Kenneth Copeland - Love, A New Year's Commandment
— Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is Gloria Copeland, and this is our daughter, Kellie. Praise God. And aren't they pretty?
— They're just gorgeous. Thank God she looks like her mother. Isn't that wonderful?
— You're so kind.
— I praise You, Lord. And all last week we talked about don't ever compromise the Word.
— That's right.
— And I repeated a number of times what Oral Roberts said to me over... And I heard him preach that majestic sermon, The Fourth Man, where Jesus in all 66 books of the Bible... It'd just kind of take the breath out of the room, particularly when he preached that in the tent. It was just magnificent.
— I'd like to have that on video.
— Wouldn't you love to have that on video?
— You've got influence. See if you can get it.
— I'll see if I can find it. It's just a wonderful thing. And he said so many times, "Whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose it, particularly if you're compromising the Word". And we have to remember, and I don't ever want to go into any teaching session without remembering, that this is a book of covenants. God is a covenant making, covenant keeping God. Show them your Bible.
— Huh?
— He just highlights the good part. Show them your Bible.
— Well, that's... And it's pretty strong. You get over in the book of Hebrews and it's just all marked up. And I've just about worn this one out, but I don't want to give it up.
— No, you can't. You know where everything is.
— And these are blood covenants, in the blood of animals, then in the blood of a man, Abraham. His name was changed from Abram to Abraham. The H was Hashem in the middle of his name. And so his name was Abraham forever more because God entered covenant with him. And the whole idea of a blood covenant is the lesser being blessed of the greater... which brings the two onto an equal standing. So the blood of Jesus, when we became new creatures in Christ Jesus, through his blood, then we became on an equal basis with him, with our Father, God. And Jesus said, in that great covenant meal, the Seder meal that changed heaven and earth right before he went to the cross. He said, "Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it you".
— Praise God.
— Now those are blood backed words, because before the next day was over with, he was in hell suffering three days and nights. And for those of you that try to figure it up and make it work, it doesn't work if the Sabbath's on Friday. It was a high Sabbath. That's mentioned in the gospel of John. So instead of Friday, it began on Wednesday night. Now it doesn't change anything, but it's good to know that because, well, it's important. Jesus said, he said, he would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, so that has to be that way. Anyway. Now what we do and what we settle right here at the beginning of the year can and should establish a base, a scriptural base and foundation, for the rest of the year, which will help you go into 2023. Did you notice last year where Tony Bennett did his final concert on his 95th birthday? Well, if he can do it, I can do it.
— Certainly.
— I mean, I'm 85, so that's only 10 years for me. Glory to God, hallelujah.
— Although, you don't know that'd be your final. I mean, at 95, you just have lots of...
— No, not final. I'm going to go on beyond that, but I'm not going to quit at 95.
— No.
— You can't.
— But I'm going think about doing some kind of concert when I'm-
— You can do your final one at 120.
— I'll do that. Praise God.
— We'll put it on the calendar for you.
— Now, what then, according to God, is the most important thing? In the full armor of God, he said, "Above all, taking the shield of faith". Faith is the connector, but faith works by love. So now we must establish the fact that love is king, and we're going to stay on the love line for the rest of our lives. But we're not dealing with the rest of our lives. We're dealing with this year. This is not a new year's resolution. This is a commandment. So first of all, turn with me to the book of Galatians and we will look... Well, let's just start from the very first verse, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty". Glory to God. Now that talks to us and speak to us who are citizens of the United States. And we need to stand fast and stand fast for liberty in the United States, because the people that are attacked the most by the devil are the ones that are the most dangerous to his kingdom. And there's still more gospel being preached in the United States and around the world from this country than all the rest of them put together. So this is still a gospel preaching nation.
— That's right. And we stand fast in that liberty. Praise God. So, "Behold I Paul," who used to be Saul of Tarsus and his name was changed when he entered into salvation covenant with Jesus, "say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we, through the spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love". So we just start right off of the bat.
— So shape up or ship out.
— Yeah, that's good. Shape up. Don't ship out. Glory to God. Now come down to the 14th first. It would do you good to read all that down to there, but for the sake of the time, "For all the law is fulfilled. All the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself". Now let's go to the 13th chapter of the book of Romans, verse nine, "For this, thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. For if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" There it is again. It is all over both covenants. Look them up and count them sometime. There's a bunch of them that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Praise God. So now let's go back over here to the book of the law in Deuteronomy, verse 28. Now there's always been controversy and a lot of preaching done from the curse of the law, that God will do all these things to you, and God will do this, and God will do that to you. And he'll curse you, and he'll kill you, and all that. Don't start in chapter 28. Go to chapter 27. Now here's a covenant people that don't know anything about the covenant, and they don't know anything about the curse. They've never heard that. They're coming out of Egypt. They had to be taught. "Moses and the priest and the Levites spake unto all of Israel saying, 'Take heed and hearken so forth.' Moses charged the people saying, 'These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people. And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse the people.'" He divided six of the tribes on one side and six on the other. And there are two big mountains there. Now you have to remember, there's a lot of people out here that day. And that one side would shout the blessing, the other side would shout the curse, so that they would get a concept of faith in God, that God wants to bless you. He does not want to curse you, but if you start it right there at the 28th chapter on the first... And too, those two mountains are still there today. And the curse side is just bare bone. And the blessing side is beautiful, lush and green. So it was a picture example to them. And now, "But it shall come to pass, if you will hearken diligently..". Say that, "...unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, this is the voice of the Lord, thy God," because, see, we have it. This covenant is written down. The command was, "Write down the commandment," so that you can run with it.
— What verse are you on?
— 28:1, Deuteronomy 28:1.
— 28:1.
— "It shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord, thy God, will set thee on high above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if you'll hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God". I wrote in the reference column, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, John 15:12. "Love your neighbor".
— What verse says hearken?
— 28:1.
— 28:1. I wanted to show them something that they might not know. You see that, how you spell hearken? 28:1. It says, "Hear Ken".
— Yeah, that's right.
— I've got it circled in my Bible, one word.
— In other words, practice what you preach.
— That's right.
— Thank you, Gloria. We really needed that.
— I thought so. I liked it.
— God gave her to you for your humility, Dad.
— Yes.
— It works. It works.
— Oh, y'all.
— Gloria, and it says in the eighth verse, I love this. "The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouses".
— Yeah, I like that.
— "And in all that you set your hand unto, and he will bless you in the land..".
— Praise God.
— "...for the Lord, thy God, giveth thee if you love your neighbor as yourself".
— Praise God. That's good. Isn't it?
— It all comes together, doesn't it?
— I want to live in your storehouse.
— Huh?
— I want to live in your storehouse.
— Okay.
— Blessing is commanding.
— You are the treasure in my storehouse, dear.
— Aw.
— And verse 10, "All of the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you". And that's the reason everybody else was afraid of them, because they prospered beyond measure.
— What did they see? They saw the blessing on them.
— Yes, they did. Yes, they did. So love is the key issue. Because God is love. Let's go over to First John, and we'll check that out. Little John.
— Little John.
— Thank You, Lord. Okay.
— First John what?
— Okay. Come over... Oh, there was something. Thank You, Lord, for reminding me of that. I want to go back there and read that in the book of Romans in that 13th chapter in the 10th verse, "Love works no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law". "Love works no ill to his neighbor".
— That says it all, doesn't it?
— That does say it, doesn't it?
— Yeah.
— I remember one time when we lived not where we do now, but over there on Sky Lake Drive. And our neighbor, he was a pilot for Brandriff Airlines, and he had a dog. That dog barked, great big German shepherd. You could hear that rascal. I mean, and just wake you up in the night. He was such a good guy. And one night, I mean, it was just too much. So I thought, "Do I wait till in the morning"? I said, "No, that dog got me awake. He can wake up". So I called him. He answered the phone. I called him by his name. I said, "This is Kenneth". "Oh, hey, Brother Copeland". I said, "Your dog is not being a good neighbor". "Oh no," he said "Has she waked you up again"? I said, "Yes, sir". I said, "Normally, I wouldn't say anything to you about it, but..". He said, "I will take care of it. Thank you for calling me". But I didn't call him over there and start ripping into him over his dog. You don't do that. It would've been the same had I not known him, because he's right next door. And then at our vacation home, up in Colorado, which we sold last year. It was the end of an era, and very sweet people bought the place. And so anyway, there was a woman built a house right next door. So now she's our neighbor. Well, I didn't know it was just a she until... Well, I think I did anyway. She was a retired colonel in the United States Army in the JAG Corps. She was a lawyer. And so we went next door to talk to our neighbor, and we saw right quick, we needed to witness to this girl. She needed Jesus. And then we found out later that her mother was sick. So we went over to see her again and to pray for her mother. So you love your neighbor as yourself. Well, you need to find out who your neighbor is. And lead him to Jesus. Amen. Every time you get the chance to witness.
— Then you'll have a good neighborhood.
— Oh, yes. Well, that was the whole plan for Israel to have a good neighborhood if they love their neighbor as themselves, because the devil hates them.
— God really hasn't changed his idea about that because that was the whole plan for the Garden of Eden.
— Yes, it was.
— It was just a small place that was not chaotic. And they were supposed to take their dominion and expand that.
— And then later in the book of Isaiah, it talks about the covenant being the Eden covenant to bring back the Garden of Eden by faith.
— That's his kingdom. We talked about last week, his kingdom always increasing. He's never changed that either. We're the ones that have backed off from that idea. Really, even the way we view the end times as sort of a, "Oh, I guess we'll just limp out of here".
— No, no.
— That's not what he wants.
— No, no, no.
— That's not what he says.
— They didn't limp out of Egypt.
— No.
— The scripture says there was not one feeble one among them. So anybody crippled, anybody sick, I don't care how old you were. You walked out of there straight up. You received your healing on the way out.
— We have an apostolic assignment to take this world and love them, and bring him to Jesus. That's John 17.
— Yes.
— He's going to have his way.
— Yes.
— No question about that. His way is the way.
— It's going to happen.
— He's not in the way. He is the way. We get to decide if we're going to be part of it.
— Yeah, that's right. Praise God.
— I'm in.
— Let's go back over there now to First John, where we're talking about... In First John... Oh, this little book. The Lord instructed me year before last to just read this whole book every day. Read it every day. And every day I marked something new. Every day there was something new. "He that sayeth, 'I know him,' and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him". Now you're back to loving your neighbor as yourself. Let's go... Oh, there's so much of it. Help me, Lord.
— He only highlights the good parts. You can see that.
— Amen. Look in the third chapter. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knows us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. And we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure". So expecting him to return and always expecting him every day. Like my mother used to say, "Kenneth, he's coming this year". If she was here now, first thing she'd say, "He's coming this year". I'd say, "Mother, you said that last year". She's, "Yeah, but he's coming this year". Every year she said that. Every year she said that. Well, a person that is always expecting his return, it'll purify you.
— You know, Dad, as the Bible talks about in Revelation, that the seals are open on the book. And we're seeing more things right now, I think, more now than I've ever seen in my whole life and revelation. And even though his appearing in the rapture is coming, he's opening our eyes to him more now. He's manifesting us into those sons and daughters now.
— Now.
— That we'll be the... John 17... We're out of time.
— Yeah, we are. Come on, Jeremy. Happy New Year again, son. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God.