Kenneth Copeland - Make a Quality Decision for Your Health
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. I think you should know that in this studio, the Spirit of the Living God... Things come in here and thoughts begin to flow that don't flow when I'm by myself. This is the reason why we come into agreement together. Jesus said this is generally true, but he said this for a specific purpose. Any two of you on Earth shall agree as touching anything that they shall ask. It shall be done for them by my father, which is in heaven for two or three are gather together, there I am in the midst, to do what? Carry out the agreement.
Greg Stephens: That's right.
Kenneth Copeland: And that same spiritual gathering force happens all of us in one accord flowing, and these thoughts and ideas... You need to realize that this happens. It is so vitally important that there be no strife in your family. Be kind and patient with each other. Make a quality decision. That is a decision about which there is no more argument from which there is no retreat. Based in this book, this holy book of blood promises and get in agreement. Get in agreement. And it is vital, vital information. Praise God.
Greg Stephens: You know, you just said something and I have a story of a young man, and if it's all right... Name is William Borden. William Borden was born in 1904 and he graduated from high school in Chicago. He's the heir to the Borden family, Borden Dairy, very wealthy young man, 16 year old. At graduation, his parents sitting on a trip around the world. And he was a believer and a call to be a missionary got down in his life, something you just said reminded me of this. He's wealthy, he arrives on campus at Yale University in 1905. The students know that there's something different about him. He said, "Say no to everything else". And he made a decision, say yes to Jesus. Say yes to Jesus to every situation that you're in. He started a prayer group at Yale, and by the time he's done at Yale and graduating, he's got over 150 people coming to his little prayer group as a student, he felt a call to go to China as a missionary. He goes to the Muslim Gansu people of China. He says, "If I'm going to learn anything about those people, I got to be able to speak Arabic. I've got to be able to know what they're saying". So he goes to seminary after Yale, and then he goes to Egypt and decides to go to Egypt to learn Arabic and before he gets there, he dies. He gets spinal meningitis and dies. And everybody said that a cable back to the United States about what happened to him. He never got to the place that he felt he was called to do. He would help people at Yale, widows, people in the streets and in his Bible, he had written three things concerning his life. He was the heir to the Borden dairy dynasty. It was all his, all of the money. He had written three things, they sent his body back with his Bible and in his Bible, he wrote three things. It looked like it was a waste. He didn't even get to where he felt like God called him. He wrote these words: no reserves, no return, and no regrets. The last thing he wrote was no regrets. He made a conscious decision. No, no reserve. I'm not going to return. That's what you're talking about with strife in your family. No return and no regrets. We're going to look at a verse in second Corinthians chapter ten.
Kenneth Copeland: Oh, I love that, that is so good. No reserve, no return and no regrets. That's akin to what Oral Roberts said to me driving to the venue in Oklahoma City. He said, he suddenly said, "Kenneth, people will always tell you can't do it. Always. Number one, find out the will of God. Number two, confer no longer with flesh and blood. Number three, get your job done at all cost".
Greg Stephens: That's a decision.
Kenneth Copeland: That's your decision. And this young man made these decisions, and he sowed his life as a seed. Wealthy, could have been anywhere in the world he wanted to be, anywhere.
Greg Stephens: Could have been a senator, anything.
Kenneth Copeland: Yet he chose China.
Greg Stephens: And he never got there. But he still said no return, no regrets, no reserve. So at the very last thing he said was no regrets, for the choice that he made. In chapter ten of second Corinthians verse three. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" Brother Copeland, when I asked the Lord when I was a pastor, I kind of had a little temper, I did and I've got to get rid of this, I've got to change this. He showed me over something in Ezekiel 44, instructions to the priest. It says that they will have linen bonnets on their head and britches made out of linen and they shall gird themselves. They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat. And I'm like, how do you serve in the Middle East in the temple and not sweat? Because it's not supposed to be toil. The ministry work is not supposed to be toil to you like you're making it. You're making it that way. You're choosing it to be that way. And then he showed me something. The man of God has a cool head, bonnet is around his head. And the man of God has cool passions. And I had to learn that and make a choice that I choose to have a cool head.
— At all times.
— At all times and I choose to have cool passions at all times. A knee jerk reaction is not a decision, it's not a response, it's a reaction. You spit on me, I'll spit on you. Well, now, some people have made that decision. I'm not taking anything of anybody, not ever. And you're not getting anything from anybody, you won't receive anything.
— Well, and of course, I had a very, very wise dad and he had a very wise dad and learned better than that. And he told me that he would never lie to me. And he said, "I'm thinking about this situation". He said, "Kenneth, you do that again, and I'm going to whip you". Well, I did it again. He said, "You remember what I told you".
— Yes, sir.
— Well, I'm going to whip you...
— When! And several days would go by and I'm thinking, well, maybe he's forgotten about this. He would say, "Well, come on in here in the bedroom". Oh, here he comes. "Look there in the closet and get my belt". The Bible says a man that spares the rod hates his child. I'm not talking about a beating. But it ought to be enough to make your little hind end sore enough you just wish you hadn't done that. Then I realized he would not do it when he was angry at me. Now one time he did, I scared him, I frightened him. I won't go into all the details of it, and it scared him. And then he spanked me and now it wasn't any child abuse or any that, I needed abusing. But my mother stepped in there and then he apologized for it. But I really scared him. He thought something had happened to me, they couldn't find me and I'm supposed to be at home and wasn't. But he would not do something in anger. But he did it.
— Kept his word.
— And he always kept his word under every circumstance, regardless of what happened. He disciplined me and I became his disciple. And I still think of things that he taught me and the honor that I still have for him. I can just see him in my mind now. And the things that he said to me.
— I can't wait to meet him, I'll meet him in heaven and thank him. The hardest thing for us to make a decision on, Brother Copeland seems like for me, and I'm painting with broad brush here, is my body, getting my body, my physical body under control. I want to read a verse Luke 21, verse 34 out of the Amplified Classic. Jesus is speaking, he says, "Take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed, weighed down with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to the business of this life, and lest that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose;" Jesus places the cares of this life worry in the same category as drunkenness and gluttony. That's a choice.
— When I was searching out in January 1983, I decided I'm going to find the scriptures on gluttony. Drunkard was in every one of them. It was there. And I thought, "Well, hey, I ought to renew my mind of this". Okay, and I went before the Lord, I said, "Lord, you delivered me from smoking, you delivered me from drinking. How are you going to deliver me from food"? Now remember thoughts with that decisions is what we're talking about here and here you're supposed to bring every thought into obedience to Jesus. And that's what I was attempting to do. Make those decisions that whole month, fasting and praying over these decisions. And I heard him say, "I didn't deliver you from breathing. I delivered you from breathing smoke". He said, "I didn't deliver you from drinking. I delivered you from drinking a particular substance. Now, what are you going to do about all that sugar in those soft drink"? Oh, hello Perrier. Never was another one in my life.
— You said something I don't remember if it was in the little book you wrote about decisions or for something that you were preaching on. You said society sees the cookie jar more favorably than a fifth of whiskey, but they're the same. They're both addictive. I've heard that said, not just those words, but well, I can't drink anymore. But by God I'm going to eat. Well, it wasn't by God. It was by the devil I'm going to eat. Well I was guilty of that. That had to come under control. So for a while somebody would say, "Brother Copeland, you like to have a good piece of this pie".
— No, thank you, I don't drink... What? What's the matter with him... Greg, I was preaching for Happy Caldwell in Little Rock and stayed at the Holiday Inn. And of course, I preached this on Sunday morning. It's about 4:00 in the morning. And I just was like this or just wide awake. And there was Jesus right there at the foot of the bed, and he had this big tray of cookies and he said, "Have a cookie". Jesus telling me to have a cookie. But he's frowning at me. He said, "You're response, I believe, I will, I take it, I have it, I thank you for it and I forgive". And he was gone. The six "I" of faith. It could be the six "I" of prayer. I believe, I will, I take it, I have it, I have it, I have it, I have it now. I don't see it yet, but I have it. I forgive if I have fault against any. And I thank You for it, I praise You for it, controlling the thoughts.
— Daniel's choice not to eat the food of the king was the main factor that set him apart. They obey... here's the thing a lot of people don't realize, they were in obedience to the king up until it came time to eat that meat. And they didn't have that pork sandwich.
— And that started a lifestyle.
— They're wholly at that point they didn't burned down buildings, they didn't protest.
— No, they didn't.
— These are young men now...
— If you ask the question, who controlled... what was it Lebanon, where they were?
— No they were in Persia, they're Babylon.
— Yeah, Babylon, Babylon instead of Lebanon, Persia, Iran.
— And Iraq, somewhere in that region.
— Who controlled? Well, king Nebuchadnezzar. No, Daniel. Through prayer, the kings came and went. But Daniel controlled the nation.
— To the point that it'll go all the way to the time of Jesus with the Magi. So he laid the groundwork.
— Man, you know what though, look at the control of his thoughts and his decisions. Now this says...
— He was in obedience and everything till it came to that point.
— The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not human. Well, I'll have you know Brother Copeland I'm only human here. No, you're not, you're born again, you're a recreated spirit, you're not just human. Mighty... Look up the word mighty, Dunamis, power.
— That's right. Here's another verse I wrote down Matthew 6:31. "Therefore, take no thoughts saying..."
— Oh, we have to go to that, we have to go to that cause of...
— Matthew 6:31, 32, 33.
— There's something that needs to be said about that.
— Your answer with your words. "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek..." These were people without a covenant at that time... "for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you".
— Take no thought. Pain is in the thought life.
— Oh yeah, yeah.
— You know it is because they put you to sleep to operate on you.
— That's right. So pain is in the brain, that transfers to the body. When that disk ruptured in my back and that was because of my disobedience, I didn't start walking. I made the decision I'd never be operated on. But all the pain of that thing, it was terrible. And so I turned to that verse right there, and I'm saying this particularly for the radio and television audience here. I turned to that verse and held it in front of my eyes. I take no thought of this pain. I don't take the thought of that pain. No, I take the thought of my healing. I take the thought of my deliverance. I praise God, by faith I'm pain free, glory to God. And I got out here in my backyard and that took two heating pads, wrapped it around that left leg and took some sashes out of couple of old bathrobes and turned that heat up on that just as high as I can get it. And I'm sitting out there in the backyard. I had it done if it'd been raining, probably not with those heating pads. But out there in the backyard, glory to God. Just shout just loud as I could. I don't take the thought of that pain. I tell you right now, just screaming. I'm healed and thank... I thank God I have another leg and it's good. I thank God my eyes don't hurt, my arms don't hurt. It's just one leg. That's all that's hurting me. I didn't take the thought.
— You didn't own it.
— Now, when you get over with people, I had the Word of the Lord come to me in the early days of the ministry. He said, "I can't expand your ministry any longer". I said, "Lord why"? He said, "You're too high tempered. Someone comes up and criticizes your ministry and you get mad". And he brought to my attention, well this young man walked up to me, big smile on his face, shook hands with me, and he said, "Copeland, I've never hurt anybody in my life raped the Scriptures like you did tonight," turned around and walked off. Well I didn't know whether to be hurt or chased him down and kick him or but then it just went over and over. And then I think about what I should have said to him, and I should of just stood there and talked to him or maybe hit him in the stomach or something. And just over and over and over and over and over. He said, "Don't ever read anything about yourself in print ever again, good or bad. You tell your staff to never bring anything to your attention". He said, "You have a tendency to believe the good stuff. And you don't have any business thinking about that either". And then I could think about things that I wish I hadn't heard that were good. I'm thinking about one right now. But anyway, that was no longer part of my thought life so I didn't have to get rid of it. That's what God did for you over your temper. And any man that's worth his salt has a temper. Scripture says be angry and sin not. And then the next verse says, "Give no place to the devil". That's the problem with a temper.
— You're going to have to learn how to face things in life to the glory of God rather than try to find a way of escape all the time. Daniel and the boys didn't look for a way of escape, they faced it. The boys were learned and the wisdom and religion of the Babylonians, and it served them. Moses was learned in the courts of the Egyptians, and it served him well. They realized, though, their heart was not with that covenant, it was with God's covenant. So you're going to have to get real and face overeating. You're going to have to get real and face, I got to get my body in shape and do that humbly. Don't be conformed any longer, be transformed. And it's a decision it's a choice.
— A good idea is to take your Bible and stand in front of a mirror and speak to yourself and see how your thought life conforms to God's thoughts because his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but he comes down to our level. And was Jesus the least bit overweight? No. But the Bible says he was not some masterful looking man that you would desire him just for the way he looks, bound to be an absolute good looking man. But you meet him on the street, he's just another man, just young boy. Even his own hometown thought he was Joseph's boy, but he was not. Well in Nazareth there never was over 150, 120 people there. And he was raised there, everybody in town knew him.
— Sure they did.
— Sure they knew him. A really nice young man, so polite and so obedient. And then he had the audacity to say the scriptures fulfilled in your ears. They said, "Get him out of here, that kid's gone overboard let's kill him".
— Yeah, that's right.
— Oh, my my, thank you Jesus.
— Make a decision and do it today. Start right now. Say, well, I'll do that next week.
— And we're out of time, but we'll be back. Glory to God. Now make that decision. We'll be back.