Kenneth Copeland - The Goodness of God Will Follow You
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Praise God. Welcome. We're glad you're here with us, praise the Lord. We're just here in the studio with some very choice people, glory to God. And Professor Greg Stephens is with us again today. We're talking about the goodness of God. You cannot talk about the goodness of God without pointing out the badness of the devil. There's no truth in him, there's no good in him, there's no light in him. He is the author of badness. So, first of all, let's go to the 23rd Psalm.
— There you go.
— The Psalm of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. The shepherd himself.
— Yes, sir.
— The shepherd himself. And the Lord is... Now think about this. A shepherd boy that was in charge of the sheep, he understood that you lead sheep. Cattle, you drive, but not sheep. They have to be led. And they'll just following you anywhere you want to go. And it is so precious to me. "The Lord is my shepherd. I like to read it like this. The Lord is my shepherd. I never have a want.
— Amen.
— He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Why? To restore my soul. But he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me". Look at this. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runneth over". Surely goodness...
— Yes.
— Surely. This is a sure thing. Surely goodness and mercy.
— Yes.
— Well, what's the difference? Goodness, mercy. Mercy, goodness. Praise God. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever". That's the goodness of God.
— That's right.
— The great shepherd himself. And Jesus called himself the shepherd, the pastor of the sheep. Glory to God. Now, let's go to the book of Ezekiel.
— I see the opposite.
— Chapter 28. Now notice then the first verse, the word of the Lord came again unto me saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, thus sayeth the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up and thou has said, I am a God. I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas, yet you're a man and so forth. He was convinced he was a god, but he's the prince. But now look at the 11th verse. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus. The king of Tyrus was the one had deceived the prince of Tyrus into thinking he was a god. And thus sayeth the Lord God. Thou sealest up the full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou has been in Eden, the garden of God. There's no doubt who this is. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, topaz, the diamond, the beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle and gold. The workmanship of your tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. In the day that thou was created. This is a created being.
— Right.
— Thou art the anointed cherub that covers, and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, until iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee in violence and so forth. I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of your beauty, thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou has defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic, therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. And they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. Thou shalt be a terror, and never shall you be any more.
— Amen.
— Never shall you be anymore. He's finished.
— That's coming in the end of the age when that will finally be. He's already been defeated. Jesus already made a show of him. The great shepherd made a show of him openly.
— And that's why we need to bring things out like this is because you need to know your authority in Christ Jesus. Because you, as a born again, spirit filled believer, you have the fire of God in the side of you, praise God.
— Right.
— Yes.
— That will destroy him.
— That will destroy him. And the name.
— Yes.
— And the name. It's important to realize that the name can do anything he can do. The name carries his authority. When Jesus was ministering in the Earth, he gave no place to the devil.
— That's right.
— Wouldn't let him speak. Well, hey, wait a minute. We have been instructed to give no place to the devil. And then in James, seventh chapter, submit yourself to God. Resist the devil. This fellow right here. Resist him and he'll flee from you. How do you resist him? Standing steadfastly in the faith with the name of Jesus. Now that's where faith comes in.
— That's right.
— Without faith, there's no force behind it. It's just a very loud, strong, "Well, in the name of Jesus, devil, you have to flee".
— Yeah, there's nothing. Yeah, just words.
— Parrot.
— I'm telling you again. Well, the second time you did it, you just told him he doesn't have to go anywhere.
— That's right.
— Far as I'm concerned, he's fleeing. You're gone. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.
— Because we're washed in the blood. Don't try to use the name of Jesus against the devil if you're not washed in the blood, if you're not a believer. He will beat you silly.
— Yes.
— And you see it in the book of Acts, the seven sons of Sceva.
— I was just thinking the seven son.
— But yet, even the disciples-
— Paul I know, Jesus I know. Who are you?
— Exactly. Because he doesn't see that covenant mark on you.
— No, he doesn't.
— Because he can see in the spirit realm where your heart's been circumcised, that mark of the covenant upon you. The blood of Jesus has washed you. He recognizes you don't have it. And that's exactly what happened to that guy. Yet even when Jesus day, it says even the devils are subject to us in your name.
— In your name.
— Why did that happen? Well, you say, well, they weren't born again. Well, he had breathed on them, and they're operating in faith.
— Yes, sir.
— Faith-filled words. We have authority in the earth because we were born here. This is our place. We're made from this place. He's not. And when you're reading that there in Ezekiel, and I started looking at all the stones that were covering him and on him, he's a thief. See, that's from the throne. He tries to cover himself. The Lord will have the high priest of Israel wear the stones upon them. He's trying to steal that priesthood that we walk in. He's a fake. He's a liar, he's a thief, and he comes to steal the Word.
— And at one time he was privileged to go up there.
— Yes.
— And like I said last week... Well, I'm going to go to the book of Revelation.
— Yeah.
— Right there in the first chapter of Revelation. And it's not Revelations. It's one revelation. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his service things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. Jesus has a personal angel.
— Well, of course he does.
— Now why is that? He's a man.
— Of course.
— He's a man. Praise God. Born again. Now wait a minute, when did he get born again? He got born again in hell. He was manifested in the flesh when he was born in Bethlehem, made alive in the Spirit, and became the first born from the dead.
— That's right.
— Glory to God. A born again, Holy Spirit baptized in the river Jordan, glorified man. He has an angel. That angel came to John on the Isle of Patmos.
— Hallelujah.
— So, the reason to point that out is to realize what I'm convinced, Greg, that the archangel Lucifer, Morningstar, I'm convinced he was Jesus' angel, and he wanted more than that. He didn't want to be his angel. He wanted to be his counterpart. He wanted to come up to a higher level than that. And I'm making this up in my mind. I'm better looking than he is. He's a man. I'm a whole lot better looking than he is. And I have this whole earth under my command. But I want above these clouds. I wanted the right hand of God. I will exalt my throne above these clouds. Well, when we said we want to be like Jesus, got us born again. When he said it, it got him cast out.
— Because he's a creative being, but we were created in the image.
— Yes.
— The likeness.
— Yes.
— And that infuriated him.
— Yes.
— Because even the scripture says, what is this man?
— Yeah. Who does he think he is?
— Right.
— And he fell. His beauty was cast down. There's a fire on the inside of him destroying him. You know what it is? Fear. It's destroying him. He is so afraid. He's afraid of you. He's afraid of me. He's afraid of this ministry because we're teaching people who they are in Christ Jesus, and that you can control his affairs.
— In the natural that's true. When I was a kid, there was this one guy that bullied me all the time.
— Did you have one of those? I did, too.
— I had a line of them. Anyway, but my grandfather said, "He's afraid of you. That's why he bullies you". And that's exactly what Satan does, what Lucifer does. He bullies. He makes a loud noise like a roaring lion.
— To keep you under where you're no threat to him.
— And my grandfather said, "The day you stand up to him, it'll be over," and he was right. And that's why we resist the devil. I was thinking about that. We had a lot of rain in the springtime here in Texas this year. And I have the privilege, beautiful backyard, the 10th hole of a golf course. And I was setting out there and I was watching the flooding of the golf course as it was going down, and I heard the Lord speak to me. He said, "Watch the water, watch that. What do you see"? And I was sitting there looking at it. And I realized that the Holy Spirit, he said the water choose the path of least resistance.
— They're showing it on the screen.
— Yeah, the water chose the path of least resistance. Yes, and? That's the way he speaks to me. We kind of do this thing. And he said, "Don't I use the water as the Holy Spirit"?
— Yes.
— All the time, flow out of you. The Holy Spirit chooses the path of least resistance. I told you to resist the devil, not to resist the Spirit.
— And don't grieve the Spirit.
— Yes.
— Resist the devil.
— Just flow with him. Just get in. What I saw is I saw a branch just flowing by. It was just going with the flow.
— Yeah.
— And the water, the trees were standing there. The water was going around him and going right through. You saw it just a second ago. That's Psalm 23.
— Yes, it is.
— Just flowing with the Spirit, not resisting him. If you resist the Spirit, that's the end of the revival at the moment you put the brakes on. Because he's not going to drive you like cattle. He's going to lead you. So, let me show you something in the 23rd Psalm I think that'll bless you. When you go this, "Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. Restores my soul. Leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. See, I'm flowing through. I'm going through it. I'm not stopping there. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest us a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever". Now the verb in Hebrew for follow, radaph. Radaph. The translation follow in English is just too weak, Brother Copeland, for what it means. Radaph means to chase after or to pursue.
— Wow.
— Surely goodness and mercy. Goodness chases after me and pursues me even in the darkest times.
— Yes, even in the valley of the shadow.
— Yes, sir. It's not a little puppy dog that's following me. It's pursuing me like a charger.
— Praise God. That is so good.
— It is after me.
— That is so good.
— Because of my covenant. Goodness and mercy. This is a covenant man talking about a covenant promise. It doesn't trail along. It rather gallops like a stallion is what the Hebrew is implying. Goodness and mercy as a stallion in full run toward me.
— Praise God.
— That's how serious God is.
— And look back up to that fourth verse. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. He's the biggest thing in the valley.
— Right. Right.
— You're with me. You're the biggest thing in this valley. Why should I be afraid? And you're good to me always. You're always here to protect me. And your goodness is charging after me and your mercy's all over me. Why should I be afraid? I learned this years and years and years ago, and it was one of the things that helped just eradicate fear out of my life. I was determined that I was... Oh, I didn't say anything about this. I was with a friend of mine and I didn't know anything. I was just with him. And so, this woman said after the meeting, "Would you go with me to see my mother? Because I don't know whether she saved or not". So, I went along I'm just standing down here at the end of the bed. And this little woman just lying there like that. And my friend and her daughter were up here talking about her. All of a sudden that little woman stretched, just rose straight up and then screamed, "Sick, boy, sick. Sick, boy, sick". I ran out of the room.
— Yeah.
— Boy, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I stood out there outside that that door and I said, "Dear God. Look at me". Back in those days I was really heavy. And I said, "Over 220 pounds and that little 70-pound woman scared me out of the room. But I'll tell you, Lord, I will never be afraid of another devil as long as I live. Not the longest day I live I'll never be afraid of another one. But this was one of the scriptures that fixed that forever. I have no fear".
— That's right.
— Then after 9/11, just right after that, we were having our meeting in Washington, DC, as we do every year. On the way to the venue, the Lord said, "I want you to launch a war against fear. Fear is not okay. You strip it from the body of Christ, and you preach and teach on it until I tell you different". Now the time I was preaching on love, I got over into perfected love casteth out fear. He that fears it and is not perfected in love. And people said, "Oh yeah, you know". But then 9/11 happened, and fear was big. Huge. Just huge in the body of Christ. And the Lord said to me, he said, "They have no business with that. They have no business with it. Now you attack it". Then when I went at it from the fierce side, people listened. And that was one of the scriptures right there.
— For thou art with me.
— Yeah.
— And here's the best part of that. You ready for this? I'll do it real fast. There are 55 Hebrew words in this verse, so 26 and 26. And in the middle of this verse is that phrase, for thou art with me. That is the single most pointed thing in all that he's going through is the Lord is with him. Now take it back to last week, Acts 10:38.
— Yes.
— Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good because the Lord was with him.
— Yeah, God was with him.
— When you know that he's with you, you can face any little devil, you can face a 9/11, you can face COVID-19. Face any of those.
— Well, hey, darkness cannot overcome light. It's impossible in this earth for darkness to overcome light. I don't care if it's dark in here you can't see. One little candle, strike one match, and the darkness moves. And it just drives it out. And goodness and light are in the same word.
— That's right. Where we walk and live our entire days on this earth, on this planet, in this reality. We have conflicting realities, good and evil, and we have to choose. And we're going to walk right through.
— Right. Walk straight through.
— Because he is with me.
— Yes.
— If I've got nothing else, I know that you're with me.
— And it's important to add this in here, because the Word is very explicit about it. That's what makes racism ludicrous.
— Yeah.
— That's pitiful. And how much time we have, Carol? We're out of time. Well, we can get into more of this tomorrow and from the book of Acts. And God is a good God. Hallelujah. Come on, Jeremy, Thank you, Papa. What a great message we've heard today. Psalm 23 tells us that the goodness of God will follow you all the days of your life. Now take hold of that promise and expect and look for his goodness in every part of your life.