Kenneth Copeland - Faith in God, the Provider
Let's open our Bibles again this evening to Mark chapter four, now we talked about this already, but there's some additional things that we need to think about and talk about. Very, very important statement that Jesus made. Every statement Jesus made is very, very important, but it's very important to what we're talking about, and in our finances and heavenly economics, and the way heaven operates financially and the way heaven expects us to operate financially so that they can maximize our prosperity and maximize it all the time.
Have you ever thought about this? The person that lives by faith, I mean just really lives by faith. The person that really just lives by, walks by faith and not by sight, you never have to change your lifestyle because we live the same way when times are good, we live the same way when times are not so good, and we live the same way when times are just terrible. We don't change, we're like Jesus and God, we just change not, the only time we change is when he changes us, praise God.
And David, you know you get it all tonight brother, you the only one I got... I'll tell you what, I'm having fun already. In the fourth chapter of Mark when Jesus taught so much concerning finances and the principles, this is not just financial law. This has to do with the entire kingdom of God and the way heaven operates. It's the basic law of God that came into this planet and into this place when he created it, amen. So fourth chapter of Mark, I know you're there by now. Verse 30. "Where unto shall we liken the kingdom of God"? And listen to this statement, "Or with what comparison shall we compare it"? "What can we compare it to", Jesus said, so that you can really understand it? "It is like a grain of mustard seed".
Now that's the smallest of seeds. "Which when it is sown, in the earth, less than all the seeds that be in the earth but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes". Whatever seed you sow, it grows up and becomes. Every seed, every seed, everything is a seed, you came from a seed, I came from a seed. I mean everything comes from a seed. A smile is a seed, Happy birthday is a seed. Happy birthday, man, I love you. Praise God, but that's a seed, see? And the more you sow a good thing like that, the more it grows and the happier people are. Everything is a seed, and it produces after its own kind.
Now then, "it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs and shoots out great branches. So that the fowls of the air may lodge or come in live and take advantage of its shadows" and cool in its shade, the smallest little seed. Don't ever despise a small seed, because if you know what to do with it, it just grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows, and it grows up and becomes, well what does it become? It becomes whatever it is and it continues to reproduce, and it produces more seed, and it produces more seed and it produces more product, and it produces more seed and it produces more product, praise God. This is the kingdom of God. This is the way heaven operates and it's the way God created all things. You find it in Genesis, that's at the first, praise. It's that, that's it, amen.
Now, I wanna talk to you a little bit more. We discussed naming the seed and I told you about, when I was just a boy in World War II and everybody had victory gardens because so much of the food was rationed and the government was, was spending all of the food everything they could get it hands on, for our soldiers and but they would give you the seed if you'd grow and grow your own food, they'd give it to you. And they had a little package that showed what was inside the package, what kind of seed it was and they had a little stick, you could stick in that little envelope and put it right at the end of the row and so, that showed you what you planted here, you planted tomatoes there or you planted carrots over here or whatever you had the, the seed was named, now, this is important.
It's very important to name the seed. What are you sowing for? "Well, uh, I don't know nothing in particular", well, that's what you're gonna get. It's nothing in particular, why, that's what you sow. That's just what it is. These things, you be very specific about these things. I, for a long time, guys, I had, this was back in the day. And so I kept record of my return that I'm expecting. This was back when you had to do it on a adding machine and you had the little and I'd take that, and roll it out there and it showed the millions, and the millions and the billions, and the billions that my hundredfold was gonna make and I folded it all up and carried in my pocket.
Oh, son, I'm telling you, I am worth a lot of money. And I didn't have that much but I was worth a lot of money 'cause I knew what, I knew what my return was. I knew what I was believing for. I could pull it out and see it. Now you put it on your phone, that's cool you know. So, but, I'm writing it down. I want to tell you a little story. This was so funny, and this was back when John and Kellie were, were small. And they came in one day and they said, "Daddy, we want a boat". I said, "Well that's a good idea". "We want it, can we have a boat"? I said, "Yes you may, you can, you may have a boat".
But I'll tell you what we're gonna do. This is gonna be your faith project. You're gonna believe this boat in. Kellie in particular said, "Okay". And John was so small, all he could do is kinda print his name a little bit and, but they got excited about it. I said, "Now what we're gonna do here, you write it down, you write your agreement. You and John get in agreement according to Matthew the 18th chapter", and we'd taught them how to do that. I said, "You agree on it, and it'll come to pass". "Oh, yeah, we agree on it and it's gonna come to pass".
So I gave them the wordage on how to write out the agreement and the petition and the heavenly grant. "And so you do it like that, but you put it in your own words, you do it", "Okay", so Kellie wrote it out, and she signed it, and John signed it and so praise God, they had an agreement. And they put it, they got some tape and taped it to the refrigerator door.
Now, that's not a bad idea because that's where you spend a lot of your time. And you come up there on that refrigerator door, and there it is, there's the agreement, there's my, there's my, the product of my seed right there. It's right there, I see it, glory to God, I have it. And they would come by, David, they'd come by that refrigerator and they'd open it they'd hit that, they had their big piece of paper on the front there about that size. And they'd hit it and say, "We got a boat, that's our boat man", and we were always shouting around about it, "That's our boat"!
Well, I forgot about it. 10 days later, I got a phone call. Friend of mine. Brother Copeland, "I really do need you to forgive me". I said, "What man, what for"? He said, "The Lord spoke to me and told me to give you my boat several days ago and I didn't do it, I just", he said, and then my ears perked up because, man, I'm telling you he had one of the finest bass rigs. I mean, he had that, I fished with him in it, you know, and he had it all cooled out like he wanted it and I wanted it, but it's just really nice boat.
And you know, I enjoy fishing and all that, so. But he said, "Kenneth", he said, "I've got it all cleaned up and polished", He said, "I'm gonna bring it over this afternoon". I said, "Well, Monty that's man, that's great man, that's wonderful". Now that was that morning. I'd say a little bit after breakfast it's 9:30 probably something like that, best I remember. And I called the kids in that afternoon, I said, "You got the boat"! "Oh praise God"! Then we shouted, and had a big time. The next day, I got another call. Brother Copeland, friend of mine up in Nebraska. Brother Copeland, he's nearly in tears. He said, "You got to forgive me". I said, "Why, what for"? He said, "God told me to give you my boat and I didn't do it and I'm ashamed of myself, man".
I thought, two boats now, wait a minute here. Now what, "I know yeah, praise God". And I don't know, I said, "Lord, two boats, what"? I said, "What", no, I forgot this part. I said, "What kind of boat is it"? He said, "Kenneth, I've got a small cabin cruiser". He said, "It's a small one, it's got two, big, large outboard engines on it". But he said, "It's a sleeper, you can sleep in it". And he said, "It's small, but it's nice". I said, "Glory to God". Well, I think, what am I gonna do here with two boats? I mean, how does two boats fit in this thing? And I said, "Lord, what are we supposed to do"? He said, "Go read that agreement".
So I went in there and read that agreement it said, "The perfect boat". So I called Kellie and John in there and I said, "Kellie, now you and John discussed this together. What was the perfect boat"? Kellie said, "Daddy, now this was before cell phones and so forth", and she said, "Daddy, we know how you like to fish and we want a boat, we wanted a boat you could fish in. And we want a boat that we could all go out in it and might even spend the night in it if we want to and get out in the middle of the lake where nobody can call you". It took two boats to do it. It flat took two boats to do it. And those two kids believed it in, but it was written down, it was in the form of a covenant.
And I said, "Now one thing here about it, guys, you guys are not gonna be able to argue with one another 'cause you can't get out of agreement". "Oh, okay", amen. And they had to sow for it. And I forgotten what they sowed, but they sowed money, and their money into the ministry and sowed seed for that boat. It just took boat "s" to do it, isn't that exciting? Hey, amen, well you know, the Lord loves little children, well, he loves big ones too. Now, it wasn't because they were children, it's because they believed in it. Amen, I believed it too. But they didn't, I told him, I said, "I'm not gonna go against it, but I'm now using my faith at all, it's completely up to you, it's just completely up to you". Well, they did it.
Now, there was another time, oh my goodness. Kellie came in. I was busy and I was packing to get on the road or something. She said, "Daddy, I want a horse". I said, "Okay, get a horse", you know. "Well, I wanna believe for a horse". I said, "Go ahead, believe for a horse, that's good, you need to believe for a horse". And I'm busy, you know, I'm just, talking, I'm thinking and she said, "You mean it"? I said, "Yeah, I mean it, go ahead and believe for a horse, you can have a horse". So she said okay, and so we prayed.
Oh Lord. And I was on my way to California, I got out there and then I called Kellie, I said, "Kellie, I apologize to you, sweetheart, I should have paid more attention to you and about this horse, and, but I'm set, I'm truly setting myself in agreement with you, and I'm standing with you and believing with you for a horse". "Well, that's good, daddy but it's", she said, "That's all right". She said, "I understand you're busy, you're traveling and all that". But she said, "Praise God, I've got it anyway". And so we agreed for the horse. Well, I didn't think any more about it, I mean, I'm not really thinking horse. I'm just doing business here, you know.
And there was a woman in California, David, she walks up to me, and she said, "Brother Copeland, I have a horse". She said, "He's an outstanding horse, and he's a Thoroughbred". And she said, "I've decided to sell this horse but I can't do it". She said, "At the time I'd start to sell it, every time I got somebody that talked like they even wanted the horse". She said, "I'm about to sell Kellie's horse. I'm about to sell Kellie's horse". I'm thinking, "Where am I gonna put this horse? What am I gonna do? What, God, Kellie, you should have believed for a ranch at the same time. I don't have any place to put this thing".
And I really didn't, I thought, "What"? I thought, "What, no", I said, "No, Lord, no, no. You knew this was coming all that time and you already have worked out a way for this. It's already set up, it's already done, I know it, I know that". And I mean, just in a matter of hours, a man that, he was a partner to the ministry. I'd met him, but, you know, it wasn't like we were just real close and all that but, of course, you know, we were friends. David, he called me. He said, "Brother Kenneth, it's Sam Spence". I said, "Hey, Sam, how you doing"?
Now he's in the quarter horse business, He said, "I just got to thinking about it". And he said, "You have any interest in a horse"? I said, "Sam, as matter of fact, let me tell you what just happened". And I said, "Sam, I don't have a clue what to do with this thing". And so he said, "Well, I'll take care of it 'cause I didn't know how am I gonna get this horse from California to Texas, and I got all these problems". No, the kids, see, God's already got it all worked out. He said, "I'll take care of everything, I'll take care of all the paperwork". And he said, "I'll transport that horse and to my place out here and I'll board him, and you can just come out here and ride him", and he said, "In fact, if you don't come with Kellie, I got a horse out here you can ride. 'Cause they believed God, 'cause they sowed their seed. They wrote it down, knew exactly what they wanted, knew exactly what they were doing and they had an inner image of it".
Now, isn't that good? Huh? Hey, this is the kingdom of God. That is the kingdom of God. I wanna show you something. This is why it pays to write it down. This is why it pays to listen to God. Because he already has a plan. He already knows where the money that you need, he already knows where it is and how to get it to you. He already knows what you need before you ask it but you still have to ask because we have to receive, amen. You're the God of more than enough and you're our God. The God of the Seed and the God of the Harvest and we thank you and we praise you. Oh, how we do worship you Lord. We name our seed tonight.
Let me tell you what, get a picture of it. Get, here's another one. If your child comes in, said, "Daddy, now I want, you know, I sure would like to have one of those nice bicycles". And you know, "Well, hey boy, you got a picture of it"? "Oh yes, sir". And he goes over and gets the book and he says, "Well, now here's this one and this one". And you ask him, you say, "Well, now let me ask you something, son, is that the very best one"? "Well, no that best one no, daddy, that thing is an awful lot of money and, then and I, you know, there's this one to do look good". "Wait a minute, wait a minute, boy, hey, is this your dream"? "Yes, it is". "Do you have anything to sow"? "Yes, I do". "Then that's all you have to have, is a dream and something to sow and you can have the best there is".
Don't be satisfied with, with this because, and don't ever say daddy can't afford it. Don't ever say that. Now daddy may not have enough money right now to buy it, but we can afford it because we buy with our faith, hallelujah. We're tithers and we're, we sow our seed and son, you're gonna name the seed that you're gonna sow out of your allowance, you're gonna name it and put the order number on it right there, put right there, the whole thing, but take that picture out, and cut it out of there and put it on a refrigerator where you can lay your hands on it every time you walk by and say, "Jesus, thank you for my new bicycle. It's the best there is".
And I'm gonna tell you something daddy, go sweep out a little corner of the garage 'cause you got a new bicycle coming in a few days. I've seen it happen in my own family, hallelujah. It'll happen with you, it can happen in a new home, it can happen in a new job. You can take advantage of all this mess that's been going on, praise God. This is a good opportunity for you just to believe God for a job that's more powerful than you've ever had in all of your life. This is your time, this is your opportunity. Give God thanks and praise for it.
Father, we do praise you and thank you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I pray and I'm asking you sir, to reveal to the people tonight what they're part of the finances of this meeting, Lord. And I wanna thank you, Lord, and praise you, and worship you in the name of Jesus.