Kenneth Copeland - God Is Your Covenant Partner
— Hello everybody, I'm Kenneth Copeland and this is the "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll get right into today's Bible lesson. Father, thank you so much. We praise you and we bless the name. The name of Jesus. The name that's above every name that is named. Covid 19 is a name and the name of Jesus overwhelms and overcomes Covid 19 and we praise you for it and every other thing that that mess caused. And all the mess that came with 2020. And thank God, by faith, we won.
— Yes.
— We just praise you and thank you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Glory to God. And. Let's open our Bible's to Philippians chapter one.
— Yes Thank you, Jesus. Philippians chapter one. And. Now. This. Letter. Is... a partner letter. And I can prove it. "Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ.... To all the saints in Christ Jesus, which at at Phillipa, with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace". Now, I think this is interesting. That you're being a teacher of Hebrew and so forth. Grace is to the Gentiles and shalom is to the Jew.
— I love it.
— Don't you love that.
— Yeah. Amen.
— "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of my mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship". Now, listen, luke 5:7, that same word. In the... big fishing day, they called to their other...
— Partners
— ...Partners, yeah.
— You can check it out in Luke 5:7, it's the same word, partner. Now, this of course, was written in old English and in those days... And I don't know, they may still do this, I'm not aware of that, if they are, but a partnership was called a fellowship. We come together in a business that... Neither one of us could do on our own... And we enter into a partnership, we enter into a fellowship and I thought something funny but I, some guys said, "Well, yeah some of them want all the fellows in that ship". Nah, I didn't say that, remember that, no, I didn't say that. Yeah.
— Well, a doctor does a fellowship, doesn't he?
— Yes.
— Doctors of a like practice have a fellowship or attorneys.
— Yes. They do.
— It's a partnership...
— It's a partnership. So, and that's why, that's why, ministries have partners. Now... Thank you Lord. In some cases... Partnership is... A way... Of raising money. But... And that's if, that's their business not mine. But when the Lord... I mean, Greg the Lord was so, I mean, he was so tough on me on this when I first started writing that part of the letter. He said, "Now you go back and you reread it. And if you had any thought in your mind that this will cause them to be more ready to give," he said, "tear it up and start over again". And I tore up a lot of letters.
— I appreciate that, thank you.
— I tore up a lot of letters. Until it just... It came to the place where it's just gone in my thinking. It just was not happening anymore. And that's what he's pointed out to me, he said, "Even if you thought that, you tear that letter up". And I'd go back and read it and I'd... that's exactly what I'd thought of. And just throw it away.
— Mm, well they're his sheep. He gave his life 'em.
— That's right.
— But you're the one that he's assigned to minister to them and to cover them. So that's why.
— That's why.
— Yes sir.
— Yeah.
— And to not put pressure on them to give. Never.
— Right.
— Now when, now the Ministers' Conference... In January every year. When the Lord originally set that up... He said, the ministers that come to that "Ministers Conference". He said, "Don't even receive an offer". He said, "I don't want them to feel any kind of responsibility at all for that". And that Jerry Savelle... sneaked in behind my back and received an offering. And I said, "Lord, you gotta stop that". He said, "No. They need to have the opportunity to give but I don't want them under pressure to give". And he said, "When you receive an offering in a meeting you teach before you receive it on Heaven's economy". Take the time. And you know what? Sometimes the offering teaching would wind up being the service.
— Right.
— And on Heaven's economy and the way God thinks about money and the way we should think about it and so forth.
— The first time I came to Ministers' Conference, I'm a pastor in California, and we're coming out here, to this. And I'd never been to the Ministers' Conference before, I'd been to a lot of- I didn't like ministers' meetings and conferences, I hated them. I gotta be honest. I hated them. Didn't like them. 'Cause I knew what was gonna happen, all the evangelists in the room are gonna be looking for me to set up a meeting, you know, and I didn't want to tell them no. And of course they all wanna go to San Diego 'cause the weather's the weathers perfect. And you probably wanna come in February, right? You know, I was being cynical. But the very first time I came to Ministers' Conference at Kenneth Copeland Ministries, I walk in and there's gifts for me on the chair. Well, what is this? The next thing I noticed, nobody took an offering up today. And I said to Michelle, "They didn't take up an offering". The second day, nobody took up an offering. I said, "They didn't take up an offering". By the third day, I'm wanting to give. I'm serious. I'd gotten to a point, I gotta sow into this. I gotta find a way somehow to sew into this. And Jerry Savelle got up and gave me a chance. But, it just struck me, something's different here.
— Yeah, it is.
— And it's always been that way. And every one I've been a part of is the exact same way. It's a blessing. And it comes from that covenant partnership.
— Yes, it does.
— That the Lord spoke to you what to do. And it's tangible, sir.
— Praise God.
— It's tangible.
— I, it was where I got the marching orders and the direction for our church for the next year. Was at that meeting. Every single time.
— Now, look at what he said. "Every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Even as it is meet, or even as it is right, for me to think this of you all, because I love you, because I have you in my heart. Partners, I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds". Now, this is where he was in jail with Silas, beat nearly to death. Right here. And, at midnight. Now, I believe this will apply to the midnight of your life. Glory to God. They prayed and praised. They prayed, sang songs. And praised God at midnight. And that earthquake came and shook that whole prison. What didn't happen anywhere else around it, just right there. Well, even if the earthquake was all over every place, how many earthquakes do you know of that cause the shackles and the chains to fall off. Uh-huh. They fell off.
— Right. That's an angel.
— Yes, it was an angel. Absolutely. It couldn't have been anything else.
— Come in there and shook the place.
— Shook the place, just shook it. In the middle of the night.
— That's right.
— And that jailer is now a pastor of this church. I call it a convict church.
— Convict church.
— It was. In my bonds. Don't you know when they read that letter they felt. I was there . I know, I was there. I was in that prison that night.
— And he was gonna kill himself and they told him, don't do that. You and you household shall be saved. There's partnership.
— Yes it is.
— Extending beyond to his whole house.
— Now, now. Why was he gonna kill himself? Because they would have killed him one inch of skin at a time. They would have tortured him to death and he knew it. And the great apostle says, do yourself no harm.
— That's right.
— We're all here. How'd he know they were all here. It was dark in the middle of the night.
— Hm. Well, by the spirit. I gotta think...
— Well, sure he did. Sure he did.
— But he said, you and your household. So, if your a covenant partner your household is part of this blessing that's on this minister.
— Now, somebody that you know quiet well, he's on the Victory Channel, is David and Nicole Crank. Pastors at Great Church.
— Yes, sir. St. Louis.
— More than one church. Now, his dad... Was a partner. His dad was a preacher and had been taught and believed that he was supposed to be poor. And he started listening to, this is back in the tape days, this is when we were tapeworms...
— Tapeworms.
— ...couldn't get enough. And so, he started listening to our tapes on the laws of prosperity. He started giving a dollar a day. And he said to the Lord, he said, "Where am I gonna get $30 a month". He said, "I didn't say $30 a month, I said a dollar a day". And David reminded me, he said, they would be out in the weeds looking for soda pop bottles or anything they could redeem and he'd just put it in an envelop and send it. And it got to be, it got everybody's attention in the mail room. The dollar a day. We got another dollar a day. Oh. Man, this Crank feller he's... A dollar a day. Now, he's a partner.
— Yes, sir.
— The last check we got from him was $14,000.
— Praise God.
— Now his son, David Crank, is a partner. And David told me, he said, they would sit down, they lived in a little trailer. He'd say, sit down there boys and let's have lunch. And he said, of course they didn't have any food. And he said, "pick up those sandwiches and eat". And he said, I don't know why we couldn't eat, you know, these air sandwiches. He said, why couldn't we have air T-bone steaks. I don't know. But, what are they doing? They're doing what they can in corresponding action. And I mean, it just, and he instilled faith... In his boys. And they're partners today.
— Yes, sir.
— And that little church of his dad's grew, and grew, and grew, and grew, and grew And David became pastor and it just kept growing, and growing, and growing, and growing, and growing. Ah-uh! Two great churches!
— Yes, yes. And programs on the Victory. On the network.
— Yes, and he's a partner.
— That's right. All because his father's faithfulness to a dollar a day. Which doesn't seem like much. But, you remember that woman at the temple just put in the widow's mite but it caught Jesus's attention.
— Yes, it did.
— And we talk about her to this day, as he said we would. It's not that, it's a matter of doing what the Lord commands you to do and being faithful to do it.
— That's it. That's all you've done. Is just be faithful to do what he told you to do.
— Pray. Now, Yonggi Cho He said, very easy. Very easy. Pray... And obey. Pray. He said, faith is very easy. Pray and obey. And that's it.
— That's it.
— Pray and obey. But you, you don't obey... Just.. oh ya know. That's cause I'm supposed to do it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You go back to the first chapter of Isiah. Now, I really got... Serious... Reprimand. If you be willing an obedient you will eat the good of the land. And we were having... Some financial difficulties and I brought that up. And he said, "You do not qualify for that". He says, "You have not said anything good about daily television since I told you to do it". He said, "You were obedient but you weren't willing. There wasn't an ounce of faith in it". And I'd come in here. Well, one time that I did come in here, we built, this studio was originally supposed to be a warehouse. And I came home from Australia and told that the Lord said we gotta do it. I didn't say we get to do it. I said, "We gotta do a daily broadcast". Coming back, on that 747. I mean, I argued with him and talked to him. And, you know. And I sat down in here one day and I was terribly exhausted. And I just looked up and said, "I quit". And I just walked out. I didn't mean for today. I meant, I'm done with this. And guess what happened. Miss Gloria.
— Yes, yes.
— The love of my life. Now you have to realize this, she was so timid. That back in the early days one of the. We went to a church to a preach. And the pastor said back in the speakers room, "Sister Gloria, you could just speak and just greet the people". She said, "I don't do that". And so, they got out there and he didn't hear here, I guess. We got out there, and she was sitting down front with his, with the pastor's wife. He said, "Sister Gloria, would you stand up and greet the people". She stood up and said, "I told you I don't do that". And just sat back down. He said, "Oh, okay". And she said, "I wish I hadn't done that". But she said, "I'll do it".
— Praise God.
— That's when she moved into television.
— Praise God. I'm so grateful she did.
— I am too.
— It's been a blessing to so many people.
— So, it was, our partner, Gloria's and my partnership together. Our covenant together. That she stood up and stepped in for me. And that's what God does. He steps in for you.
— My Lord.
— When you need him, he's there, he's right here. He was in you right there when you was on that firing range.
— Yes, sir.
— And you did shoot expert.
— I did.
— I didn't. Now, I was in the army in 1957. I mean, it hadn't, Korea hadn't been over very long. We were still firing the old M1 Grand. They were so worn out and I'm a good shot, man. I been firing rifles ever since I was just a small boy. I'm a good shot. I know what the process is. And I'm all over the place. I said, "There's something wrong with this". And I noticed... Now, I won't go into all of it. That Grand had a, it was all practical purposes, it was a peep sight. But, I noticed when I'd fire that sight would drop. Every time I'd fire it would. But they didn't care. And so, I miss... I like, one... One firing. And back there, then. Boy, you had bad ammunition and it was all worn out. World War II equipment. And... Most people don't know what a short round is. But the short round is when there's not enough powder in the bullet and in the case. And it may fall and hit the ground out there someplace or it may start tumbling. And I liked one shot being made expert. And what was the next one down, I don't even remember, who cares what the second one is. Anyway, here's the point.
— Sharp shooter or something. I don't know.
— Yeah, that was. Yeah. But here's the point, the reason you go into all of that, I don't care if your equipment's bad. I don't care if you missed a little bit of getting, you know, expert on whatever you're doing. He's always there. He's your partner. And your His partner. And he's always there. He'll never leave you. He will never forsake you. Praise God. And you have to remember, these things are his name. His name. I like something that Gloria said. For God, to have ceased being the healer, Jehovah Rapha he would have to change his name. When did he change his name?
— He didn't.
— He never changed. He never changed.
— Here's the thing. We've talked about Abraham, we've talked about Jacob and the name change, Sarah's name change. You're name has been written. His name has been placed on you. And His name has been placed on me. And He said, "It's not good that man should be alone". At the very beginning. And we're out of time.
— And it's not good for man to be alone.
— This is why we have partnership.
— That's right. Amen.