Kenneth Copeland - Love Is Our Motive
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. I'm Kenneth Copeland and this is the second week on, "The love of God is the Gateway to Success". And you could say this, it's the secret of success. Because, it's an open book secret. There're so many people who don't know about it. But it is. This book is success.
Greg Stephens: Yes, sir.
Kenneth Copeland: Because, love wrote it to bring success in the face of his enemy. And so, we're successful.
Greg Stephens: He succeeded and we're in him. So, we succeeded.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes. Amen.
Greg Stephens: Before we begin today, today is a very special day. It's December the sixth. Happy birthday, Brother Copeland.
Kenneth Copeland: Thank very much.
Greg Stephens: Happy birthday.
Kenneth Copeland: Thank you very much.
Greg Stephens: You're so welcome.
Kenneth Copeland: I did not remember that.
Greg Stephens: We love you. I know you wanted to skate by and not have that broken out.
Kenneth Copeland: Oh, well.
Greg Stephens: We love you, and we want to say happy birthday.
Kenneth Copeland: Well, 35 is a wonderful age.
Greg Stephens: Yes sir.
Kenneth Copeland: No, I'm 85 today.
Greg Stephens: Hallelujah.
Kenneth Copeland: Praise God.
Greg Stephens: Praise the Lord.
Kenneth Copeland: Back several months ago they figured up my metabolic age because of my exercise and so forth. My weight and all of it. Metabolically, my body thinks it's between 35 and 37.
—Hallelujah.
—So, that's just right.
—That's just right. You weren't lying.
—Well, and you know, I have 35 more years to go.
—Yes.
—And so, 35 and 35 is 70. So, I'll be 70 years old when I'm 120.
—I love it. Praise the Lord. Great. Well, happy birthday.
—Thank you, Gregory. I thank you. I appreciate that very much. Father, we thank You today for Your Word. Your Word that says You are so good and Your commandments bring longevity and a life worth living even through old age unto death. And we praise You for that. Thank You for it. In the name of Jesus, we pray and believe it. Amen. Glory to God. We're talking about this. And I want us to go here, in the gospel of Luke first. Again, in the sixth chapter. We've already read that 28th verse, "Bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you". Now, like the guy said. Only today, I saw this Greg in the 27th verse. "But I say unto you, which hear. Love your enemies". You have to be listening with your heart. You remember that the Lord said, "Obey my commandments with your heart, not just your mind. And those that hear me, love your enemies".
—Amen. He would always say, "For you who have ears to hear, let them hear". He said this. This is when he would contradict the tradition of men. He'd say, "You've said this, or it's been said this, but I say unto you," in other words, I know that your tradition says this, but now I'm saying. This is one of those moments.
—That's one of those moments.
—Yeah.
—I just saw that.
—Amen.
—But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. You have to really be listening. Because, when the devil and all of his works are screaming at you, you really have to have that in your spiritual ear. Right in the middle of all that screaming and hollering. You're standing there thinking, "I love him because God loves him". And he doesn't have any idea what he's doing, but even if he does, he can't get to me. Anyway, I won't belabor that. But it's... This is what God does. Jesus said that. So God manifested in the flesh, uttered those words. Now sometimes I think, "Oh, wouldn't you love to have been there". And you know what I love about it, more than anything else. I would've been in heaven all this time, but I would not have the reward that I have now.
—That's right. As you were talking about this, reminds me of Saul who became Paul.
—Yes.
—When he was Saul, he thought he was loving God.
—Yes he did.
—By persecuting Jesus or his... Well, he is persecuting Jesus isn't he? He's persecuting those that believe on his name which are... That's the body of Christ.
—Now, what did Jesus say to him in that vision? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
—He'll even ask, who are you? Who is this?
—I'm glad you brought that up because when someone is just bad mouthing another believer, you're talking ugly about Jesus.
—Oh yeah. Yes you are.
—And without that kind of concept, you don't have anything to cause you to sit back from that. And, it's being judgemental. 99% of Christian people, I'm talking about born again, Spirit-filled, tongue-talking, healing-believing Christians, have no concept of judgment. Greg.
—Yes, sir.
—It amazes me how it starts out like this. Now, you know how I love Pastor George?
—Oh, yes.
—But then why are you fixing to talk bad about him?
—Because, I want you to pray with me. I want you to pray.
—Oh yes.
—So, that's how we spiritualize.
—Oh yes.
—We need to pray for him.
—Yes.
—Because, did you know that he did this and this and this?
—Yeah. Well, now Greg, if I'd have been pastor, I wouldn't have done that.
—Yeah. I know that.
—If you'd have been him, that's what you would've done.
—And that's why you're not pastor. Because the Lord wanted him to do it this way. But, in a meeting one time I said, "Well, if I'd have been in charge, I wouldn't have done it that way". I heard it in my spirit, "Well, that's why I didn't ask you. I wanted it done that way".
—Not realizing you just set yourself in a position to judge the pastor.
—Well, you moved Jesus off the throne and you took the throne.
—Yeah.
—That's exactly what you did.
—Yeah. And so, this man is pastor of the church.
—Whom God appointed and God sent.
—Yes.
—So, Paul will write about this very thing and people get this messed up, sometimes. I think they do anyway. I did for a long time, I won't put you in that. I've gotten it messed up for a long time. That many are sick and weak among you. Paul will write concerning communion because you don't rightly discern the Lord's body.
—And you don't judge yourself.
—When I'm talking about a brother or sister, I'm talking against the body, my own body, that I'm a part of. We're all fitly joined. And so, I don't know why it'd be like my shoulder talking about the knee saying, "I don't know why, he's always bending, that bendy thing". We don't need all that bending going on in the body. But, I'm attacking my own body. And so Paul will even say, "This is why many of you are sick, because you have not rightly discerned the Lord's body". Meaning we talk bad about that preacher over there. We talk bad about the person, Sister Peacock at church or whoever it is. Brother Bucket mouth. We talk about all these people. But, what we're doing is we are harming ourselves when we take communion. Because, we have not rightly discerned the Lord's body. That person in that church is my brother.
—The motive in that conversation is not love.
—No.
—Before you begin to bring that up to anybody, have you prayed it through? Have you prayed for pastor? And said, "Now wait a minute". I like something that Keith Moore brought up. Even, if you think you have a better idea about the way that should be done. Even if you think you have a better idea, you are not in charge yet. So you do it the way you were instructed to do it, because you're not the boss.
—That's right.
—Now my little granddaughter, Alex, Alexandria Nicole. She's not a typical female because of the way she was raised. Now the way Gloria and I raised Kellie and John was to never have any fear. And so, John raised his children like that. John told her to do something. She said, "Why"? He said, "Because I said so". She said, "Well, why"? "Because, I'm the boss". She said, "I want to be boss". He said, "Not yet". Now, they were deer hunting together. Oh dear. And John... I don't remember how this came about. But anyway, somehow or another, the eyeball on that dead deer got moved out or something. John looked over there, she had that eyeball out and had stuck it up there in front of her eye like that. Now, she does not have a husband yet. Oh. And, he's going to have to be a real man. I tell you. He's to be a loving guy.
—Yes he is.
—He's going to have to be the one.
—The guy. Yeah.
—Amen.
—And there is one.
—Yes. Amen. Let's move. Now, we know that Jesus said in that faith filled night of all nights, right there in John. Oh my.
—Thirteen...
—Right there at that meal. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You Lord. But, before we go there, let's go to the 14th chapter. I want you to see something here. Oh, I'm still in Luke. That doesn't work. In that 14th chapter... Right here, in the 13th chapter 34th verse, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another even as I have loved you. That you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another". Now, up until this time there had been strife among them.
—Oh, absolutely.
—They were arguing all the time about who's the greatest? Who are you going to be when he sets up the kingdom? And then, when he takes over and he's the boss of all Israel and all that. Who's going to be the greatest? You, me? They fussed with one another until that night.
—Right that night. Well that's the mark of a disciple.
—Yes.
—If you tell me you're a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ and you can't love folks... I got to doubt it a little bit. You may be saved, but you've not grown to the level of disciple.
—But disciple means discipline too.
—Yes sir. And that's the mark. That's how other people will know you're a disciple, right there. The way you love. Absolutely true.
—And then you come over here in this 14th chapter. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Now, then he comes down here to this 10th verse and he says something. He said something that, if the whole Christian world could get this. "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells within me, he does the work".
—That's right.
—And he laid the ground work for the day of Pentecost.
—Uh-huh.
—He laid the groundwork right there. The Father in me does the works. And then, 50 days later, the Father would come in fullness and dwell in them.
—Yeah. Jesus had the Spirit without measure in him. And this is setting that up. You get down to verse 21.
—Yes.
—Verse 20, "At that day, you shall know that I am in my Father and you're in me and I in you. He that has kept my commandments and keep it them, he it is, that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father. And I will love him and will manifest myself to him". That's when he was manifesting.
—So, if you're really aware of Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, the "Love your neighbor as yourself". You're keeping the commandments. And you're aware of Him being inside you. I remember a message that Brother Hagin preached. It hit me so hard. I started preaching it and I still preach it. I just preach it. Becoming God inside minded.
—Yes.
—In our thinking, the general thinking is, everything we need and don't have is out here somewhere. And either my parents had it or could get it. Or, the company I worked for had it or could get it or the government had it or could get it. But then, I learned that the kingdom of God is on the inside of me. And so, I become kingdom minded and God inside minded. Somebody goes, "Brother Copeland, but my prayer didn't get any higher in the ceiling". It didn't need to get any higher than this.
—Right.
—Because he's in here hearing.
—Right. It's your identification. And this is what he's setting up. He's about to go to the cross.
—Yes, he is.
—Now Paul, on the other side of this will write in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. He'll say, "I am crucified with Christ". You've got to see yourself that when I'm in him, when he was nailed to the tree, I was nailed to the tree. When he went into the grave, I went into the grave and when he was resurrected, I was resurrected with him. He says, "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me".
—Yes.
—"And gave himself for me". So, everything that I do in ministry large or small is in that realm. It's inside me now. Colossians says, "I'm complete in him".
—That's right.
—And that means that I'm not lacking anything. The moment I got born again, filled with the Spirit. Now, I got to renew my mind and grow in faith.
—Yeah. He said, "The fullness of the Godhead is in you now and you're complete in him".
—Yes. And you are too. We all are.
—Because he loved you.
—Because he first loved me. And now as response to that love, I love him. And now, because of that love, my faith grows. Everything grows, faith worketh by love. If your faith's not working, you better look at your love.
—Greg, I had the Lord say to me one day, really just boldly on the inside of me. I said something like this, "Well, faith works by love". And the Lord said, "Yeah. And love works by faith". Faith filled words dominate the laws of sin and death and perfected love casts out fear. But it won't work, if it's void of faith.
—Right.
—Faith in what? Faith in the love.
—He'll never leave me nor forsake me. And I've got to renew my mind to that. I feel alone right now. It doesn't matter what I feel. We got to get out of what we feel. That's what Keith Moore's got a revelation of. Love is an emotion to the world, but it's not governed by emotions.
—True love.
—Now, God has emotions, but they don't rule him. Love rules him. And love is, I gave the definition of it in the Hebrew last week. That root word of love, Ahava, is 'Hav,' and it means, to give. And that's what love does. In Romans 8, Paul will write in verse 35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness, or peril or the sword"? Or, the Taliban?
—No.
—Nobody. Nobody. Love has already won. And, I'm in love. I'm in love because he loved me. I'm in him. See, it's one thing to know that his love's in me. But, I just realized that just dropped in my spirit. I'm in love with him. And he's in love with me. I'm in love.
—You're in him who is love. You are in love with him.
—And that's not dependent upon how I feel at the moment. I'm in love with him, glory to God. I just got happy.
—Right in the very beginning there, as I mentioned earlier, I had this fly-off-the-handle temper. I don't even remember now. I don't remember now what triggered it. How much time we have, Carol? Okay. I'll do it. And all of a sudden, I just went into this rage and just talking, screaming at Gloria and in my mind, I'm thinking, she doesn't deserve this. What in the world is the matter with me? And, I just stopped. I said, "Oh, Glo. Darling, I'm so sorry". And I just fell over on the couch in this little rented house we had. I just fell over on my side in this little couch and I went into a deep sleep. At first, I thought I'd slept around the clock. I woke up. I'm on my side and she's right up in my face. She didn't say a word. Most women and probably should have just hit me in the mouth. But, it had been over right there. I opened my eyes and she was right up in my face. I said, "Oh, Gloria, I have to preach". She said, "I know it". That kind of love. And we're out of time. Come on, Jeremy. Help us here, son.