Kenneth Copeland - The Most Exciting Way To Live
Let's go to the book of Luke, the 18th chapter, and we look at Luke's account of the rich young ruler. 18th chapter of Luke, the 18th verse, "A certain ruler". Now see, Mark said, "A rich young ruler". "A certain ruler". So this could not have been a parable, because it's a "certain" man. A "certain" man. It wasn't like a man, it was a "certain" man. So, "Ask him, saying, 'Good master, what should I do to inherit internal life?' And Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, God.'" That is, is in italics. "None is good, save one, God". Think about it like this, "None is good, save one God". Amen. He is absolute good. There is zero bad in Him. He is absolute good. God has never created anything that was bad, because He is so good.
Let's go to the book of Genesis. Now, chapter one. That's at the beginning of the book. Now, why go to the trouble of saying that? Because that's what Genesis means in Hebrews. The beginning. The beginning. Glory to God. Already, I am thrilled. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth". Now look at me for a moment. "And the earth was without form and void". Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, there is an unknown amount of time, because the earth was not created without form and void. "And darkness was upon the face of the deep". Now here's the clue. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. This actually is the first flood. And God promised, "I will never do that again". Did He not? "I will never do it again". How can you do something again if you haven't done it the first time? That's like starting a sentence with, "However, Hey, Huh"? Or just walk up to somebody and say, "Therefore". Doesn't work, does it?
Oh, we're going to have some fun in this place tonight. Here we go. "And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, 'Let there be a firmament.'" Say that without talking in tongues when you're excited. Glory to God. "'In the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' And God made the firmament and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament". Whoa, well, bless me then. "And God called that thing heaven. And evening and the morning were the second day". "And God said, 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.' And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his cut. And God saw that it was good".
Sure it was, because He's a good God. And Jesus said, "He is good". "God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. Let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars also, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly, moving every creature that has life and fowl that...' And then God created great whales. And every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good". Glory to God. Amen. "And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply.'"
Now, what does a good God do? He blesses. You know what the word bless actually means? To empower, to prosper. To empower, to increase. To be blessed. Now the old way of saying blessed, that's not wrong to say it that way. But it's just bless. The Lord dealt with me a number of years ago when He, and again, here this just went widescreen with me. And He's talking about blessing and blessing and blessing, and blessing, and blessing, and blessing, and blessing, and blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing. Both covenants. Blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing. Wow. It's the same blessing. It's the blessing of God that became the blessing of Abraham, that became the blessing of Isaac, that became the blessing of Jacob, that became the blessing of Joseph, that became the blessing of Jesus, that became the blessing of Paul. And it was the blessing. Read it. It was the blessing that raised Jesus from the dead, the power of the blessing. Hallelujah. And what activates it? Faith. Faith.
43rd chapter of the book of Isaiah. "I, even I, am He who broughteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake". I couldn't get that. And then I stopped and argued with it. I said, "No, you meant for my sake". Then He said, "No. For my own sake". And He said, "Kenneth, do you want to remember the bad things about your children"? I said, "No". He said, "Well, I don't want to remember bad stuff about you either. Besides that, if I remember your sins, I can't bless you". And then He began... You know, I have this peculiar way of renewing my mind to things, and the 12th chapter of the book of Romans, "My body is a living sacrifice". In order to get good connection to that, for a long time, several years, I did not call this my body. I referred to it as "my sacrifice". "My living sacrifice". Then God dealt with me about the 120. And so I went in to get on the treadmill one day, and I was so taken up by this "living sacrifice". And I was doing my best to get a handle on it. And the word of the Lord came to me, and He called me by my name. He said, "Kenneth". Now remember, my primary calling is to the body of Christ. Amen. And He said, "I sacrificed my body for yours. Now you're sacrificing your body for mine". Because I was on up in age.
When I got on that treadmill that day, it changed my life. It made the treadmill fun. Instead of hanging my clothes on it for two weeks at a time. Amen. Hallelujah. And the Lord said to me, then later He said, "I want your mind renewed concerning The Blessing". He said, "Any time you write the word blessed in any form, write it in all capital letters". And I do it now, even making notes to myself, all capital letters, BLESSED, BLESSED, BLESSING. So it just jumps out there at me, because it is The Blessing. It is not a blessing. Jesus was made a curse for us. Galatians 3:13. Amen? "For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing, the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles". Whew. That's us. We're no longer Gentiles. A Gentile is just somebody that doesn't know God. "That we might receive the promise of the spirit, the covenant. Everything the Spirit promised to Abraham in The Blessing". "That it might come on us, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith".
I am a blessed man, but I started saying that before I had anything. I came home from that first partner meeting. I was driving Brother Roberts' car, and got in there, and I wanted to be a partner so badly, I didn't know what to do. And I didn't have any money. But God was looking out for me before I ever got in there. I'm down in the state of Georgia. Had those little church envelopes, those little manilla envelopes with a little wooden pencil in it. Then you could fill that out. And I said... And he was talking about $10 a month. I said, "I want to be a partner". And so I wrote it out, put my pencil in there. I said, "That pencil is mine. And this is my $10". And I put it in there. And so I put it in the offering container. I was right in the center of the room, and there was a woman two seats back. I'm going to meet her in heaven. I keeps telling this story, and I just keep hoping she'll hear it and contact me.
And I've been telling it all these years. Bless her darlin' heart, she's a woman of color, and she sitting, and we in Georgia, brother. I mean, we in deep Georgia. We in the South. Not the south, the South. And so, man, I put my envelope in the container... I mean, he's leaving, I'm driving the car. I got to hurry. I hear this, "Hey. Hey you". I turned around. "Yeah, you. The Lord has been wanting me this whole meeting to give you $10". I said, "Lady, give it here". I called the usher, and I got my pencil, and I put the $10. "I'm a partner with Oral Roberts"! And I still am. Still sowing into the University, still sowing into Richard Roberts Live. He and I are close, close, close friends. Amen. Thank You Jesus. Now I told you that to tell you this. I went back home and I said, "Gloria, we're partners with Oral Roberts' Ministry for $10 a month". She said, "Where in the world are we ever going to get $10 a month"? She hadn't heard the message. I said, "Sit down here, girl". And I preached it just as close as I could. And my bottom line brother, we can have Oral Roberts' anointing for $10 a month, you understand?
Now I don't tell this many times, but sometimes I do. There was, and something precious just happened on the 13th of this month, that's Gloria and my wedding anniversary, and 59 years. So there was, the huge song in 1967, was Julie London. "Our day will come when we'll have everything". Ooh. And I'll say, "Hey, remember that baby? Our day's going to come now. I'm telling you. And I got to reading, and this Abraham, this guy, and hey, this guy's rich. I mean he's rich. And I'm Abraham's seed". What? I said, "Girl, this ain't nothing but a moderate time. You understand that"? And we were just two little ignorant kids just having more fun than we knew what to do. And we still are. We aren't as ignorant as we used to be, but we're still having a lot of fun. Blessing. Just say it. Blessing. Blessing. The Blessing of the Lord. It make us rich. And He adds no sorrow. And He became poor that we might become rich. What does rich mean? Full supply. Full supply till it runs over. And you can start sowing in every place you can find a soul, and then you just, instead of being a sower, you just become a dumper. Oh, glory to God. Most exciting way to live there is. All right. God is a good God.
Now. And we come down to the 31st verse. "God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good". Amen. Well now, wait a minute. No, wait. Oh, oh. Hold on. Wait a minute. Second chapter, 18th verse. "And the Lord, God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helpmate for him'". And the Lord God calls, in the 21st verse, "A deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, 'Now this is good.'" A handmade wife. Can you imagine that? Glory to God. Made in heaven by a good God. That's where the term came from. Good God, Almighty. Now don't be going around saying that unless you really mean it. Good El Shaddai. El God Shaddai. More than enough. The good God who is more than enough. It's shouting time. It's shouting time.