Kenneth Copeland - Be Like God and Give
Kenneth Copeland: Hello, I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. That's Professor Greg Stephens, and we're having a good time on the love of God. People have asked me, "Well now, why are you taping with Greg Stephens so much"? Well, two reasons. Number one, the Lord told me to do that. And the reason he told me to do it is because of his knowledge of the Hebrew language, that any subject we go in, particularly like this one. This is so important. And we found out right at the very beginning, that the root word to the word love...
Greg Stephens: 'Ahava'
Kenneth Copeland: is give
Greg Stephens: 'Hav.' Yes.
Kenneth Copeland: I knew that, but now I know it better.
Greg Stephens: It makes the entire Bible open up. Now you begin to understand Jesus and the instructions he had.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes.
Greg Stephens: And it makes sense to you.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes. He's a giving God.
Greg Stephens: Yes.
Kenneth Copeland: Love gives, that's what love does and I noticed it. Back when Gloria and I, we got into this ministry and I wanted to give her everything and I didn't have anything, but I wanted to give her. I would say to the Lord, "Lord, help me please. I want to give to her. I want to give her things". I just wanted to give her things. Finally, I was in a meeting. I was in Hilton Sutton's dad's church, Dad Sutton. And they had a flu outbreak there. So, when I got there, he said, "Brother Copeland, I couldn't guarantee you $50 if you stayed a month". I said, "Did I ask you"? "No". I said, "Okay". Now the Lord said this is going to be a financial breakthrough for you. Well, I thought, "Great". Because, Gloria's birthday's coming up here just about the time I get home. He was receiving offerings and he just put all the change in a paper sack, all of it, in this paper sack. You talk about a loving man, Dad Sutton was... He just... Anyway. I had the checks and the offerings and so forth and here was this big paper sack full of change, pennies, dimes, quarters, half dollars, just change. The ministry expenses and everything had to be taken care of first. I got home. She said, "How was the meeting"? I said, "Well, wonderful". I said it, "I haven't counted all of this yet, but the Lord said it was going to be a major financial breakthrough". I said, "Gloria", and I handed her this paper sack full of change. I said, "Happy birthday, girl". Now, I drove for hours getting here. But she said, "Let's go to the store". I said, "All right, let me clean up a little bit". We went right straight to the store. She already had it picked out, this beautiful red purse and the shoes to match.
—Amen.
—She walked right up to that counter and she already knew where it was so she brought it out there. Man, I'm so happy. I thought, "Oh, I got money enough in here to pay for this"? So, I handed it to her. She set the shoes over here and just set that sack down in there. And they started, they started counting. Like this and it paid for the purse and the shoes. She had something like, I think it was 27 cents left over. But the women there were so happy and thrilled. They could tell how happy I was at this. And they said, "Well, one thing we broke in". Gloria said, "There's a lot more where that came from".
—Amen.
—And there's been a lot more where that came from with faith in God.
—It reminds me of a verse that you... I'm just going to be honest with you, Brother Copeland, when I first heard you teaching it, it was a stumbling block for me. It really... I had to renew my mind to it. I got it now. But boy, for a while, I was like, "Ah, I love him. I just don't know about this one". Didn't say anything to anyone. Didn't write a book about it. Get on TV or anything else. Romans 13, when you understand the heart of God giving. Verse eight, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loved one another has fulfilled the law". Then you go to verse nine, "For this thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not kill thou shall not steal". See, I'm good with all those. Thou shall not bear false witness. Thou shall not covet. If there be any other commandment, it's briefly comprehended in this saying namely, love thy neighbors as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. "Therefore, love is fulfilling of the law". But, I'm good with all those others. But, owe man nothing. Owe no man anything. I was struggling with that one.
—Yeah.
—But then I got to seeing it. If I owed you money, then I'm condemned when I see you.
—That's right. I'm it, if you don't have money.
—And I can't pay. Oh, there's Brother Copeland.
—Man, I lived that way.
—You don't want to see that person. You don't want to be around them.
—We saw that right there. Like I said, right there at the very beginning. Well, you can't build anything on one verse. I had to learn to do that. So, I started searching. I went right straight to the curse of the law and I found it there. You'll be the tail and not the head and I found it again. So, out of the mouth of two witnesses, the borrower is servant of the lender.
—Right. I can't give if I'm owned by somebody else.
—That's right.
—It hinders my ability to love and give, if I'm owned, if everybody else owns me.
—Of course it did... Well, we didn't get ahold of that right away. It took a long time to, to learn how to live that way. But, once you get ahead of it...
—See when I realized my love, God is love. I'm in him, he's in me, is tied to owe no man anything. Changed it. That changed it.
—Okay. Let's go to second Corinthians, chapter nine, verse seven, "Who goes a warfare anytime to his own charges". Now you were in the air force.
—Yes, sir.
—You were involved with airplanes.
—Yes, sir.
—Were you required to pay for any of them?
—No, sir.
—Aren't you glad?
—Yes, I am. They didn't take a C 130 out of your pay.
—No, they didn't or the fuel.
—Fuel. You'd still be paying for it.
—Absolutely would. Yes, sir.
—Okay. Now when you continue to look at this. Oh, I'm in... Let me get to the scripture. I'm glad I read that though. I believe the Lord ordered my step on that. Because, that goes back to debt.
—Yes, sir. It does.
—Now second Corinthians chapter nine, verse six, "But this I say, he was so sparingly shall reap sparingly. He, that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart shall let him give not grudgingly of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver". The Classic Amplified said a prompt-to-do-it giver. And when it says, "And he is unwilling to give up a cheerful, prompt-to-do-it giver. God is able to make all grace abound towards you". Listen. "That you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. As it is written, 'He hath dispersed abroad. He hath given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seeds sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God'".
—Uh-huh.
—Now, always having all sufficiency. Let at me get my trustee iPad.
—He has given to the poor. Give us the root of love.
—Yes, it is.
—Love the poor.
—Okay. That would be verse eight. Let each one give as he's made up his own mind and purposed in his heart. Not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion for God loves, he takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, is unwilling to abandon or do without a cheerful, joyous, prompt-to-do-it giver whose heart is in his giving. Why? God is able to make all grace, every favor, earthly blessing, come to you in abundance so that you... Here it is. Here's the debt-free life. So that you may always, and under all circumstances, whatever the need, be self-sufficient, possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation. You not only have all your bills paid, you don't owe anybody and you got money to sow, money to give.
—Yeah. And that makes me like my father. That's when I'm most like him, when I'm loving and giving. That's what I'm most like him.
—You love giving.
—That's when I'm most like Him.
—Oh, Greg, that's outstanding.
—That's when I'm like him.
—You will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous and your generosity as it is administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God.
—I can see the Father. I can see Jesus. Jesus used to watch in the offering. He used to watch at the temple, what people gave. He got so excited that day, that woman threw those two mites in there, that he made mention of it.
—Did you notice it says she threw it in there?
—Yeah.
—It does, doesn't it?
—He got so excited about.
—She didn't just get it. She said, "Boy, this is it. Now I've done it".
—Amen. He got so excited about it. I think he got... I don't think, I know it. He got excited that day you were getting those red shoes and that red purse.
—Oh, he loves...
—Oh, I know he did..
—He gets excited about that. You're taking care of his daughter.
—Yes. She was so thrilled and I was so thrilled. I wanted to buy all the shoes in the store, but I only had 20 cents left.
—And it blessed those ladies that were counting.
—Listen, they got so excited because she got her shoes and her purse. Obviously, she had already been in there and already been looking at the shoes in the purse and they knew it. And she came in there and she got her shoes and her purse and her husband was excited about it.
—And it made everybody around excited about it. That's what love does. That's exactly what love does.
—Now, let me add a little bit to that. We were in Great Britain. We had a meeting there and she and I both were preaching. In between services, Mike Leeper is head of our security department and those of you in the ministry here know Mike really well. He took Gloria shopping. They were out driving around, came back. When I came back to the hotel, she said... Now this is extremely unusual for her. She said, "Kenneth, I have seen the most beautiful car I have ever seen in my life". I said, "What was it"? "I don't know. I don't know if it was a Mercedes, but it was this gorgeous, dark blue convertible top, this light blue body. I don't know what it was".
—Now, what are you thinking right there?
—I'm thinking, "I got to find out what this was". Now, we're checking out of the hotel. She said, "There it is". It was a Jaguar. I looked and she wasn't kidding, gorgeous car. We got back. We got back home and our chief pilot, Dwayne Flanigan. I said, "Dwayne". Of course I took a picture of that car. I said, "We have to find one of these". He said, "That's the one that was in England. Right"? I said, "Yeah, but the steering wheel's on the wrong side, you understand? So, we got to find one over here". Of course, Jaguar's a British car. He found one. A dealer had it down close to Houston, somewhere. That same car. So, they did an exchange and they brought it to a dealership here in Fort worth. So, I went down there. Now, what would it have been like, had I not had the money to do that? I've just had to stand there and say, "My wife thinks that's the most beautiful car in the world. Can she come sit in it one day"?
—Yeah.
—Because you just sit down in it. We don't have that kind of money. We're just preachers.
—That's the way I was raised. That's why I had to overcome that.
—Yeah. I do my utmost and best to keep in my savings and so forth money enough to do things like that. Found that car. I put the top down on it. It's gorgeous. Drove it home and went inside. I said, "Glo, there's something out here in the driveway. I want you to look at". "Okay". She came out there and she said, "Ah". That's all I wanted to see. She said, "That's my car". I said, "Yeah, it was your car all along".
—Oh, praise God.
—Those were her first words. That's my car.
—Hallelujah.
—Jesus said... That's the reason I parked it in the driveway where you can see it.
—Yeah. Right.
—We still have that car. No, she still has that car and once in a while I get to drive her car.
—Yeah, it's beautiful. I've seen it. It's beautiful. Jesus said you being evil or carnal.
—Oh wait, somebody just said, "Yeah, but I'll never have that kind of money". You're right. Because, you said it. Now, you may not have that kind of money now. There was a time when all I could buy was red shoes and the purse. But, I kept that on my heart. I kept it on my mind all the time. All the time. It may be that you're on your way there. You're on your way there and only you can stop that.
—That's right.
—Only you can put a halt to that.
—He's not a respecter of person.
—No, he's not.
—He said you being evil or carnal know how to give gifts to your children. How much more your heavenly Father? That's his nature and that's our nature in him. That's why you got so excited about it.
—Yeah I did.
—In England, when she started talking about it, you knew right then, I'm buying that car.
—The problem is I've run out of stuff. She has everything. I'm just waiting to hear. "I have seen the most..". "Okay, babe, come on".
—Amen.
—But our Father, he'll never run out. We'll never out of things...
—No,
—for him. This is when, and I said it earlier and I'm thinking, this is for somebody today. This is when you're most like your father. You have traits that are like your dad. I have traits that are like my dad every now and then I'll look in the mirror and go, "Whoa".
—She knew, how like you, I'd always wanted a Corvette.
—Yes. It's the best car ever.
—I had one for a while. It was rough that I just... It's not a status symbol to me and I don't like to do this, but the general motors developed the magnetic response suspension. And so, several years ago she did it and surprised me with it. She has her Jaguar in one garage and I have my Corvette in the other. You preachers and all that money. No. I'm a believer.
—Yes.
—I'm a believer. Listen, last night, we went to bed. We go to bed early and we lay there for a while and I'm just talking about how good God is and how much... And she just started in, "Oh, he is so good. He is so good to us". And she said things like, "I'm so glad you're at home with me tonight and not out on the road someplace". It was just little love talk all the time. But, God is right in the middle of it all the time. We talked that way when we didn't have two dimes to rub together. But, he is so good. We took the teaching of our mentors. We took the teaching of Oral Roberts who got persecuted beyond measure because he said, God is a good God. He's a God of abundance and he wants you well. He wants you to be well off financially and people hated him for it. Then, we came along and the only thing that happened here, we took what we learned from him and what we learned from Kenneth Hagin and both of them preached love and goodness. Brother Hagin just...
—I didn't learn faith from Brother Hagin. I learned love.
—Oh yeah, big time.
—It's the truth.
—Absolutely big time.
—What you learn from Brother Hagin? Love. They're expecting you to say faith, Mark 11:23,24. Of course, you're going to say it. You know what you were doing in that bedroom? That love talk you just mentioned. You're speaking the truth in love.
—In love. Oh my...
—The truth is what his Word says. The truth is, what he has done for us.
—I dare say most victories are lost in families at home at night. Worry, instead of... We just don't do that. We've had some pretty tragic things happen to us, particularly recently. But, you don't dwell on that. And thank God, we were able to teach our children and our grandchildren, how to stay strong in the midst of a terrible, terrible experience. And we're out of time. Hallelujah. Come on, Jeremy. Help us, son. We'll see you tomorrow.