolds. Verse 16, therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end, the promise covenant promise might sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also, which is the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before him or like him, whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the covenant promise of God. Through unbelief, but was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that what he promised he was able also to performing.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: Fully persuaded. Now, Hebrews chapter six now this is for us. All of this is for us. And as I said last week, this is the reason that scholars just, Oh, they study they book of Hebrews and still don't get it. And there's nothing, it doesn't mean anything because they don't understand the everlasting covenant is right here in the book of Hebrews.
Greg: Yes it is.
Kenneth: And the blood of the bulls and the blood of the goats and all the, all this, all this. And for two reasons, I believe that the apostle Paul wrote this. Number one, it's, it is completely his style. But then and two, Brother Hagin, when Jesus in an open vision was talking to him about it and he just stopped him and said, did Paul write the book of Hebrews? He said, yes, he did. There you go. But anyway.
Greg: Another one is he mentions Timothy. Nobody else mentions Timothy.
Kenneth: Right there.
Greg: Right there he's mentioned.
Kenneth: Yes, it is now. Now, Hebrews 6:13.
Greg: Oh yes sir.
Kenneth: I can't stand it. Yes I can. When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: He's fully persuaded because he understood God swore to him by himself. He swore to him and for God not to keep his word, he would just self-destruct. I mean, it just, it's beyond human comprehension because we're, we have our little ol' brains don't mount to much when you get over into this, you have to grasp it with your spirit. But Oh God, now saying, let me read it again. God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, He swore by himself saying, surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. A covenant. A covenant.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: Would you enter into a blood of covenant there ain't no more argument, no more argument. No, no. Yeah. And he told that Shunammite King, he said, I've lifted my hand to God. And what didn't, Melchizedek who saith, he came with him with the bread and the wine.
Greg: And spoke words over Abraham.
Kenneth: Yes he did. Called him the possessor of heaven and earth. Abraham of God.
Greg: Abraham of God. That's it. Named him in that.
Kenneth: He named it in that.
Greg: Lord Jesus.
Kenneth: He called things that be not as though they were. Melchizedek did that.
Greg: Yes he did.
Kenneth: So, stay with me now, where in God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, we are El Shaddai's heirs. Jesus is all of these covenant names in the flesh and we're named after him. Glory to God. Unto the heirs of promise the immutability, the absolute unchangingness of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. I wrote in my Bible right under there a blood sworn oath, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, a strong inner strength. That's just the definition of that word, a strong, he was fully persuaded now remember, a strong inner strength who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
Greg: Glory to God.
Kenneth: Wasn't talking about your spirit, he's talking about your mind, your will, your emotion. That's where the devil will attack you and hit you, but you're a covenant, you're a covenant man. You're a covenant woman. Glory to God. This goes beyond hope. This goes beyond hope. Which have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us, which hope we have as an anchor, an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters into that within the veil where the forerunner for us is entered. Even Jesus made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Greg: Absolutely.
Kenneth: My God, my God, my God. And...
Greg: He blessed him. Melchizedek blessed him.
Kenneth: Yeah, he did.
Greg: That's what Jesus does with us, He blesses us. Brother Copeland, when I realized this, this is the thread all the way through. Paul understood it. Paul was brilliant. He wrote this for us to understand for our generation, for my generation to understand, my children to understand, it would, it literally becomes impossible to fall. Never fail once you, if you know this cause that's how you become fully persuaded.
Kenneth: Oh yes.
Greg: That's what turned that man's body around because it's covenant. Jesus has to fail.
Kenneth: You can be in a place of alarming symptoms. Now where is the problem? In your mind, it's in your body and just, but if your faith, excuse me, if the Word is not highly developed, then you're a stranger from the whole idea of covenant. Back when Kellie's daughter Lindsey, she wasn't 11 years old, woke up on Christmas morning, delirious, didn't know anybody. Diagnosed meningitis, kids were dying in the cooked medical center over here with it. And uh, but now Kellie, we're covenant minded people.
Greg: Yes.
Kenneth: Greg, one day came home from school, she said, daddy, I've just had the symptoms of the flu on me all day. And, and she said, I've just been fighting this thing. Well, this is the first time I ever heard this. Uh, it just came up out of my mouth, I said, Kellie, you are not the sick trying to get healed. You are the healed, first Peter 2:24 says so, see we have a healing covenant. I said, you are the healed and Satan is trying to take your health away from you. Now, don't let him have it. Man. it stirred her up. She said, I'll be back. She went right into her bedroom and shut the door and she came out of there and I don't know about an hour. She's totally, all of the symptoms are no more.
Greg: Glory to God.
Kenneth: But that's, that's, that's what I'm talking about. Now, how much time we got Tim? Amen. When your faith is developed in that covenant of blood, Smith Wigglesworth an illiterate man. Never been to school a day in his life. God taught him how to read the Bible. Documented cases of people being raised from the dead. Took communion every day. Way he started, way he started his day was taking community.
Greg: Glory to God.
Kenneth: What was he doing? He's getting that covenant on his mind.
Greg: Yeah.
Kenneth: Amen. We are fully persuaded God is who he says he is, He do what he says he can do, and he will do what he said he could do. And we're out of time.