Kenneth Copeland - Compromise Will Lose the Promise
— Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Father, we thank You
— Thank You, Lord.
— ...once more, for the Word of the living God being so alive and creating faith in our hearts. And we praise You and thank You, for the Bible, the Word of the living, God.
— Thank You, Jesus.
— And we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And we know that is faith that overcomes the world.
— Praise God.
— This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
— Praise God.
— Praise the name of the Lord God. Hallelujah.
— Amen.
— We're talking about never, ever compromise the Word.
— Yeah, that's right.
— What you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose it. You think about that. I'm talking about the Word. What you compromise, something you compromise the Word to keep, you will eventually lose it. That's just spiritual law. That just the way it works. So what does that mean? Well, I said this Monday, the Lord, back in the early days of this ministry, talking to me about going on radio. I didn't want to do that, but he said, "I'm coming so soon, I want this non-compromised Word of Faith," excuse me, "On every available voice". Well, and it has grown and grown. It went from radio to television, then from television to daily broadcast, and just kept growing until it has become a network. And now, there is Kenneth Copeland Bible College which is the biggest available voice of all because I believe one day it will become Kenneth Copeland University. And now that we have voices coming out of here... Already, we have graduates coming out of here with the Word of Faith and learning not to compromise it. What does that mean, Brother Copeland? Well, I'll tell you a little story.
— A little story?
— Yes. And you'll remember it too because I was preaching in Oklahoma City in Brother Hartfield's church, and we were staying in the home with Lavinia James. And Lavinia James was a widow that had been healed of cancer in Oral Roberts' ministry, so she just took it upon herself to go find everybody she could find that was sick and get them into his ministry. And then she took it upon herself to boss us around. She's a darling woman. Anyway, I won't go into all that, but I woke up one morning and I was sick. I had the flu and I was so sick. The first thing, the first thing, number one, went right straight to the Bible, 1 Peter 2:24, by his stripes, you were healed. Now we had learned this from Brother Hagin and we learned that the Word says we're healed, so we're healed. So I'm healed. Well, sick men don't stay home when they have a service to preach. To compromise that, I could have had Gloria call Brother Hartsfield and say, "Go ahead and take Brother Copeland's place this morning because he's too sick to come". How long do you think that flu would've stayed on me? Long time. It could have killed me.
— You would still have it.
— Well, it could have killed me.
— It could've.
— Because that was at a time when people were dying of the flu. No, no, I'm not staying home. I'm healed. Now, here's how bad it was. When I try to sit up, the room would go around and around, so I said, "Gloria, you're going to have to shave me". She's up in the bed and I said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Check and see if Lavinia has an electric shaver". And sure enough, she did. I didn't know...
— That was the scariest thing of all because if Ken was going to let me shave him, he was desperate.
— I'm not going to put that blade in her hand though. Anyway, she took that electric shaver and shaved me. I was that sick, but I'm healed. I'm healed. And so she dressed me. Then I finally got up and got myself around. I do not remember the ride in the car over there to that church. Wasn't all that far. I got over to the church and I walked up in the pulpit and the room started going around. I said, "I'll be back in just a moment". The choir room was right behind the platform, so I walked in the ... and the minute I walked in that room, I just, at the top of my voice, I just cut into the devil with everything I could think of, every word I could think of, the name of Jesus. And then just started in the Spirit, started speaking in tongues, and I speak with a tongue of men and angels, and I walked in love and it's powerful. And then I walked back out there and grabbed ahold of that pulpit. And I caught ahold of it and it kind of did this way a little bit. You know what I preached? Healing. What else? I preached two hours and 15 minutes. By the time I got through, every symptom was gone. I did not compromise the Scripture. I didn't compromise Isaiah 53. I didn't compromise 1 Peter 2:24. I didn't compromise the other healing scriptures in the Bible...
— Or your assignment.
— ...saying I'm sick.
— You didn't compromise your assignment.
— That's good, Kellie. Say that again.
— You didn't compromise your assignment.
— And that's what I'm called to do.
— It's what you're called to do. And think about all that you talked about when we started today, about the school and the network and all that. When we compromise his Word to us, we've already lost more than what we ever knew Because you didn't even know all this was here when you launched out on his Word. But when we compromise, we've already lost. The most valuable thing was we lost the promise.
— That's true.
— Of course, he's always good to let us get it back. Abraham was called unwavering and I like the way the Lord accounts... I like his counting system. He always lets us come back and fix it again when we mess up.
— Well, and you come back to faithfulness.
— Yeah. That's good because he's faithful.
— That's one of the fruit of the Spirit. Now the King James says, "Faith," but well, check out the Classic Amplified. It says, "Faithfulness". You're faithful. You're faithful to the Word. You're faithful to your calling. You're faithful to check into things. Now, I heard this about 2022, that this will be a year of correction. Oh, I want to be correctable. In order to be correctable, I have to be teachable. And if you're correctable, if you will allow the Word to correct you, if you will correct yourself and judge yourself or go before the Lord and say, "Judge me. Judge me. I want to know the things that I need to change". Now I desperately needed to change the way I approached food because I was addicted to it. There was a time I weighed 100 pounds more than I do now. It didn't last very long, but I always... I had that just about all my life. So then I learned this. I had to make a decision. I had to make the decision to invite Jesus to come into my life. I didn't know I was a new creature. I learned that later because Gloria and I were scriptural illiterates when we got born again, literally. I said, "Gloria, isn't this amazing that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell the same story"? She said, "Yes it is". So we didn't have any religion to unlearn at all. But right off the bat, we learned that the Word is God's promise, his Word. This is a copy. I own many copies, different translations, of the two covenants. The first one, second one. The old one, the new one. And the new commandment is very alive to me. The meal that changed heaven and earth. And Jesus said in the 13th chapter of John, the 34th and 35th verses, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, and all men will know that you are my disciples". You notice he didn't say apostles? "All men will know that you are my disciples by the way you love one another". Now that is a commandment. That is not a suggestion. It's just as much a commandment as, thou shall not do this or that, or the other. It is a commandment. So as we come before this huge example of men that refused to compromise under any condition, we find it in the third chapter of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits and the breadth thereof, six cubits or 90 feet tall by nine feet at the base. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, sent to gather together, the princes, the governors and the captains and judges, the treasurers, counselors, the sheriffs and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king had set up. Then the princes, the governors and captains and judges, the treasurers, counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together under the dedication of the image of Nebuchadnezzar, the king, had set up and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O people, nations and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp..." The sackbut is a lyre; a four-string triangular-shaped instrument. We talked about that yesterday. They are very popular in Russia and in other places in that part of the world. And the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, has set up. Now then, psaltery is in symphony, in symphony. Now listen to this. I want to get down... Wait a minute. Let me go down here. Fourth verse, The herald cried out, "You're commanded, O people, nations and languages. When you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer and bagpipe, and every kind of music, you're to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up". 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 or a symphony of music, all the people shall fall down and worship. Therefore, at that time, certain men of Chaldean descent came near and brought malicious accusation against the Jews. Well, what else is new? The devil's been doing that ever since Abraham. When he was Abram he tried to wipe him out, before he had the personal covenant and became Abraham. And I'll remind you again, Abram, God made a blood covenant with him and said, "You'll no longer be called Abram, but you'll be called Abraham". That H, the covenant name changed. It's done today. Gloria was Gloria Jean Neece. We entered into a marriage covenant. She became Gloria Jean Copeland. There was a name change there. And I could tell you of people that refused to turn loose of their maiden name. Then there's no covenant. Prenuptial agreements. No covenant. That's just legal sex. That's all it is. No covenant there because, "No, no, no, no. She's not getting what I have". Listen. I gave Gloria Jean Neece every... I didn't have much, but I gave her everything of what I ever would have.
— You've done all right.
— But covenant is so important here and that's what it was all about. These Jews had a covenant with God and they didn't, and they were jealous.
— It's much more important than the world knows.
— Oh, absolutely much more important. All right. We're at the eighth verse. Certain men of Chaldean descent came near and brought malicious accusations against the Jews. They said to king Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever. You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the... all that music and every kind, shall fall down and worship the golden image. And that whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed and set over the affairs, the promise of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image, which you have set up. Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these men were brought before the king. Then Nebuchadnezzar said to them"... I want you to listen to this. Oh Lord, God. I love it. Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Is it true O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you will not serve my gods or worship the golden image, which I have set up? Now, if you're ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre the trigon, the harp, dulcimer and bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image I've made, very good. But if you do not, you'll be cast, at once, into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God who can deliver you out of my hands"? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered the king. Listen to what they said. "O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point". In other words, you already know what the answer is. "If our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning firing 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 or worship the golden image, which you have been set up. Whether he delivers us or not, burn us if you want to". No compromise. "I don't care. We'll die in that furnace". "Throw us in there. So what"? Nebuchadnezzar full of fury. His facial expression was changed to antagonism against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Therefore, he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was usually heated. 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, or undergarments, their turbans, their other 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 sparked from the fire, killed those men who handled Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So now that king is guilty of murder. Because those men bowed down. They worshiped. He didn't care. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, saw and was astonished 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". And 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". How long could you walk in the midst of the fire without being in a supernatural place?
— Praise God.
— How long?
— And Oral Roberts preached the fourth man. Oh, just to think about it brings tears to my eyes and chills. Who is this fourth man? He's the creator in the book of Genesis. He's the great deliverer in the book of Exodus. All the way through every book of the Bible. Just stand there and just preach it, the fourth man. Who is this fourth man? His name is Jesus.
— Praise God.
— Well... Then Nebuchadnezzar came 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". And Shadrach...
— Come out.
— ...Meshach and Abednego came out from the midst of the fire and the hair on the deputies and the governors and the kings and counselors gathered around together, and saw these men that the fire had no power upon their bodies nor was the hair on their head singed, neither were the garments scorched or changed in color or conditioned, nor even did the smell of smoke cling to them. Nebuchadnezzar said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego," now, listen here, "who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who believe in, trusted in and relied on him. And they set aside the king's command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any God except their own. Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation and language that speaks anything amidst against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut to pieces and their houses made a dunghill, for there is no other God who can deliver this way". Then the king promoted...
— This is the point. The king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
— Wow. If you refuse to compromise the Word, eventually you will be promoted because of it. The answers will come. You don't quit because you don't understand, you just keep on the Word. You keep on the promises. You stay with God and he'll stay with you. Praise God. You draw nearer to God and he'll draw nearer to you. And we're out of time again. Praise the Lord. Let's give the Lord a praise and thanksgiving. Thank You, Father.
— Thank You, Lord. Praise God.
— Glory, glory, glory.
— Praise God. Thank You, Jesus.
— Hallelujah.