Kenneth Copeland - Your Confession of Faith Gives You Strength
Hello everybody, I’m Kenneth Copeland and this is the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast and we’re studying the scriptures in him, in whom, in Christ, in the beloved and so forth. Because that’s us and the confession of faith, building a strong confession of faith where it’s a constant flow in doing so, strengthening the inner man. Peter called it the hidden man of the heart, I like that. Where you develop, spiritual development. The only open vision I ever had broke my heart. I mean, we had had a devastating car wreck in Marshall, Texas and I knew I was supposed to be at Oral Roberts University and I was trying to duck it because I had a lot of debt back there then.
And so my dad picked us up in Marshall and he said, «Kenneth, you know, we’re partners with Oral Roberts Ministry». I said «yes sir. And they have seminars from time to time». He said, «We have two invitations instead of one, would you and Gloria like to go up»? Oh yeah. And he was laying hands on people. Well, at the time I didn’t know that that was his procedure. That’s what he did. He would have a ministering time like that. Then he would, five days, and ended on Saturday at noon. So he was laying hands on everyone. He laid hands on everyone, including me. But I stayed back to watch and class, suddenly, I mean, like that, I saw the hidden man of the heart. Oh, and it broke me. I wept and I wept and I wept and I wept.
I could see, Brother Roberts, he didn’t disappear. But the people looked like they had a little blue line around them. But I could see the inner man emaciated and I just began to weep uncontrollably. But I wanted to point out this, it seemed to me like their heads were kind of grotesque looking. And I heard it in here, and you’re looking at the cream of the crop. Well, the more I meditated on that, the more I realized what was going on. These are good people. Born again, Holy Ghost baptized people. Obviously, it wasn’t everybody because there’s a lot of them that had already gone out. But here’s the Lord just opened my eyes. He said, «The Spirit has been starved in behalf of religious knowledge».
So the spirit man was not being fed. And he said, «I’ve called you and anointed you to do something about it». Well, I didn’t know what to do about it. But the Lord just reminded me of that suddenly, that’s what this ministry is all about. Now, if someone will practice what we’re learning here and do this on a continual basis, this is Spirit food. This is food for the Spirit being. Yes, Sir, I will. I’ll do that. Before we go to, I want class, to go to first Thessalonians 4, and that’d be 4-16, 14th verse. If we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him for this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Now, Matthew 12, You generation of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good measure of the heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure brings evil things, but I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak they shall give count for thereof in the day of judgment for by your words are you justified and by your words are you condemned… by your words. So what we’re developing here is a Word of God lifestyle, not a religious lifestyle, but a Word of God lifestyle, a faith lifestyle.
Now, I’ve learned this over the years that I have had to watch very carefully and we talked about first words and so forth and last words at night, but what about the rest of the day? And that can’t become such a routine that you just do it and forget it and go on. There has to be some meat on the bones and think about it, meditate about it. And in meditating on these things and on May the 3rd last year, I had dressed for the treadmill and was on my way into the exercise room and I fell in the floor. They called an ambulance and came out there and picked me up, took me to the hospital and my appendix had ruptured.
Class, I’ve never been in the hospital over two, three days in my life and I went to the hospital and went home and then couldn’t keep anything on my stomach and went back for five more days. Now, that’s when these first words began to take heart. I was pushed in and forced into a situation where it had to mean something. And when this is the day the Lord has made, I had to believe that. He didn’t… No, no. Turn to the book of Acts. I’ll show you the author of this thing. Chapter 10, verse 38, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, which was the power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. So, well, how did he get in? I don’t know. But I shut the door on him.
Now, in praying and looking back, in my diet and so forth, it was good. But I don’t know how that came to pass. But I’ll tell you, I had to practice what I preach. I had to practice what I preach and they would come in there and I was oppressed, but I could not afford to get depressed. That’s what I want to point out. And every time they said, «Let’s get up and walk», I’d grab that thing rolling around and take off in there and just walk just as strong as I could. This is the day the Lord has made and I’ll rejoice and be glad in it. Praise God. That the joy of the Lord is my strength. Hallelujah.
And just go around that hall, and singing, telling silliest jokes as I could, happy heart does good like a medicine. If I could just get somebody to laugh, I needed that. But my point is all of this stood strong in me. All of it came alive on the inside of me. And right now, that started a chain reaction of things that had put me in a place where I have not had the kind of exercise that I should have had since then. But thank God I win. I read the back of the book and I’m walking around kind of stiff and I straighten myself up and all that. But being 88 years old, I cannot allow that to be a hindrance to my calling. I have to get up and do it. Just get up and go for it and just stop and straighten up and talk to myself.
Come on, Copeland, don’t hunch over. Stand up straight in the name of Jesus. Just stop and straighten myself up. Amen. Because every day, every day, every day is one day closer to the resurrection. Every day is one day closer to the most outstanding health and miracles I’ve ever seen in my life. Class, I have to and you have to, any believer, any human being has to stay in that frame of mind all the time because there’s enough stuff out there to kill you many times over. If it wasn’t for the grace of God. Amen.
So now, that needed to be dealt with. Let’s go back where we were. Thank You, Jesus. Where was it? Oh, yeah. Over to 1 Thessalonians. And we’re in 4:16, The Lord himself shall ascend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now, what this should do, once you see that and you begin to meditate on that, that should put you in the frame of mind that the words that I say, yeah, Lord, I see it. I noticed that. Well, let me just back up here. We’re going to deal with this while it’s here.
1 Thessalonians 4:4, That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles that know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such that God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but to holiness. Then verse 9, Touching brotherly love, I don’t have to write you. Let’s just keep coming on down. But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them with sleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. Sorrow not, if you check it out, it is the Greek word, lupos, for grieve not. Grieve not even as others which have no hope.
There are people that get over into grief feeling sorry for themselves and get depressed and start grieving. I was in a meeting and there was a man in his wife and she was just, oh, she was really devastated. I could tell that. And she was just hanging on his arms and he said, «We’ve lost our little nine-year-old daughter». And at first, I just wanted to break down and cry because she was coming to me to be ministered to. And now all of a sudden I’m thrust into this and I did this and the Lord said, «Don’t lay hands on her». He said, «Tell her she got beat at the game of life». I said, «I don’t want to do that». You tell her what I said. I said, «Well, I just heard the Spirit of God say, 'You got beat at the game of life.'»
She just went like that at me. And he just held her back, held her back. I didn’t even know what that meant. Now, one of the reasons to bring sorrow not, you have to live in these scriptures because these things happen. This is part of life and godliness. So I didn’t know what to think and that was in the morning service. Really, I thought they’d… but then that’s what the Lord said to say. So I just rolled the care over on the Lord. They came back in that night and she was just so bright.
She walked up there to me and she said, «Brother Copeland, you’re right. I know better than to act like this. But the game of life, I allowed myself to get over into an area where I was just despondent and kind of depressed all the time. And I realized that I have not been a wife to my husband. I have not been a mother, to my other children. And then I heard the word of the Lord. You have not been putting the Word of God in your spirit on a daily basis. You’ve been too busy. You’ve been doing other things».
And if it didn’t end there, there’s no faith. If it’s not there, if you’re not, if you’re not listening to, well, it was tapes back there then. If you’re not listening to tapes or CDs now and you’re not, faith comes by hearing. It doesn’t come by reading. Reading is the base for it, but it specifically says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so you hear it, you hear it preached. Praise God. And you take hold of it by doing that. That’s the reason why these broadcasts are so important. So then we got a testimony from the dad later. He and his son went up hiking together. And that boy had a hard seizure. And his dad said, «No, you don’t devil, you take your hands off my son».
He said something like, «You’re not getting me. I’m not beating at the game of life. I put the Word of God in me and you take your hands off my boy». And immediately he was delivered and the spirit of that household was expelled from that house because they put the Word of God in their heart, in their mind. Where does it need to be? Three places: in your heart, in your mouth, and in your ears. Amen. In your heart, in your mouth, and in your ears. The Word of Faith, which we preach. The Word of Faith. This book is the book of faith, the blood covenants of faith. So now, thank You Jesus. Oh, praise God.
Now, let’s go on over here. Let’s follow this on. And in the fifth chapter, well, the fifth verse, You are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Now, let’s just read down. It’s the 14th verse. And now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men, see that none render evil for evil to any man and ever follow that, which is good. Both among yourselves and to all men, rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ for you. Whoa. And pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Well, now wait a minute, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Well, I just give thanks that, you know, that I had my appendix ruptured and now, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that’s not in all things. Amen. Oh, no, no, no. That’s not what that’s talking about. Now, all things work together for the good. No, they don’t. All things work together for the good of those that love God and called according to his purpose. Well, why do bad things happen to good people? Good people make bad choices. It’s that simple. And we’re out of time. We’ll be back in just a moment. Give the Lord praise.