Kenneth Copeland - The Reward of an Uncompromising Heart
— Hello everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. This is Gloria Copeland. This is our daughter, Kellie. Glory to God. And we're here because the Lord told us to be here.
— That's right.
— And, as I said earlier, in fact, I talked about it Monday, that it's been really... it's developed in me that, particularly, in this coming year to never, ever compromise the Word. Never. Compromise is a serious thing. If you look it up in the dictionary, it has different meanings that political parties compromise to meet a certain thing. And so and so on. But then, it comes down and says something like dangerous to compromise your integrity. And then, I was quoting my father in the faith, Oral Roberts, who said this, I heard him preach this. I heard him preach the fourth man, that we talked about yesterday in the fiery furnace. Did we not cast three? There's not... and the... of the fourth man. Who is this fourth man? That fourth man is Jesus. And every book of the Bible, all 66 books, every one of them are types of Jesus. In fact, we talked about it this week, that it talked about and Daniel interpreted the dream and said, there's a Kingdom coming that shall never be torn down. That's paraphrasing. Well that Kingdom came when Jesus was raised from the dead. In the prayer that Jesus prayed, the sample prayer. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When it came... And it's here. Hallelujah. And we're citizens of that Kingdom. Amen. We're born again new creatures. Hallelujah. In the likeness of our God. So now let's go back to the book of Daniel once more. And I said, this: whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. You do what the Word says first, just like those three Hebrew men did. They believed God first. We don't care if the thing burns us up, we're not going to bow down to your big golden image. Well, because they wouldn't, they were promoted and I've heard of people losing a job cause they would not compromise with a boss. I'm thinking about one right now, that this person kept their Bible on their desk and would read it from time to time during the day. And the boss came in and said, "Put that Bible in the drawer,". Well, they got the Bible out and wouldn't do that. And he finally came in there and said, "Put that Bible in the drawer. Or I'm going to let you go,". Well, they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't compromise that. And so the boss then fired the person.
— That threatened them or the...
— Yeah, they got fired.
— The Bible... The person that wouldn't...
— That would not put the Bible in the drawer. They got fired. Now, if I remember this correctly, she went to her superior and asked if she could keep her Bible on the desk. And he said, "Well, certainly,". She said, "Well, so and so said no,". So, so and so got fired. And she got his job.
— See? Now, I mean, that's Daniel three, just right there.
— So she received... she got his job. So now let's go to the 10th chapter of Daniel. "In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed under Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long or great. And he understood the thing and had understanding of the visions,". Now let me read this from the Classic Amplified...
— Is it plural in your... Vision?
— Hmm?
— Is it visions or...
— No, I understand. The vision. Thank you, Gloria. And he said, "and the Word was true and it referred to great tribulation, conflict, and wretchedness. And he understood the Word and had understanding of the vision,". Now there's references here. You can go to Daniel 8:26. You can also go to Revelation 19:9, because John in the Revelation on the Isle of Patmos quoted Daniel. So Daniel's in the book from the front end to the back because he wouldn't compromise. "In those days, I Daniel, was mourning for three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant or desirable food nor did any meat or wine come into my mouth. And I did not anoint myself at all for the three full weeks. On the 24th day of the first month, as I was on the bank of the great river Hiddekel, which is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz. His body was also a golden luster like beryl, and his face had the appearance of lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and his feet like glowing burnished bronze. And the sound of his words was like the noise of a multitude of people or the roaring of the sea,". "I, Daniel, saw the vision of this heavenly being for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them,". Now let's go back to the King James. I want to read it from the Amplified. It'll be a little bit more. It will be in the 12th verse. Let's go down to that. Then he, the angel messenger said, "fear not Daniel,". Now what'd he say 21 days he had been in prayer. He's interceding because what he had seen in this vision. 21 days, three weeks. Listen to this, "Fear not Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I have come as a consequence in response to your word,". Well, what happened to him? The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days. He could have quit. Three weeks he didn't get anything. He didn't need anything much. Three weeks... You suppose they heard me. Why I haven't had a vision? I haven't had anything for three weeks. I have been in this place of intercession for three whole weeks and nothing has happened. And I don't know why. I don't know why. Do you suppose God's heard me? I don't know, but he just stayed with it. He refused to quit. He had an assignment on his heart. He refused to quit. He's standing before God in prayer and he refused to compromise it. But he said, we heard you the first day. You heard me the first day. You let me sit in here 21 days. And you heard me the first day? It was his non-compromised attitude toward God. And this is not at the beginning of Daniel, this is way down the years. You notice in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the thing revealed to Daniel. So this is on down the years. He has established this non-compromised place with God since he was a young boy. And since he was captured and brought there and he refused to eat their meat and drink their wine.
— Dad, I love verse 11. "The messenger said to Daniel, you are very precious to God,".
— Isn't that good? That let's look at that.
— That's really awesome.
— What...
— You don't want to compromise that. Verse 11... This is the New Living. "and the man said to me, Daniel, you are very precious,".
— A man greatly beloved. Let's see what this one says. "Oh, Daniel, you greatly beloved man. Understand the words that I speak to you and...". Oh, glory to God.
— That's precious.
— Yes it is. You're beloved. You're loved of God. Why? You won't compromise his Word? Of course God loves. Yeah. I'm reminded now of one of my absolute favorite verses in the whole Bible. And I'm going to put my marker here and I will go over to the gospel of John. Now, the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th chapter of John, is all in that covenant meal. All of these words were spoken. And the most precious words of all, were spoken after Judas left that room. He had to get him out of there and told him to get out and you go do quickly what you have to do. Then look at the 21st verse of the 14th chapter of John. Oh, I tell you I circled it in red. "He that have my commandments and keep them,". Now wait a minute. What commandment? Oh, come back over here at the 13th chapter, "a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, even as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. And you love one another. He that have my commandments and keep them, he, it is that loves me,".
— I think, that by that love is vital.
— Oh, it is. God is love.
— Yeah.
— So these are love words.
— He has to... We have to walk in love if we want to be right with God
— And oh, the cause it's here. It is. It's a commandment.
— And then he said, "he that has my commandments and keeps them, are...". They said, he's not talking about... He's not talking about just the commandment of love. But if you do what I lead you to do.
— Yeah, that's right. "He it is that loves me. He that loves me shall be loved by my father. And I will love him and will manifest myself to him,".
— That's a special place.
— That he was manifesting himself to Daniel.
— That's a special place. That's not even a promise to everybody, dad.
— No?
— The manifestation.
— That's... He said who he was.
— I know. I just think it's good to think about it.
— Yes, it is. And of course he loves, he loves everybody. But it's the one that will do what he says.
— That has manifestation.
— Yeah. I, my father will love him. I will love him. And I will manifest myself to him.
— Praise God.
— And so in... Well now Brother Copeland. He loves everybody. Yeah. But everybody doesn't do what he says. And I've been caught not doing what he said, but didn't take me long to change. Once I learned what it was and the more I... Like I said earlier in the week, the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. But I'm a student and I... Let me go back to what I heard the Lord say. That this year 2022, will be a year of correction.
— That's great.
— Now, if you will accept correction, if you're teachable... Then you get direction. And if you walk in that direction, then you are in a place of protection. And if you walk in that place of protection, then you can go on to perfection. But the whole matter is don't compromise the Word just because you don't understand. You stay on a God's side of everything. And so I don't understand... Well, so what you don't understand but I do have the Word. And in that case, I was standing on healing scriptures. I'm talking about a long time and I'm embarrassed about it. I thought, why didn't that occur to me? I'd go through these healing scriptures. And I go over and over and over about them and I go through them, but I wouldn't quit. And there were times that I just said, "Lord, I don't get it,". I fasted over this. And I don't know, but there was a thing I don't know. I couldn't understand why? What? But these scriptures are true. All these healing scriptures are true. I said it before the Lord and I will know. I will know. And so, and then when the answer came, it was so simple and I should have known it all the time. I had not named my seed. We talked about this earlier in the week. I've done this over and over again. I'm thinking right now, I'm talking about years and years and years ago, Jerry Savelle was preaching. And he was talking about naming the seed. And we needed engine overhauls. I was doing a twin engine airplane. And we needed overhauls on both those engines and the ministry didn't have the money to do it. And we had to have that. And he talked about naming your seed. So I took my offering. I added a little bit to it. I said, "Lord, these are engine overhauls,". Now that's not money. That's an engine overhaul. That's a beautiful thing about sowing money. It can be named as anything you need. It was absolutely amazing. It just seemed like it was overnight. The money and the way it came in... People would send money in and say, "we don't know what you're fixing, but here's some more money,". Well, we don't know. And then I have a lot of aviators that are partners to the ministry. And they'd say, "I don't know, seemed like Brother Copeland needed an overhaul on engines or something,". And they would earmark it. And they'd just whew. And there it was. And it just seemed like it was overnight.
— It's a good thing you had an engine. You've had to buy one.
— Yeah.
— It's overhaul.
— You know, dad, people have, sometimes I think they have a problem with preachers saying something like that. Somebody's out there probably right now saying, well, he just wants your money right now. That's why he's saying that. But when we put our money on the table, we're telling the Lord I'm taking what I have, that maybe this much of what I need, but I'm taking what I have and putting it in your hands because I trust you for my source.
— That's good.
— You're my source. It's not a gimmick. It's not just like a rule or something that, well, you did that. So God does that. It's a heart thing where you're trusting him. And you're not going to compromise your trust in His Word.
— I believe it's the third chapter of the book of Proverbs. "You keep my commandments with your heart". And we learned a lot. There's something like 500 verses in the Bible concerning prayer. There's something like between 2503 versus concerning money and how to handle it and what it's all about. And there are more people that are in trouble financially, actually, then there are people that are in trouble physically. I'm talking about good people. I'm talking about born again, spirit-filled people that are struggling financially and don't have a clue. Well, we're talking about heaven's economics. Because Jesus said give, and it will be given unto you. What? Running over, shall men give into your bosom.
— That Judas is a great example because if he had just said to Jesus and not been afraid of the correction, if he had said to Jesus, "Jesus, I have this one mite. That's all I have. I've been doing this and this and this with the money. And I'm just going to put this one mite. It's all I have to pay back. But I'm going to put that in your hands. Forgive me for what I did,". What a different story. He compromised everything. He compromised his future in this book.
— Yeah.
— Everything. Because he was so afraid of correction and he wouldn't... He could have, it's a good example. He could have just given something. And asked Jesus to help him.
— Jesus gave him every opportunity to repent. He washed his feet. And what most people don't realize, don't understand covenant language. He called him friend. And in the English people of friend, best friend, you know... And that's good. But, but no. And a covenant friend... There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And that is a person that is in covenant with you. So, and he called him friend. The book of James called Abraham, "the friend of God". And in this case, the King James version is correct because it goes so far back in its origins. It capitalizes the word friend, "the Friend of Abraham,". That's pointing to covenant. He was in covenant with God. He was his covenant friend. He did... He never repented. And he killed himself. And he in doing so he doomed himself. Had he not committed suicide. He could have come out.
— He could have come out of there, but...
— That's a good point.
— And the scripture says, he's just doomed forever.
— Suicide's terminal.
— Yes it is. And now there's different situations to that. There are people that are born again and did it out of ignorance and so forth. It let's... That's that doesn't doom you to hell. You can be sick in your head the same as you can be sick in your stomach. And we're out of time.
— It is... it shows you what compromise will lead to a place. You can't come from.
— Yeah. He couldn't come back from it. Cause he killed himself. Come on here. Let's praise God. Glory to God, Jeremy.