Kenneth Copeland - God Has the Answers to the Trouble
— Hello everybody, I'm Kenneth Copeland. Welcome again to the Believer's Voice of Victory Broadcast. Father, we thank You today. Oh my, this is so wonderful. We give You praise and thanksgiving for the wonders and the fine and wonderful things that are happening all over the world. Lot of bad stuff, but there's more good stuff than there is bad stuff. There's more God than there is devil. Hallelujah. More angels than there are demons. And more of everything in heaven than there is in hell. Glory to God, Hallelujah. We rejoice. And we're glad in it. And we live still in the greatest nation ever devised by man.
— Whew.
— Because God designed it.
— Yes, He did. Yes, He did.
— Yes. And as bad as it's ever been, it's the best thing there is.
— Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
— Now, very quickly, we began talking about this yesterday. Very quickly, now, I started something that I think is very important to touch, in the 13th chapter of the book of Acts. You back up to the 12th chapter, the 24th verse, the Word of God grew and multiplied. Now, I want you to notice. Now class, the Bible doesn't just put things in random. The Bible is a book of order. And for a while, Barnabas was Paul's teacher because he had been in longer than he had, so it lists him first. "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas, Simeon, that was called"... Now, listen to me and look at me. In the Greek, Niger. Niger, one of this apostle's teachers was a black man. That needed to be said. Niger. He was black. His name was Simeon. There was a black man carried the cross of Jesus. Glory to God. That is very important information. Particularly in the United States. "Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul". He's down at the bottom of the list. They ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away". Now, in just a little while, it's going to refer to the apostles. The apostles, Paul and Barnabas. Very important information. The Spirit of God made me know that that needed to go out all over this network all over the world, that one of the teachers. Because they stayed there a long time. This didn't happen over just a couple of three weeks. Months, and months and months. And then they would go back there.
— It was home base.
— It's home base. And they were taught. And this man, Barnabas and... Barnabas and...
— Saul.
— No. Barnabas and Simeon, called Niger. He's a teacher. He taught.
— Verse one.
— He taught in that church. He's right up there at the top of the leadership of that church.
— Yep, the church of Antioch.
— Yes, sir.
— Church of Antioch will outgrow the church of Jerusalem in a short order of time. Because the Gospel is going forth.
— And this man is right in the middle of it.
— Yes, sir.
— And I appreciate the Lord making that very, very plain.
— Now, the tension's in the details, in all of that. Because later, you're going to find them called Paul, wrote right down here in verse 13, you got Paul.
— Yes. That it is. And verse 9 says Saul, who they called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. The Lord changed his name.
— Yes He did.
— And He did it to change his assignment. And that gifting came on you. It's like when you were anointed to be the prophet, you changed. You may look the same in the mirror. But you changed.
— I could tell, I still did a lot of teaching. Time to time, I still have to watch that because I love to teach. And that anointing come strong, but I have to arrest that from time to time and yield to the ministry of the prophet, because I get to the place I just want to teach all the time. But for a while, I tried to work back and forth. And the Lord said, "Don't try to make this happen. Let it happen". He said, "You just do what you do". I said, "Yeah, I can do that". And it began to grow. And the Lord said through Brother Hagin that night, "This ministry will grow and grow and grow, though you start at the bottom of the ladder".
— Yes.
— I separate you by the direction of the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the authority invested in me as a prophet of God. I separate you under the call of God. And now the anointing of God's power and spirit comes upon you. And by faith, we impart onto you, by the direction of Him who is head of the church, the power, the gifts, the enduement, the endowment, the necessary, to equip you to stand in that office. Though you start at the bottom of the ladder, as you climb upward, ever upward, ever upward, that ministry will grow and grow and grow. And men shall come to know, and many who sit in darkness shall rejoice because they shall see the light. And a blessing under many shall you be. And in that day, many, many more shall rise up and call you blessed and you shall have call for much rejoicing. I had no idea this would wind up being a network. I was just blessed and honored to be called of God, to be in that office. But it's the platform, not that office. I rejoice for that office. And there are times that that anointing is... I've got to... Things that are of the future and things that look very, very, very far away. And if you only knew, to me they are very close, and I've already seen them in the spirit, sayeth the Lord. And all of these things that seem to trouble you and all of these things that seem to trouble your nation, I already have the answer to those things. I am working in you and through you and because of you in order to reveal them to each one of my people, so you can do your part in being a part of the answer to this nation. And through this nation to the rest of the world, sayeth the Lord of grace.
— Hallelujah.
— Praise God.
— Glory to God. I knew all this. I saw all this. I saw it coming. I knew it was coming. And had more inquired of me, I could have helped you before. But thank God, you know it now. And you know the source of the problem is not the people. But now you've found out that a big source of the problem is machines. Voting machines. So fix it sayeth the Lord.
— Praise God. Thank You, Jesus.
— Praise God.
— Yes.
— Now you know what's doing it. Fix it.
— Amen. Praise God.
— Change the machinery.
— Amen. I receive that.
— Praise God.
— We receive it. We receive it.
— Yeah, we receive it.
— When you get a word from the Lord like that, now you have to receive it. You have to honor that word.
— Oh, glory. Let's get back on track.
— Yes, sir.
— Amen. Hallelujah.
— It's great, Apostle Paul is going to write to a church he established in Galatians, especially Galatians chapter 3, and inform them, "You started out in faith just like Abraham. And Abraham believed and was counted righteous long before he was circumcised". And he's referring to Genesis 15, what we talked about. And he calls him foolish. "You foolish Galatians. Who's bewitched you to think that you can now do this by your hand, what you began in the spirit". And I believe that's been the... If you want to, I'll use the word... The sin of the church is, in many ways, we've tried to do it by our hand rather than...
— Way, way, far too much.
— So I'll show you this. Genesis 15. We broke it all down last week. All of this great thing that happens. At the end of Genesis 15, he tells him of the land. The land is part of the covenant. You get right into Genesis 16, and what happens? Hagar.
— Yeah.
— And now we're trying to make this thing happen by the flesh. Galatians 4 will teach that Paul.
— Well, now, Brother Greg.
— We're trying to help it.
— Now, Brother Greg.
— Yes, sir.
— Sarah. Gorgeous woman.
— Yes, she was.
— Beautiful woman.
— Most beautiful.
— But you know she could never have children. Couldn't have children.
— That's right. In the natural.
— And God is never wrong. He said we're going to have a child.
— Yes He did.
— And I can't have children. It's impossible for me to have children. So I have a good idea. Go ahead.
— Because this is what the Holy Spirit will do. Go ahead, what's your idea? Just like this right here. Go ahead.
— I have this little maid. She's not as pretty as I am.
— No, of course not. No, of course not.
— She'd never be as pretty as I am.
— Never. No. But let's face it.
— But not ugly. And I'm not too sure you got anything left either. Hey, you understand? You're nearly 100 years old.
— Wasn't he 75, 77, at that age, right in there?
— But he'd already had the promise.
— Yes, he did. Matter of fact, God even told him in 15, it's going to come out of your inner most being, your inner being.
— That can't happen.
— It's going to come out of your spirits, is what he was saying.
— That can't happen.
— Out of your belly.
— Because I'm barren. I've never had a child. I can't have any children. I don't know why God is...
— And so if I'm Abraham at that point, right then I should have said, "No, the Word of the God says"...
— Yeah, but he...
— But the Lord said, it's going to be you.
— No, it cannot be...
— Yes, sir.
— He said, "Okay. Let's give this try. Well, if you want me to, I guess I'll try. If you want me to".
— Wouldn't happen today.
— Oh brother, you kidding? They'd go right... That's the way the flesh gets in to try to make the word come to pass. Now, I know people, since we've gone into this part of this, I know people that want to be a prophet so bad, they start prophesying. And 99 times out of a hundred, that person will prophesy something bad. "Your husband's going to die. You're going to get sick and die". I've been around a long time and I've seen that happen over and over and over again. The wannabe prophets want to prophesy doom and gloom and it's going to come. And sometimes it does because the devil will take advantage of that. And blame it on God.
— He'll run with that word. And then you'd deceive a whole lot of other people with it. So they go right to the flesh. And the strife that happens is Hagar will exalt herself. Paul's going to point out that's the law. It will exalt itself. That's what happens in the time of Jesus. They had made the law to a level that they're missing the Messiah.
— Yes.
— And so he's making this analogy because...
— Actually, the law became God.
— Oh yeah. They were worshiping the law and not God. And they lowered the law standards so that they could get close to meeting it, apart from God.
— It's like secular people today. Jesus said, "You've heard it said, but I say unto you". Now, He's quoting what the Word actually says. See, they said, "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy". That's what the scripture said. Well, now how much work is required to remember the Sabbath? But they made a whole series of laws. Well, you can do this, but you can't do that.
— To enforce...
— But you can't do this to enforce that rule.
— And He corrected them.
— Many times.
— And He said, "Man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man". The Sabbath was so you could rest.
— Right.
— Not so you could work hard at making laws.
— And the planet was included in it. There was a Sabbath rest for the planet as well, every seventh year. And so when you start seeing these things, you can see how you can twist. And that's that spirit, twisting what God said. Satan did it at the very beginning. "Did God say, if you touch that you'll die? Is that what he really said"? And he gets her to, he's twisting what God said.
— And God didn't say anything about that.
— No, He didn't. And maybe they added touch it to keep themselves from doing it. But in all of these things, you're seeing this. So they went to the flesh in 16. And then we get to chapter 17 and God comes back to Abraham, and just goes, "Okay, all right, you want flesh? Let me show you something. We're going to now... I'm going to put your flesh in this. You're going to make a covenant with me in your flesh". And He institutes circumcision with Abraham right there. So that this covenant, now this is the first time mankind has bled. But it's in addition to that seed that's going to come. That seed is going to come through that bloodline. The rabbis teach it this way. That it's a circular cut and that the seed passes through the bloodline, through the scar where the blood was shed. And so Isaac will become that. He'll become covenant seed. Ishmael was not born of circumcised Abraham. All of that to say this. Paul will argue in Galatians 3, all of that happened. Abraham was righteous back here in 15. When he believed by faith. God took him out of the realm of the natural, showed him the entire stars, said, "Can you recount these for me"? And took him outside of the natural. And so that all should have been a picture. He was believing by faith. He yielded to the flesh. 16. God said, "Okay, let's make a sign in your flesh so that you'll know it". And then we get over to Leviticus and all of those verses say not to uncover your nakedness. And it's part of it, that symbol of that circumcision is supposed to be a private thing, a hidden thing, not to be seen.
— Well, as you and I were discussing before we came on the air today, I asked the Lord about that. Now, David and Jonathan entered into a blood covenant. Well, you could see that. They either cut here or here. And you could see it. And in many cases, it was a scar of pride. Because, "Whoa, he's in covenant with somebody. I better let him alone because I don't know with whom he is in covenant. And it may be somebody that I don't want to deal with here".
— That's right.
— I said, "Lord, why did You do that"? Now, let's go over to the book of Galatians chapter 3. The 13th verse, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree that the blessing, that the blessing, the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, or what the Spirit promised through faith". So the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of the Lord, the blessing of Abraham, it maketh rich and there's no sorrow or toiling with it. I said, "Why did You do that through circumcision"? He said, "So it cannot be seen. And the only way anybody could tell that there is a covenant of blood between the two of us is the massive way that I blessed him".
— That's right. Well, when he's quoting that in Galatians 3, there's two verses right there that take us right back. When he talks about "foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached the gospel unto Abraham, all the nations will be blessed. So then we, which are our faith are blessed with faithful Abraham". Well, when did that happen? Genesis 15.
— That's right. That's right, it is.
— When it happened. And look, Paul's preaching Genesis 15 to the Galatians. And what Bible did he have? He had the Torah.
— That's it.
— So in Galatians 14, going to what you just said, what the Word revealed to you, verse 14, Genesis 15:14, telling about the seed. "They shall be a nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge. And afterward, shall they come out with great substance"?
— There it is.
— There's the blessing.
— God, we taped about this last week.
— Yes, sir.
— That's the reason. When sin is full, then judgment has to come because of His desire for us to have great substance.
— That's right.
— God planned heaven for man. He didn't plan hell. He didn't plan all this other mess. He had plan B, but God is into substance. God is into people.
— Yes.
— He loves people. He's a people God. He loves people. And His Word, His bond, and promise of abundance, more than you can see anyway to use. And if you invest in my kingdom with only 10%, I'll invest it back on you, and my angels will be in charge to see that you receive more than you can find any way to use.
— Hundredfold.
— Yeah.
— He ends Galatians 3: "And if you be Christ," and we are, "then are you Abraham's seed and heirs".
— "Then are you Abraham's seed and heirs".
— Heirs. That's family. According to the promise.
— According to the promise.
— What promise? Promise to Adam, promise to Noah, promise to...
— All the way down the line.
— Up to Jesus. And through Jesus.
— My God. And then we got our name changed.
— Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
— We're named after our father.
— Yes, sir.
— Ephesians 3.
— We don't know what we shall become. But we know this, when we see Him, we'll be like Him. And then that's why we got a verse that talks about us. As He is, so are we in this world.
— That's the way the spirit realm sees you. That's the way the spirit realm sees me. We've not allowed ourselves to see ourselves that way, that I'm as righteous as Abraham was. And God adjusted this thing. Okay. We've got this flesh thing you did. I'm still going to bless that because of you. I got a covenant with you. But then He goes ahead and he moves this thing on forward.
— Praise God. And Isaiah prophesying of this.
— God's about to shout, Brother Copeland. Verse 43?
— Yes, sir. 43:25. "I, even I am". Don't you love that?
— I love that.
— "I, even I am he that blotted out my transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember your sins". Now, I like to put a therefore in there. Therefore put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare thou that you may be justified, for his sake. I said, "Lord, no, that's for my sake". He said, "No, you want to remember bad stuff about your children"? I said no. And he said, "Besides that, if I remember you saying that, I can't bless you".
— That's right.
— And we're out of time.