Kenneth Copeland - Listen, Pray and Obey Today
First thing I want you to look at, is the 19th verse. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understand, now say the word of the kingdom. Now, I don't know whether you can see that, see if you can get a shot of this, in my Bible. And I drew a line from word of the kingdom, to hear, see and understand. I wanted you to see where I'm, where I'm coming from. Because the day I saw that, I'll tell you that, it really, it really helped me. And I know it's gonna help you. Jesus said for this people's heart is wax closed. Their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes they have closed.
Now I'm gonna add word of kingdom in here. "Lest at, lest at". Say it. Anytime, that's got to be today John. Anytime! At anytime, they should see the word of the kingdom with their eyes, hear the word of the kingdom with their ears, should understand the word of the kingdom with their heart, and let the word of the kingdom convert them. I'll heal them. I'll heal them anytime they do that. Anytime. Anytime, That's right now. The day I registered for school, you've heard this story. I didn't want, I couldn't figure out what I was gonna do. We didn't have any money. We had two little children. The Lord is sending me to back to school and I didn't like school.
And I was there in the first time and I didn't have any money. And I just thought, man, I'd go to airport and get me a job, then I can't go to school, if I go to school, then I can't go get a job. The night before I was to register, I told Gloria, I said, "I don't know what to do". I was really frightened, no money. I said, "Gloria, we got these two little children. We'll starve out". She said, "Kenneth, we're starving out now, we might as well starve in the will of God as out. Okay, let's go".
So, but here was the thing, I said, I'm gonna go in there and pray till I find out some facts, I pray in there all night long. And then I just fell on the floor and just went to praying in tongues as fast as I could. And you know, you can pray in tongues and think about something else at the same time. And I was laying there thinking, I wonder if I'd be quiet if he'd say something to me. And I quietened down there for a moment. Now there's only one time that I heard, what to me was the audible voice of God. But it, it was a different thing altogether but I'm telling you, you talk about hearing it. It was louder than, than, than audible cause it was in here. You just hear it all over. And it was so powerful. He said, "Stand up on your feet"!
I mean, I hit a brace, dear Lord. I stood I said, "Yes, sir". He said, "It's about time". I hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. I'm just standing there at attention. And he said, "I sent you here and I'll take care of you here". He said, "These people can't make a minister out of you. I've already called you. I've already made a minister out of you. All they can do is train you. Your ministry starts now". That was January 1967, just in a few days, it'll be 54 years.
And I had no idea, what are we gonna do? Now, are you listening to me? You're gonna do what God's tells you to do and you're going to do what's right, and let him take care of the results. We went to Beijing, Gloria and I did. We had been invited there to come teach, a man that had a printing business, and just a powerful young spirit filled, Chinese man and wife. And they had a printing business and they were printing Bibles and all kinds of stuff. And we think it's terrible, if they go to prison they don't think it's terrible because they go to prison, they win souls. And to go to prison because you're a Christian in China is a badge of honor. His case was appealed five times and they still kept him there, but he still prayed his way out of there.
Now I don't know him as anything, but John 'cause they didn't use their Chinese name, well, that's obvious. Well, we could fly, the Citation 10, where they're talking about, we were discussing with Dwayne and all of us were discussing about flying it into China. Then we thought, well, no, we don't wanna do that. And the Lord started talking to me about that. And, and of course we didn't, and we, we flew it to, anyway, we flew it to, we flew to Tokyo, and then a charter, all American trained pilots fact they went to flight safety, same place we go to flight safety for recurrence, same place that was typed in the Citation 10.
And so anyway, they took care of the flight but the Lord is talking to me about that. He said, "If I tell you to fly your airplane," now listen, "If I tell you to fly your airplane into a war zone, I have a job for you in there. And then you decide, I don't want to put my airplane in danger. So I'm gonna go some other way, I'm gonna charter or I'm going to go maybe, you know, somebody else's airplane". He said, "By being disobedient to me you put your airplane in danger so that it can be destroyed in the United States," A wind storm blew the hanger down on it. My making the decision, instead of being obedient to him, and trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean, not to my own understanding.
Now I have trouble with it. I had trouble with it for years because in aviation, I knew too much. I learned how to fly and all that, you know, before it was ever safe. And I hadn't, it took me a while, where I could, not to use so much natural knowledge. Now I don't break the rules. No oh, no, no, no, that's stupid. You don't do that. Well, God will take care of me. No, you put the thing on the ground right now. You don't do dumb stuff like that, but I'm not gonna make a decision on my own, trying to protect what's mine, because I think , something might happen to me. You listen, you pray and you obey. You listen, you pray and you obey. Here's what I didn't know. He said, "I'll take care of you".
So the next morning, I went to school and registered, still didn't have any money. But he said, "I'm gonna to take care of you". While Mrs. Campbell was typing out, she's a registrar, she's typing out my bill. Now I said, "Anytime now, Lord, just any moment now". And I heard it, "Call your dad". "I don't want to do that". "Call your dad". I said, "Ms. Campbell, may I make a collect call"? "Sure, dial 9". So I called, my dad answered the phone and he said, "Where are you"? I said, "I'm in the registrar". He said, "I've been trying to find you". I said, "I'm in the registrar's office here at Oral Roberts University".
Well, he said, "Kenneth, yesterday Eddie Matthews," Now this was a guy in the full gospel businessmen's fellowship, that he was very close in the construction business. And, and I knew him well. And he said, "Eddie Matthews came down, came there yesterday and dropped a cheque off here, and said, put it in your ministry". I said, "Is that right? how much is it"? It, when I took my tithe out, paid for my fees and my used books, for, you know, for quarter. And I had something like 15 cents left over. So I'm thinking, Glory to God. I can hardly wait to tell Gloria, we go get us a candy bar and go, Glory to God. And here I go. So I walked out of the LRC. I started across there, right out front there, and I couldn't move.
Now, this happened to me three times over the years, but this was the first time I couldn't get my feet unstuck. I said, "What is it Lord"? He said, "Go up to the sixth floor". Now that's all the executive offices. They had warned the students, "Stay out of there, you don't belong up there". Now I don't know where this came from. But this is what I said. I said, "Lord, I can't go up there, that's the Vatican". He said, "You go up there, they work for me". So I got on, and my feet came undone. I could have said, "No, I don't wanna go up there", He'd have turn me loose. But I'd missed the whole thing.
Today, so I went back in there and I got in the elevator, I couldn't do it, Christy I couldn't do it. Now, I stuck the fifth floor, the elevator up, this is first year of ORU. Huge, empty room. It was the library but they didn't have any books in it yet. And I, and the Lord said, "I said the sixth floor". And I hit that number six, I had no idea what's gonna happen, I didn't know what I was gonna do, what I was gonna say. I got away with it cause I was 30 years old. I didn't look like a student. And so I walked up there, well walked to Ruth, Ruth Rook's desk. And I didn't know who she was at the time but Brother Robert's executive assistant, and I walked up there and I said, "My name's Kenneth Copeland, and I just registered today in school. And I'm a commercially rated pilot, and I know this ministry uses aircraft, and I need all the help I can get, thank you very much".
I want it out there so bad. And so I turned around, Oral Roberts had walked up right behind me, well he's just much taller than I am. He nearly six. Well he is 6'4 with his shoes on, 6'3½. I actually did this. He said, "I'm Oral Roberts". I really did this. You've heard me say it. He might as well have said, "I'm God who are you"? He said, "I understand you're a commercially rated pilot"? I said, "Yes, sir". "Can you handle our airplane"? "Yes, sir".
Now, listen, listen, "Two weeks ago, I started to hire a new co-pilot, the spirit of God said, 'No, I have a student coming. And he supposed to have the job.' And you're my man". He said, "Call brother Dweese tell him I found our copilot". He already had a plan. I didn't know what it was, but I had to step out in faith and step across the line. And it began an relationship with a man. My dad had since gone home to be with the Lord, and he was, just a, just a real father to me. And it was strong, strong, strong, later on the board of regions and all of that until the day he went home to be with the Lord, and just standing here, talking about him, I miss him. Think what I would have lost, just by not going to the sixth floor today. Went up there that day.
Now, then, divine recovery or restoration, Isaiah 42. And, well really, let's begin with the first verse. I'll tell you what, I'm reading this out of the amplified classic. So why don't you just listen, behold, my servant whom I uphold my elect, in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice and right and revealed truth to the nations. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Jesus. He will not cry or shout aloud or cause his voice to be heard in the streets, a bruised Reed He'll not break dimly burning wick he'll not quench. He'll bring forth justice and truth.
He'll not fail or become weak or be crushed or discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth and the islands and the coastal region shall wait hopefully for him and expect his direction and law. Thus says the Lord, God, He who created the heavens and stretched them forth, and spread forth the earth that and that which comes out of it. He who gives breath to the people in it and the spirit that walk on it. I, the Lord have called you the Messiah for a righteous purpose, and in righteousness. I'll take you by the hand and keep you. I'll give you for a covenant to the people, Israel for a light to the nation of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who sit in darkness from the prison. I am the Lord. That's my name, my glory, I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.
Now I want to, let's just go on down to the 20th, let's go to the 20th verse. You have seen many things but you do not observe or apprehend their true meaning. His ears are open, but he hears not. It was the Lord's pleasure for his righteousness sake in accordance with a steadfast and consistent purpose to magnify instruction and revelation to glorify them. But this people, this is a people robbed and plundered. They're all snared in holes and hidden in the houses of bondage. They become a prey with no one to deliver them, a spoil with no one to say, "Restore!" no one to say, "Restore"! No one to say recover. Restore. Restore.
A year of divine healing, divine help, divine prosperity, divine recovery, divine restoration, divine restore! And I had the Lord say to me that day, "I'm saying restore". And he said, "I will restore everything that COVID stole. I will restore all the economy. I will restore it. If somebody will go join me and say, 'Restore'"!