Kenneth Copeland - A Life of No Compromise Leads To Promotion
Well happy New Year, everybody. And the Lord dropped this message in my heart, to share with you. And if I only had one message to share with spirit filled Christian people, or anybody really for that matter, saved or unsaved. Because these are spiritual laws, and they work whether people know Jesus or not. It would be this one. It's my father in the faith, Oral Roberts, preached a sermon that became famous all over the world, called The Fourth Man, out of the book of Daniel. And we're going to go there right now. But I heard him say this... He said it to me. He looked me right straight in the eye, and he said, "Kenneth, whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose". Then I heard it, Gloria and I both, back in the very early days of this ministry. The Lord said, "I am coming so soon, that I want this noncompromised Word of Faith preached on every available voice".
Well, back there then the only available voice was radio and television and books. That was it. So we started out on the radio. And with that exciting Word in our hearts concerning radio, and I had learned that from Oral Roberts, whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. So that was the early command, what is noncompromised word of Faith or the word of God mean? What does the Word, our covenant with God, say? All things that pertain to life and godliness, and the promises of God, particularly in the letters that Peter wrote. I mean, this man was there. He was right on top of these exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you partake of the divine nature of God. Where you don't compromise those promises, you don't compromise those words. And when His Word said, "By His stripes, you were healed," then you're not the sick trying to get healed, you're the healed and the devil's trying to take your health away from you.
So, I mean, you stand on that Word. 2000 years ago, I was healed, and by grace I take authority over the sickness, and I take it, I take my healing right now. I had it. I take it. I take it now. And by that you can live in divine health, but you can't compromise the Word and live in divine health. You can't do that. So when it says, "By His stripes, you were healed," then I'm healed. So now then, I want to read this from Daniel, the third chapter, but I'm going to read it from the Classic Amplified. So listen to this. "Nebuchadnezzar the king, caused to be made an image of gold, whose height was 60 cubits or 90 feet". This thing is 90 feet tall, made out of gold.
Now, where did he get all that gold? Now, I'd like to know that myself. To make something 90 feet tall. "Whose height 90 feet, and its breadth six cubits or nine feet. He set it on the plain of Dura and the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, the governors, the judges and chief stargazers, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs and the lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of this image, which king Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up. Then the satraps and the deputies and the governors and the judges, the chief stargazers and the treasures and the counselors and the sheriffs and the lawyers, and all the chief officials of the provinces were gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they then stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald cried out, 'You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, when you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon...'"
Now, the lyre, it's a stringed instrument, it's triangular in shape. And you see those particularly Russians... They're prominent among the Russian people today. Verse six, "Whoever does not fall down and worship shall that very hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn pipe, lyre, trigon, dulcimer and bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar set up. Therefore at that time, certain men of Chaldean descent came near and brought malicious accusations against the Jews". Well, what else is new? It's still happening today. Why? Because it's still the same God, and it's still the same devil. Thank You, Lord. "They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, 'O king live forever. You O king have made a decree"... And so forth and so on, and worship. "Whoever does not... There are certain Jews whom you have appointed and set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods".
Now notice that. "You have set them over us, and we don't like it because they're Jews". Jealousy. "Then King Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, so he did not control himself. Rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these men were brought before the king. Then Nebuchadnezzar said to them, 'Is it true, oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I've set up? Now, if you are ready, then when you hear that, then...'" What's going to happen? "You're going to be cast at once into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that God that can deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, it's not necessary for us to answer you on this point.'" In other words, "You already know the answer to this".
"If our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and his facial expression was changed to antagonism against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore, he commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter, and he commanded the strongest men in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these three men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics and undergarments, their turbans, and outer clothing, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame and sparks from the fire kindled those men who had handled Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar the king saw and was astounded, and he jumped up".
Now, that fire was so hot that it killed the men that threw them in there. Boy, that's a hot.
— You'd jump up too.
— Now, it indicates that he hated that thing up hotter than it was supposed to be heated. So at that heated would have destroyed the furnace. "These three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king saw and was astounded. And he jumped up, and said to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered, 'True, O king.' He answered, 'Behold, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'" "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out and come here.' Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out from the midst of the fire, and the satraps, the deputation, the governors and the King's counselors gathered around together and saw these men that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their heads singed neither were their garments scorched or changed in color or condition, nor had even the smell of smoke clung to them".
— Praise God!
— "Then Nebuchadnezzar said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who believed and trusted in and relied on Him. And they set aside the king's command, and yielded their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God, that therefore I make a decree that any people, nation language that speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses be made a dunghill for there's no other God who can deliver this way.'" Now, listen, listen, this happened, and it happened just like that. These men refused to compromise. They would not do it. They would not compromise. The king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. It was the noncompromised three. They were already in a high place, which made those other guys jealous. Now, what do you think they thought?
— I expect whatever it was, that it was very quiet.
— Now let's go to the life of Joseph. The Word says that the blessing of the Lord was upon him. We go back, and for lack of a better way to explain it, you go wide screen. The first words any human ear heard was the blessing. Then we know what Adam did with it. And then you watch all the prophets down over the years. But now here's Joseph, and the blessing is working for him all the time, because he would not compromise. He would not compromise the dream he had. Ever. He wouldn't let it go. And it made his brothers mad because he's the pet. Then here they, again, they were jealous of him. And so they said, let's kill him. One of them said, "No, that isn't very smart. We'll sell him. Let's kill an animal and dip his coat in blood". Is that not a type? "And we will show that to our father". And they threw him in this hole. And they said, "Well, no, let's get him out and sell him".
And now the blessing of the Lord was on him. And there was this caravan going to Egypt. Just happened by. Just happened by. And so then he goes into Potiphar's house, and Potiphar was a military man, but the blessing of the Lord was on Joseph, to the point that he turned everything over to him, and didn't know any more even what he was worth. He became so wealthy because the blessing was on Joseph. He refused to compromise his God. He said so, when Potiphar's wife... Another... And he still wouldn't compromise. And of course she lied on him, and he's thrown into prison. And you know the rest of the story. And he's so blessed, he became head of the prison. Well, he didn't know how to run a ranch and farm and make it... The blessing taught him. He didn't know how to run a prison, the blessing taught him. So he had to run a prison. God, man. And you know the rest of the story. And then the dreams that he had. And the dreams came true. And he said, "Well, remember me now, when you get back to Pharaoh". Forgot him for two years. Yeah. But he was only 28 years old. When he turned 30. "Oh, I forgot King, go get Joseph, and he'll answer your dream".
So he answered his dream. "And whew". Pharaoh says... And his soldiers now go and get him. But he not only told him what he dreamed, but then he interpreted the dream. It's one thing to interpret a dream, but it's another to tell you what you dreamed. And he said, "No, man, like this in the whole kingdom". He became Prime Minister of Egypt. I always wondered what Potiphar thought then. "I hope he's forgotten what I did to him". But Potiphar was a military man, and now was under Joseph's command. Why? He said to her, "Can I do this thing before my God? No, I can't compromise my God for a few minutes with you. I'm not going to do it even if I go to prison for it". And he did. And then he wound up, because he wouldn't compromise, had to run the prison. Then he became Prime Minister of the Egypt. And out of that came Moses. Because he would not compromise. It is the message of the Bible. We don't compromise the promises. We don't compromise our faith. We don't compromise one another. And to be on the job and compromise... I mean, working for somebody, working for a ministry or whatever, or whomever, and something happens on the job, you don't compromise what you know. You don't accuse somebody, "Well, they lied on me". Well now wait a minute. Did they?
— What is that? Is that scripture that says what you compromise to keep, you lose?
— Well that's not. That's what Oral said to us though, over and over and over. And yeah, the scripture does says that. What you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. And it may be that the job you cherish so much, you're about to lose it because you accused somebody else, and didn't wait and say, "Well, maybe we all just need to talk about this". "Well, they lied on me, and they lied on me and they didn't"... Don't compromise. Anything this year don't compromise it. We've got a good year coming up here, it's a power year. And we don't want to come to the end next year and say, "I wish I had done a better job". And we're out of time. Glory to God. Give the Lord praise and honor His name. Jeremy, Jeremy, happy New Year son. Help us here.