Kenneth Copeland - Faith In The Name Of Jesus
Let's go back over there to 2 Corinthians 5 once more, and look at that again. "If any man, any person be in Christ, he is a new creation". You call things that'd be not as though they were. The moment you got saved. And from there on after come into my heart, Lord Jesus, take my life and do something with it. I receive you now as my savior. Up until now, just those few seconds before that. No, you're still an old sinner. You're still in the process. I believe I receive this new birth. The key to life is calling things that be not as though they were. From that day forward. From that day forward. You saved Copeland? Yeah, you better believe it. Glory to God. Amen. You're healed? Oh man, I wished I was.
See, I didn't know that yet. I could have and should have and would have, and did later when I found out about it, I could and I did this later. I've done it, when I'm telling you when I was a sick guy, I literally could not hold up my head. And I said glory to God I'm healed. The devil is trying to take my health away from me and I'm not going to let him have it.
I got so sick in one church in Oklahoma city, back in the early days, I'm telling you, and we were staying with our good friend, Lavinia James. And I was so sick. I woke up that morning. I was so sick with the flu. I was hurting so badly. Oh my whole body ached. I woke up, I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't get up. I couldn't hold my head up. Every time I'd hold my head up. I'd just roll around just about pass out. But I've got a morning service. Well, I'm not calling in sick. I'm not quitting for any reason. The Bible says by his stripes, you're healed. If you're healed, I'm going to work. Praise God, I'm gonna hey, I'm not gonna compromise with this book. I have a covenant with God and I call myself well, praise God, Hey, that's just it right there.
And so Gloria said, "We're going"? I said, well, of course we're going. So there's no way, George there was no way I was going to turn her loose with that blade to shave me that morning. No, no, I'm not going to church unshaven. And so Gloria said, "Lavinia, do you have an electric shaver"? She said, yeah, I got one. So then I had some kind of a shave that morning, before we went to church and I'm quoting the scripture. And Lavinia drove all the way, wasn't long, that far to the church. And I got up there. I began... My body was coming around, I was stronger, by the time we got to the church, I was ready to preach. And I walked up there and got hold of that pulpit and oh here it went, the room started going round and round. I said, "I'll be back in just a moment".
So the choir practice room was right behind the sanctuary. And so I walked in there and I'm telling you, I went in the men's room and I washed my face and I went after the devil. I'm telling you, and that with every scripture that came up and then there's in tongues and I just got all over him, I speak in the tongues of men and angels. And you're going to hear me Satan, and just shout at him in the Spirit. You take your filthy hands off my body. That's a form of calling things that be not as though they were. So I walked out there and caught a hold of that pulpit and it started rolling again. I said, no you don't. No, you don't.
So I just held on right there and just started preaching. Well, what did you preach, Brother Copeland? Healing, what do you think? Hallelujah. Amen. I preached well over an hour that morning and by about 10 to 15 minutes into that message, every symptom left because you call things that be not in your words and in your actions, glory to God. And that constitutes the prayer of faith and Satan can't take that kind of pressure. He'll get out. He'll leave. He'll just take his symptoms, pack them up and go.
Now I want to go over here to the book of James for a moment, in the 5th chapter of James, and I want you to notice something here. In the 14th verse, "Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord". Make a mark there in your Bible if you haven't already. "And the prayer of faith", what is that? Well, it's the prayer of faith. Faith in that Name. It's faith in that Name. It's not faith in the oil, oil won't heal you. The oil is a part of contact, hallelujah. The oil is representing not only the love, not only the goodness, but also the Spirit of the living God. Hallelujah. Amen. But it's also the prayer of calling things that be not as though they were.
I called myself well, just so sick, elders come help me, come help me. Glory to God. I need your help. Come pray for me. Come anoint me with oil. You pray the prayer of faith and I'll believe. They pray the prayer of faith and you don't believe you don't get anything. It's not their prayers that'll do it. It's your agreement with it. Amen. Hallelujah. And in case the devil was telling you, well, you're not going to get anything, that you got that sin in your life. Well, look at that. "The prayer of faith, saves the sick, the Lord raise him up. And if he committed sins, they shall be forgiven him". They'll be forgiven him. Amen.
And particularly if this is a true elder of the church and the elder of the church is saying, All right, now let's take care of business here. Anything you need to repent of right now? Now's the time my brother, my sister now's the time. Glory to God. Jesus is here and his healing is here and you're healed, glory to God. And he loves you. And see this may be an immature believer that really doesn't know a whole lot yet. And thinks, aww, you know I fouled up on the job and God doesn't love me anymore. Oh, come on sweetheart, he loves you. Amen. He's ready to heal you right now. Then just tell him I confess that sin and I receive my forgiveness. It's that simple.
You really mean it, Brother Copeland? Oh yeah, I really mean it. Oh good, pray. Amen. Calling things that be not as though they were. It's the prayer of faith. It is the prayer of believing you have it when you don't have it. It's the prayer of believing you'll receive it before you had it. You got to believe you have it before you get it. You can't wait till you get it to believe it. Because if you don't believe it, you're not going to get it. Amen. I said, Amen. Glory to God, praise God.
Now look at, now follow me here. I said all that. We talked about being fully persuaded. We talked about all of these different ways and so forth and so on. And that the very fact that... Let's look at Hebrews 8:1. I should have said something about that this morning, but I let it slip. "Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum". Now we're going to sum this up, he said right here. He's talking about... Hebrews is a covenant book. Hebrews explains the difference between the first covenant and second covenant. It explains the difference between the blood of animals and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of God. And it explains the everlasting covenant and so forth and it's all right here.
But now, "Now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant". Jesus is the mediator. Jesus is the agent. "The mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises". Glory to God. That's his job. When we take stand on that covenant. When we sow according to that covenant, when we believe according to that covenant, when we call things that be not as they were. Praise God. He's the one that makes sure they are. Hallelujah, glory to God. That's his job. Amen. He's El Shaddai in the flesh. The God that's more than enough. Hallelujah. And he's the God that's planning your life right now. He already has it all laid out, laid it out before the foundation of the world.
And there was no mention of sin in it. When he planned your and my life before the foundation of the world, knew your name. Hallelujah. There was no mention of sin in it. No mention of sickness, no mention of any kind of problems at all. That was all added through the curse, of course. He planned all of this before there was a curse. Well, I don't see what... Hey, don't get in there and go to banging your little brain up against that. No, we get pieces of insight into it now. And all of that. Don't mess with things and get all bent out of shape about something that has nothing to do with your salvation.
All right. You're just creating a bunch of questions that gender strife, but just remember this, he knows what he's doing. And so you just take the Word of God and you find out it what's in that plan and it belongs to you. Praise God. Healing belongs to you. Prosperity belongs to you. Amen. The very best of everything belongs to you. And it's not based on your salary. No, it isn't, it's based on your faith. Glory to God. And so as you take your stand, you call things that be not with a smile on your face. When your body's hurting. I called my body well, glory to... And don't put up a little stuff. Just put up with some of the...
I heard Brother Hagin say that. He said, "I don't know why I do it". He said, "I just put up with something, put up with something, just stayed sore for several days, maybe for several weeks". And he said, "I know better than that. I don't know why I'm doing it". And he said, "I finally get tired. And I said, I call you well! I call you well"! And he said "And just a little while it's gone". Well, if you stay conscious of that all the time, you could have been, you could have kept doing that. And at the first sign of that problem, when it was still small, just a little, and he said, "No, I call you well. I call you well. I call things that be not as though they were", and then go back over there and read that scripture. "I'm like, God, I call things that be not as though they were consequently. I'm like Abraham. Why? Because that old nature is gone. I have the same nature in me that Abraham had in him". Praise God.
I have the God nature in me. I have the nature to call things that be not as though they were. Amen. And I'm strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. I can do all things through Christ. Through him. Amen. I'm the righteousness of God "in him". Don't leave the "in him" off. Amen. Well, I just call things that be not as though they were. Well, that's not gonna do anything. But you just got through say... No, you didn't hear what I said. Like God, I call things that be not as though they were. Now, you get the difference? Of course you do. Praise the Lord. So now just remember these things. Now, I said all that to get the opportunity to say this.
Turn with me to John's gospel chapter 20 and Brother Weeter, would you bring me my iPad, please? I should have remembered to bring it, but I was remembering singing instead. 'Cause this is the bottom line. John chapter 20. Thank you, sir. John chapter 20. And we start reading with verse 24, "But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came, the other disciples therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord, but he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the print of the nails. Thrust my hand into his side. I will not believe".
Now, wait a minute. That's sure not calling things that be not as though they were. Let's get back... Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Romans chapter 4, what does it say? What was that? Verse 18, "Who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken". You cannot. No one can. No one can receive Abraham's covenant blessing and all the rest. The healing covenant of God, the prosperity covenant of God, the protection covenant of God, the victory covenant of God, you can't receive it with Thomas' faith. Now, Thomas had the same covenant everybody else did. His will got in the way. He said, I will not believe.
Now what's the matter with him? Well, for one thing, he's under a lot of pressure. He's afraid, they were all were. He's afraid. And they're telling him and he's sick and brokenhearted. He watched Jesus die and it's tearing him apart, and he hadn't seen anything yet. He's hurting. I want you to hear his hurt. Now listen to it in the Classic Amplified, and you can hear his hurt. He's not just hurt, he's mad. "Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples kept telling him we've seen the Lord, but he said unto them, 'unless I see his hands in his hands the marks made by the nails and put my finger into the nail prints and put my hand into his side. I will never believe it'". I will never believe it.
That's what that text actually says. I will never believe it. He's mad, he's hurt. The man that he loved has been brutally murdered and it tore him up. They said "We've seen the Lord. I don't believe that. Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house. And Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though they were behind closed doors". Now that'll get your attention. That he just walked through the walls. Oh, yeah. That'll wake you up. Woke him up too. "And he stood among them and he said, 'peace be to you'". That really must have ministered to Thomas because he's shook up and he's mad. And Jesus said, peace be to you.
"Then he said to Thomas, 'I'm going to do this the way it comes across to me. 'Cause you know I've known him a long time'. Then he said to Thomas, 'Thomas, reach out your finger here, Come here, son. And see my hands. You can touch me, hand me your hand, son, put out your hand and place it. Come on, place it in my side. Thomas, stop being faithless and incredulous. Stop your unbelief. Stop it right now. And believe'. Thomas said 'My Lord, my God', Jesus said to him, 'Because you've seen me, Thomas, do you now believe and trust and have faith in me? blessed and happy. And to be envied are those who have never seen me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on me'".
Seeing doesn't release the blessing of Abraham but believing does. You know what he just told him? From now on, Thomas, you're gonna have to be like Abraham. Don't ever call him "doubting Thomas". That's the last with an experience like that? No he's blessed, Thomas. Praise God. Did you receive that? I know you did. You cannot. It is impossible to receive Abraham's blessing with the faith of Thomas, which was faith only from his mind and his emotions, his natural human faith. I can't handle it if I can't see it. But when faith comes, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And you keep that covenant promise before you. And you're gonna have to call things that be not as though they were. Instead of demanding to feel or see something before you believe it.