S1E3. Integrity of God’s Word - 3

Speaker A 00:00:00 I want to read some scripture tonight from the 17th chapter of John's Gospel. Speaker A 00:00:06 If you'll open there with me, if you'd like to, and read along with me. Speaker A 00:00:09 I wish you would. Speaker A 00:00:11 John, chapter 17. Speaker A 00:00:14 In this particular chapter, there are some very astounding things. Speaker A 00:00:19 One of them is in the fourth verse. Speaker A 00:00:21 Jesus said, I have glorified thee on the earth. Speaker A 00:00:24 He's talking to God, you see. Speaker A 00:00:26 He said, I have glorified thee on the earth. Speaker A 00:00:28 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Speaker A 00:00:33 That a man could stand before God and say, I finished the work that you've called me to do. Speaker A 00:00:38 You say, well, Brother Copeland, couldn't anybody but the Son of God Jesus do that? Speaker A 00:00:42 Well, that's not altogether true, because the Apostle Paul said it. Speaker A 00:00:45 And he said, I've finished the race. Speaker A 00:00:46 Praise God. Speaker A 00:00:48 I've kept the faith. Speaker A 00:00:49 I've fought the good fight. Speaker A 00:00:51 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:00:52 I like that. Speaker A 00:00:53 There's just victory in that. Speaker A 00:00:55 I have finished the work that you've given me to do. Speaker A 00:00:58 And at this moment when Jesus could have prayed anything, when he could have been praying prayers about anything in the world, he chose this particular time to pray some things that are most important right at the closing precious moments of his ministry. Speaker A 00:01:13 He's finished the work that God called him to do as a prophet under the Abrahamic covenant. Speaker A 00:01:18 And now he's entering into the area of work of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Speaker A 00:01:25 He's on his way to the cross. Speaker A 00:01:26 And when he prays the prayer that I'm fixing to read portions of, it's just moments before the cross. Speaker A 00:01:33 He's talking to men that have followed him for three and a half years. Speaker A 00:01:38 But this prayer that he prays is not only for these men. Speaker A 00:01:44 Notice that he says in the 20th verse, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. Speaker A 00:01:55 And one way or another, every believer that has ever been born into the kingdom of God, you and me and all the rest of them have come either directly or indirectly, through the word of the men that were present the night he prayed that prayer. Speaker A 00:02:10 So Jesus was praying for you, and he's praying for me. Speaker A 00:02:14 And in this magnificent prayer that he prays, he prays some things that you and I need to grasp the answers to them, because the answer to this prayer is ours. Speaker A 00:02:25 In verse 13, he says to God, and now come I to thee. Speaker A 00:02:31 And these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Speaker A 00:02:40 I have given them thy Word. Speaker A 00:02:43 And the world hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Speaker A 00:02:50 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. Speaker A 00:02:56 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Speaker A 00:03:00 Sanctify them through Thy. Speaker A 00:03:02 Thy word is truth. Speaker A 00:03:05 And as thou hast sent me into the world, even so I also sent them into the world. Speaker A 00:03:11 And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Speaker A 00:03:18 All right. Speaker A 00:03:19 We've been talking about the integrity of the Word of God. Speaker A 00:03:23 You notice Jesus talks about sanctify them through thy truth. Speaker A 00:03:27 Thy Word is truth. Speaker A 00:03:30 We've talked about God's words being filled with power, filled with his faith. Speaker A 00:03:36 His words are forever settled both in heaven and in earth. Speaker A 00:03:40 Thank God, His Word is forever. Speaker A 00:03:43 We found out from the Word of God that the Bible says. Speaker A 00:03:48 In fact, Peter said it himself. Speaker A 00:03:50 He said, we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God. Speaker A 00:03:59 Now notice something that Jesus said. Speaker A 00:04:01 Here he is saying this. Speaker A 00:04:04 But I dare say that Peter didn't realize what he was talking about when he heard him pray this. Speaker A 00:04:08 But he did learn it later. Speaker A 00:04:10 He knew it later. Speaker A 00:04:11 As he. Speaker A 00:04:12 As he learned from the Holy Spirit, as he learned from the things of God. Speaker A 00:04:17 Jesus has said. Speaker A 00:04:18 Now listen what he said. Speaker A 00:04:19 He said, I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. Speaker A 00:04:27 Where is the evil in the world? Speaker A 00:04:31 In the world, isn't it? Speaker A 00:04:36 Well, now, what did David prophesy in the 23rd Psalm? Speaker A 00:04:43 He said, you prepare a table in the presence of mine enemies. Speaker A 00:04:50 How many times? Speaker A 00:04:52 Just by not thinking, by not stopping and thinking what that verse of Scripture said in the 23rd Psalm. Speaker A 00:04:57 We have just automatically thought that. Speaker A 00:04:59 That David the psalmist, as a prophet was speaking about a heavenly feast. Speaker A 00:05:06 And we've written songs about that heavenly feast. Speaker A 00:05:09 When God said that he would prepare a table before us, we just kind of automatically thought about some heavenly feast. Speaker A 00:05:17 That feast over yonder, that heavenly feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Speaker A 00:05:21 That's no more what he's talking about than the man in the moon. Speaker A 00:05:25 Do you know that your enemies are not in heaven? Speaker A 00:05:32 He said he'll prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. Speaker A 00:05:38 And just let Satan stand there and squall while you go to the table and feast. Speaker A 00:05:44 Not just over on the other side, but thank God on this side of heaven, there is a feast of God that is absolutely greater and more powerful than. Speaker A 00:05:55 Than any of your enemies can stand. Speaker A 00:05:58 If God be for you, nobody can successfully remain your enemy. Speaker A 00:06:02 Praise God. Speaker A 00:06:03 Isn't that true? Speaker A 00:06:04 All right. Speaker A 00:06:05 Notice what he said. Speaker A 00:06:06 Now, let's put something together here. Speaker A 00:06:08 Peter said, we are born again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed. Speaker A 00:06:15 By the word of God. Speaker A 00:06:17 We are born again by the word of God. Speaker A 00:06:20 James said, we are begat by the word of truth. Speaker A 00:06:28 Jesus is using the word sanctify. Speaker A 00:06:32 The word literally means to separate. Speaker A 00:06:35 Separate unto. Speaker A 00:06:37 Well, now, isn't that what happens when a man's born of God? Speaker A 00:06:40 Isn't that what the Bible says happens when a man's born again? Speaker A 00:06:45 He's separated unto God. Speaker A 00:06:46 He's drawn to God. Speaker A 00:06:48 He becomes united with God. Speaker A 00:06:49 The Bible said that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Speaker A 00:06:57 Now, what did Jesus say then? Speaker A 00:06:59 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but thou shouldst keep them from the evil. Speaker A 00:07:07 In other words, leave them there in the world where they can do their job, but separate them from the evil in the world. Speaker A 00:07:15 Now, the Greek text literally says this. Speaker A 00:07:17 I don't ask you to remove them from the earth. Speaker A 00:07:20 I am asking you to cause them to operate and live above the evil in the earth, not be subordinate to it, but overcome it. Speaker A 00:07:34 And he said, I pray that thou keep them from the evil. Speaker A 00:07:38 Now switch right over to verse 17. Speaker A 00:07:41 Separate them from through your word. Speaker A 00:07:47 Now, if words mean anything, if Jesus meant anything when he prayed that, what he meant was this. Speaker A 00:07:54 Oh, God, don't take them out of the world. Speaker A 00:07:58 Separate them from the evil in the world so that they can have authority over that evil and not be subordinate under or lorded over by it, and do it with your word. Speaker A 00:08:10 And then he goes another step further. Speaker A 00:08:12 He said, in order that they may understand this thing you sent me, I separate myself by your truth, and I send them the same as you sent me. Speaker A 00:08:25 Now, your calling is the same as Jesus. Speaker A 00:08:30 That's what he said. Speaker A 00:08:33 As the Father sent him into the earth, so sends he us. Speaker A 00:08:39 So now you've got the same responsibility on you as Jesus say, but Brother Copeland, he had the salvation of the people as a responsibility. Speaker A 00:08:50 So do you. Speaker A 00:08:53 I didn't say you had accepted that responsibility. Speaker A 00:08:56 But I'll tell you this. Speaker A 00:08:57 You're going to stand before God on a day of judgment with that and stand judgment according to that responsibility, whether you ever did anything with it or not. Speaker A 00:09:05 And one of the things that God's going to want to know is what you've done with Jesus, what you've done with the great commission of going into all the world and preaching this gospel to every creature and laying your hands on the sick and causing these things to take place with the name of Jesus, cast out the devil. Speaker A 00:09:22 What have you been doing about it? Speaker A 00:09:24 Yeah, we've got the same responsibility on us that Jesus had. Speaker A 00:09:30 So consequently, if we have the same responsibility, then I am certain that the same weapons that God furnished Jesus to carry out that responsibility, thank God, will still work with the same efficiency today, and they'll work just as well. Speaker A 00:09:46 God is a just God and he doesn't give me a responsibility without giving me the way of escape, giving me the power and the weapons to pull down the strongholds with. Speaker A 00:09:55 Thank God. Speaker A 00:09:57 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:09:58 I've already preached myself, haven't you? Speaker A 00:10:00 Praise God. Speaker A 00:10:01 I tell you, this stuff turns me on something fierce. Speaker A 00:10:04 I can't hardly wait to hear the rest of this. Speaker A 00:10:08 I mean, it just thrills me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head of what God has privileged you and me. Speaker A 00:10:16 Old dirty you and old ugly me. Speaker A 00:10:19 Look what we got in on. Speaker A 00:10:20 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:10:22 Whoo. Speaker A 00:10:23 Glory. Speaker A 00:10:25 I used to spend $2,000 trying to get to feel this good. Speaker A 00:10:29 There's not that many pills in the world. Speaker A 00:10:33 There's not that many liquor stores in town. Speaker A 00:10:36 You could pour it all. Speaker A 00:10:37 You could go out and just hook a faucet onto the bottom of a tank car full of bourbon, and it never gets you this high. Speaker A 00:10:43 Brother, ain't no way this is a God high. Speaker A 00:10:48 I won't ever tend to come down off of it. Speaker A 00:10:51 You know what it is? Speaker A 00:10:52 It is the separation, the lifting you above the evil in this world. Speaker A 00:10:56 And if you'll stop and think about it a minute, that's what you tried to do with those pills. Speaker A 00:11:00 That's what you've been trying to do with the booze. Speaker A 00:11:03 That's what you've been trying to do. Speaker A 00:11:04 Out late at night, roaming around town, trying to do your best to forget that miserable mess you were in all day long. Speaker A 00:11:14 And it's Satan's counterfeit for the real thing, Being separate from all of that mess. Speaker A 00:11:21 Glory to God. Speaker A 00:11:24 Whoo. Speaker A 00:11:25 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:11:26 Now let's find out something about how it works. Speaker A 00:11:30 The word of God, the integrity filled word of God. Speaker A 00:11:36 Let me one more time remind you that this word is God's word and it is his bond. Speaker A 00:11:46 It's good. Speaker A 00:11:48 Now Satan will do everything he can and he does it immediately. Speaker A 00:11:54 Jesus said the sower sows the word. Speaker A 00:11:56 Satan cometh immediately to take out the word which was sown. Speaker A 00:12:00 He'll come immediately to attempt to deceive and prove that God's a liar. Speaker A 00:12:12 And if he can get you by deception, ignorance, or just outright stubbornness to go against the word of God, then you've joined in with him and calling God a liar. Speaker A 00:12:26 Now you know why he wants God to be a liar. Speaker A 00:12:28 Because he's already heard God say that Satan is the father of liars. Speaker A 00:12:34 If he could get God into a situation where God be caught in a lie, then he would become God's superior. Speaker A 00:12:40 And that's what he's been after all this time. Speaker A 00:12:43 Isn't that true? Speaker A 00:12:45 All right. Speaker A 00:12:46 This word then is God's bond. Speaker A 00:12:49 When somebody says the word of God, renew your mind. Speaker A 00:12:52 Get your mind to where it doesn't think about just a black book. Speaker A 00:12:58 We've got a lot of schizophrenic ideas created by religion that's really true. Speaker A 00:13:07 Religion is really and truly is kind of schizophrenic anyway. Speaker A 00:13:11 That's the reason people are not just flocking to it. Speaker A 00:13:18 It's stupid. Speaker A 00:13:20 Men will think one way in church that they wouldn't dare think that way in their office. Speaker A 00:13:24 They'd lose everything they've got. Speaker A 00:13:27 They'd do things at church they won't do on the street. Speaker A 00:13:30 Say dumb, stupid things about God that they'd slap their own son for saying about them. Speaker A 00:13:37 I guess God put that cancer on me to teach me something. Speaker A 00:13:41 And if his little boy come in said, my daddy put that ball on, on me right there, you know what his daddy'd do? Speaker A 00:13:47 His daddy say, I haven't just. Speaker A 00:13:49 How dare you go tell the neighborhood I put that dirty, filthy thing on you? Speaker A 00:13:52 Well, just as soon as it's, well, I'm gonna whip you. Speaker A 00:13:56 And then he'd go to church and turn around and lay the same thing off on God. Speaker A 00:14:01 Now that's schizophrenic any way you go about it. Speaker A 00:14:06 And what we have done over where God's word is concerned. Speaker A 00:14:08 You see, somebody says the word of God immediately in our religious framework. Speaker A 00:14:15 A religious mind thinks about a black book that is a holy book that nobody wants to read. Speaker A 00:14:23 But then when you say Jerry Savelle's word, or Kenneth Copeland's word, or Paul Hamilton's word, or Wesley Jamison's word, or the word of the United States government or the word of this or the word of that, you. Speaker A 00:14:38 There's a different picture comes up in your mind when somebody says the Word of Kenneth Copeland. Speaker A 00:14:42 The first thing somebody wants to know. Speaker A 00:14:44 Is it any good? Speaker A 00:14:45 Will the man do what he says? Speaker A 00:14:46 Ain't nobody thought about a book you did. Speaker A 00:14:52 Something matter with you. Speaker A 00:14:54 Unless I had written all these things down for you to believe. Speaker A 00:14:58 Well, now, right. Speaker A 00:14:59 On the other hand, I could write you a letter. Speaker A 00:15:03 I could write you a letter and sign my name down the bottom of it and say, I will be in a certain, certain town in your town at a certain, certain time. Speaker A 00:15:10 And I'll be there at a certain time. Speaker A 00:15:13 And somebody says something about my word. Speaker A 00:15:14 You might pull that letter out and say, well, I've got his word. Speaker A 00:15:17 He'll be here at a certain day. Speaker A 00:15:20 Now, when that date comes, we'll find out whether my word's any good or not. Speaker A 00:15:25 You following what I'm saying? Speaker A 00:15:26 But then. Speaker A 00:15:27 Yet when somebody says God's word, nobody ever thinks of his integrity. Speaker A 00:15:31 They just think of some old grappy old Sunday school teacher or something like that. Speaker A 00:15:41 Some old boy that every time he opened the Bible. Speaker A 00:15:43 He told you you had to go to hell. Speaker A 00:15:46 Now, I'll tell you right frankly. Speaker A 00:15:49 A good, smart mule will quit coming to the trough if you knock him in the head with a two by four every time he walks up there. Speaker A 00:16:03 If you was to bang that mule with a two before and every time you did, say Jerry Savelle, he would get the idea sooner or later. Speaker A 00:16:13 Jerry Savelle is the one that's hitting him in the head whether Jerry did it or not. Speaker A 00:16:17 And that's the way the devil operates, see. Speaker A 00:16:20 He'll tell you some lie, hit you in the face with it and say God real loud. Speaker A 00:16:24 And finally God gets the blame for it. Speaker A 00:16:26 Well, every time you heard that chain rattle, you duck. Speaker A 00:16:31 That's what religion produces. Speaker A 00:16:33 Christianity isn't a religion. Speaker A 00:16:35 There's been a religion made out of it. Speaker A 00:16:37 Christianity is not a religion. Speaker A 00:16:40 Christianity is a family born of God. Speaker A 00:16:46 They've come from all kinds of religions. Speaker A 00:16:49 Some of them never saw a religion before. Speaker A 00:16:51 They're born of God. Speaker A 00:16:53 And their God's word is their God's bond. Speaker A 00:16:57 And they'll believe it in the face of any other kind of evidence. Speaker A 00:17:03 Now, that's his bond, his word. Speaker A 00:17:06 And it is a living thing. Speaker A 00:17:08 You know why? Speaker A 00:17:09 Because God's alive. Speaker A 00:17:12 He's alive. Speaker A 00:17:13 And he has the power to watch over this word, to perform it. Speaker A 00:17:19 Jeremiah 1:12 says he watches over his word to perform it. Speaker A 00:17:23 So it's so, if he has to do miracles to cause it to be so. Speaker A 00:17:27 Now then, we found here that the word would separate. Speaker A 00:17:30 What will it separate? Speaker A 00:17:31 You from? Speaker A 00:17:32 Well, Jesus said, separate them from the evil in the world with it. Speaker A 00:17:36 How do you do that? Speaker A 00:17:37 We've been studying in our afternoon services the reality of redemption. Speaker A 00:17:41 And we found out in Colossians, chapter one, verse 13 and 14, right along in there, 12th verse, that we have been delivered from the authority of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. Speaker A 00:17:55 What I want you to realize is that God's given His Word. Speaker A 00:17:59 And in his word he has said that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Speaker A 00:18:05 And if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord. Speaker A 00:18:09 And believe in your heart that he's been raised from the dead. Speaker A 00:18:11 Now listen to what he said. Speaker A 00:18:13 Thou shalt be saved. Speaker A 00:18:15 And the Greek word there called saved is the word that means made in a sound condition. Speaker A 00:18:23 It means salvation. Speaker A 00:18:24 It means healing. Speaker A 00:18:26 It means being made whole. Speaker A 00:18:28 Now, God's got his word out. Speaker A 00:18:31 He has put his word out so that any man that would do that, you see, God has promised that that word is so. Speaker A 00:18:38 That word is in the earth. Speaker A 00:18:40 And the very minute that that man allows that word to get beyond his intellect and into his heart to a point where he'll act on it. Speaker A 00:18:47 And he says to God, all right, I believe in my heart that he's been raised from the dead. Speaker A 00:18:52 And I give him the power of attorney now to be my Lord. Speaker A 00:18:58 What happens then? Speaker A 00:19:01 Soundness is lodged in that man's heart by the Holy Spirit of God. Speaker A 00:19:09 And God backs that with all the corporate power of heaven. Speaker A 00:19:13 And no devil in hell is big enough to stop it. Speaker A 00:19:18 He cannot do it. Speaker A 00:19:19 He cannot do it. Speaker A 00:19:21 So what takes place, the man is not only released from his sin past, that's only the first step of this thing. Speaker A 00:19:32 We've talked about that a whole lot. Speaker A 00:19:34 But I think it's time we started talking about the other half. Speaker A 00:19:36 You see, you're not. Speaker A 00:19:37 You can't get redeemed out of something without getting redeemed into something. Speaker A 00:19:41 You know that. Speaker A 00:19:42 I had a preacher tell me one time. Speaker A 00:19:44 He said, brother Copeland, that beats all I ever saw. Speaker A 00:19:47 He said, I've been a preaching. Speaker A 00:19:49 And he's. Speaker A 00:19:51 He was Pentecostal preacher. Speaker A 00:19:53 He said, I've been a preaching the gospel for over 20 years. Speaker A 00:19:56 And he said, I preached all this time about what we've been redeemed from. Speaker A 00:20:02 And he said I hadn't said a thing on earth about what we've been redeemed into. Speaker A 00:20:07 He said, I found out I've been redeemed into the kingdom of God and that God's my father. Speaker A 00:20:13 Oh he's about as bad as me. Speaker A 00:20:16 In fact he weighed about 275 pounds and he and two other preachers and me is in that car and this other two and I and that fellow were all pretty good sized fellows and we just about turned that car over. Speaker A 00:20:29 Boy, we got so turned on to God and one of us get the praising God in one direction another and go the other direction. Speaker A 00:20:34 That old miracle is absolutely like not held all of us. Speaker A 00:20:38 These things turn you on brother, when it gets to be a reality to you. Speaker A 00:20:41 When you put pressure on the word of God. Speaker A 00:20:44 When you put pressure on God's word, it worked. Speaker A 00:20:47 He backed it and caused you to be separated from the kingdom of Satan and translated into the kingdom of God. Speaker A 00:20:56 So it did separate you from the world, didn't it? Speaker A 00:20:59 Somebody said yes, this world's not our home, we're just passing through. Speaker A 00:21:03 Well in what shape are you passing through? Speaker A 00:21:07 The Bible says that God has allowed the Gentile to come into this thing as is a full heir of God in order to make Israel jealous. Speaker A 00:21:16 And I dare say there's not many Jews jealous over what we've been doing. Speaker A 00:21:23 And it sure don't make him very jealous when you spin him that poverty stroke. Speaker A 00:21:29 Well you can't find that in the Bible. Speaker A 00:21:31 God didn't teach that poverty business to Abraham nor any of his descendants. Speaker A 00:21:38 They don't believe it yet. Speaker A 00:21:43 No they don't. Speaker A 00:21:46 And they're still using the things God taught Abraham controlling your money. Speaker A 00:21:51 That's the truth. Speaker A 00:21:52 Now you can sit there and kind of snick around if you want to. Speaker A 00:21:54 God's truth. Speaker A 00:21:59 God has separated us from the chains and shackles that Satan put on mankind for a reason. Speaker A 00:22:07 The Bible says that we are to hold forth the word of life. Speaker A 00:22:14 Hold it forth like a torch. Speaker A 00:22:17 It is a light in this world. Speaker A 00:22:21 It is a light and we're to hold it forth. Speaker A 00:22:24 One fellow told this lady said, what you're trying to do lady is get me to be like you. Speaker A 00:22:29 She said yes. Speaker A 00:22:30 He said forget it, I got trouble enough of my own that bawling and bellyaching and carrying on has got to stop. Speaker A 00:22:39 And we begin to hold up the word of life and show people Jesus, not just our rag attacks. Speaker A 00:22:47 Amen. Speaker A 00:22:49 Give them the word of God, the word of life with no apology. Speaker A 00:22:53 I don't apologize for being a preacher of the gospel. Speaker A 00:22:56 I don't beg for preachers discounts and apologize around for the ministry cause we're so poor. Speaker A 00:23:03 Oh my. Speaker A 00:23:05 It just just really just rakes me up the Wrong way. Speaker A 00:23:10 When I see some big black limousine drive down the street. Speaker A 00:23:12 And here's some Christians stand there and say, oh, look at that. Speaker A 00:23:16 Wonder what gangster is in town. Speaker A 00:23:19 I bought an airplane. Speaker A 00:23:20 That's a nice one. Speaker A 00:23:23 God gave it to me, furnished it to me. Speaker A 00:23:25 We don't borrow money, we paid for it. Speaker A 00:23:28 Somebody said, my, you must have a rich man backing you. Speaker A 00:23:31 I do. Speaker A 00:23:33 His name's Jesus. Speaker A 00:23:35 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:23:37 Yes, sir, he's the only one. Speaker A 00:23:40 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:23:41 More than enough too, I might add. Speaker A 00:23:43 And when I bought this, immediately the rumor got out. Speaker A 00:23:52 I really just sometime just, you know, just makes me just aggravated to hear good Christian people fall for this kind of stupid stuff. Speaker A 00:24:03 The rumor got back around to me. Speaker A 00:24:06 Brother Copeland's got an underworld church and there's a bunch of guys in the mafia and some one of mafia bosses is the one that bought that airplane. Speaker A 00:24:21 Now the only reason people cook that mess up is to keep from being responsible and believing God and standing on their faith and getting an airplane just like it. Speaker A 00:24:29 God's no respecter of persons. Speaker A 00:24:31 He's sure not running short of money. Speaker A 00:24:37 If he loved poverty, he'd live that way. Speaker A 00:24:42 Now, I'm not talking about squandering it on your lust. Speaker A 00:24:45 I'm talking about using it to preach the gospel with. Speaker A 00:24:47 Don't let the money use you. Speaker A 00:24:48 You use it. Speaker A 00:24:50 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:24:51 Represent Jesus of Nazareth. Speaker A 00:24:53 Represent the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob like some of them old guys did, boy, boldly, with no apology for being a Christian. Speaker A 00:25:02 And when you see that limousine coming down the road, you say, well, praise God. Speaker A 00:25:06 Somebody's apostles in town. Speaker A 00:25:09 You know there's a prophet in town. Speaker A 00:25:12 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:25:14 Instead of getting mad at the fella because he's not driving a 37 Chevrolet. Speaker A 00:25:22 You keep him humble, Lord. Speaker A 00:25:24 We keep him broke. Speaker A 00:25:25 You can't keep me broke. Speaker A 00:25:28 You don't have any bearing on my finances. Speaker A 00:25:31 Or you may momentarily. Speaker A 00:25:33 If God's telling you to do something where giving is concerned, or he may tell you to invest some money into this thing, he may tell you to join it as a partner to it. Speaker A 00:25:41 And if you don't do it, there will be a hole there just your size. Speaker A 00:25:47 But that don't stop it. Speaker A 00:25:48 God will get it to us some other way because he's got his word out and we're on it. Speaker A 00:25:53 When you learn to walk on his word, I'm not depending on you, I'm depending on his word. Speaker A 00:26:00 Now, it was a little slower that way because nobody seemed to be able to tell me how to do that. Speaker A 00:26:06 Everybody Else put the pressure on you. Speaker A 00:26:08 I learned to just hush where you're concerned and put the pressure on the word. Speaker A 00:26:12 Every time I'd start getting under pressure and the finance squeeze that get on, I'd get off somewhere and start crying out to God. Speaker A 00:26:20 You meet my needs according to your riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Speaker A 00:26:23 The Word says I redeemed from the curse of poverty. Speaker A 00:26:26 The word of God says that your abundant treasure will be opened unto me and it'll fall like the rain from heaven. Speaker A 00:26:32 I'm a tither and I have a right to these things. Speaker A 00:26:35 There's where the pressure goes. Speaker A 00:26:36 Not stand up here and beg and badger the people. Speaker A 00:26:39 You're going to get some pressure put on you, but I'm not going to do it. Speaker A 00:26:44 When God puts a little pressure on you and you respond to him, then you get the credit for it. Speaker A 00:26:50 See there? Speaker A 00:26:50 If I put the pressure on it, you don't get anything except a squeeze. Speaker A 00:26:57 You folks don't give. Speaker A 00:26:58 This faith ministry will end. Speaker A 00:27:08 That's over. Speaker A 00:27:11 It's not going to end. Speaker A 00:27:12 It is a faith ministry. Speaker A 00:27:14 You can get involved if you want to. Speaker A 00:27:16 If you don't get out of the way were going on. Speaker A 00:27:24 Amen. Speaker A 00:27:25 Why? Speaker A 00:27:28 Why can I say things like that? Speaker A 00:27:30 I used to kind of scare me to say things like it doesn't have. Speaker A 00:27:33 Absolutely have no twinge of fear about it at all. Speaker A 00:27:35 If there's anything in the world I have faith in saying, I just said it. Speaker A 00:27:40 Why? Speaker A 00:27:41 Because of my ability. Speaker A 00:27:42 I don't have any. Speaker A 00:27:46 I proved that. Speaker A 00:27:48 I went broke on my ability five times on the sunny side to 30. Speaker A 00:28:02 But I found out what I do have. Speaker A 00:28:05 I found out I've got God's bond. Speaker A 00:28:08 I found out I have his word. Speaker A 00:28:11 Let me tell you something. Speaker A 00:28:13 The fish in the sea and the birds in the air and the oceans of this earth can't stand up in front of me because I got the word of the one that split the Red Sea and put the fish in his inhabitants and put wings on the bird and thank God I'll fly when the rest of the world's crawling on its belly because of Jesus. Speaker A 00:28:34 That's him. Speaker A 00:28:35 And he is the guarantee. Speaker A 00:28:39 The book of Hebrews says he is the guarantee of the new Covenant. Speaker A 00:28:45 The guarantee that the words are true and his life was poured out to establish it as true. Speaker A 00:28:56 And was it true? Speaker A 00:28:58 Yes, it was. Speaker A 00:28:59 The same word separated him from death itself and raised him from the grave and set him on high at the right hand of the majesty almighty God, King of heaven and earth. Speaker A 00:29:13 It worked. Speaker A 00:29:15 And if it'll work for Jesus in the pit of hell in the midst of death and raise him up a new creation. Speaker A 00:29:23 Raise him up the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Speaker A 00:29:27 It'll work in your finances and mine. Speaker A 00:29:30 It'll work in your health, it'll work in your life, it'll work in your mind and it'll work in your family and it'll work in your job and it'll work every other place. Speaker A 00:29:42 There is. Speaker A 00:29:42 But there is a key to it. Speaker A 00:29:45 The quality of your decision is involved. Speaker A 00:29:50 The quality of your decision to make His Word first place in your life. Speaker A 00:29:59 His Word must become final authority. Speaker A 00:30:03 I've had, I've heard men say, well, I'm going to try this thing. Speaker A 00:30:06 I'm going to try and see if God will save me. Speaker A 00:30:09 You can forget it not trying it, we're doing it. Speaker A 00:30:15 It's when you rely on that Word beyond even your own feelings, even your own family and everything, you rely on God's Word. Speaker A 00:30:23 And when you put that kind of pressure on His Word, I guarantee you it'll hold up under you. Speaker A 00:30:29 But it has to be done. Speaker A 00:30:31 A quality decision has to be made. Speaker A 00:30:34 There has to be a decision made that God is your source of supply. Speaker A 00:30:38 There has to be a non compromising position taken on God's eternal word that says, I'm here and I'm here to stay. Speaker A 00:30:47 And His Word is final authority and I'll not release back from it, I'll not walk off from it, I'll never do anything else and you won't hear me utter any other words from my mouth. Speaker A 00:30:58 And the Bible said about Jesus, he spoke the words of God, therefore God gave him his spirit without nature. Speaker A 00:31:05 If you want the Holy Spirit functioning in your life without measure, you make that kind of dedicated choice, choice, choice, decision of quality to put God's word, absolute final authority in first place in your life. Speaker A 00:31:20 The men of old, God said, he said it in the book of Proverbs. Speaker A 00:31:26 He said, you men don't hear my word. Speaker A 00:31:29 You don't hear what I tell you to do. Speaker A 00:31:31 You don't, you don't hearken unto my voice. Speaker A 00:31:33 And when calamity comes and you cry out to me, I have to laugh at your calamity. Speaker A 00:31:41 Some men said, I'll tell you what, you can't operate without borrowing money. Speaker A 00:31:45 The Bible says you can. Speaker A 00:31:50 The Bible says you can. Speaker A 00:31:51 I didn't say you knew how, but God does. Speaker A 00:31:54 But you will never get into the center, God's financial resources until you decide to make His Word final authority. Speaker A 00:32:04 When I made that Decision. Speaker A 00:32:05 I didn't have anything and I made that decision that I was not going to borrow money in this ministry, not going to do it. Speaker A 00:32:13 And of course the first rattle out of the box, the next thing the Lord said, you know, when you make a decision, you make a stand of a non compromising stand on his word where you will not compromise his word that his word is final authority. Speaker A 00:32:27 He said, don't borrow money. Speaker A 00:32:28 And that looked like to me the aven to the poorhouse. Speaker A 00:32:32 But the word says, lean not to thine own understanding, trust with all your heart in the Lord. Speaker A 00:32:38 I had to trust him to reveal to me how to operate a ministry without borrowing money. Speaker A 00:32:42 I didn't say you were sinning by borrowing money. Speaker A 00:32:46 But if you're still borrowing money, you're still not in God's best financially because you've got a lot of stuff, a lot of goods around your house that God may want to furnish to somebody else and tell you to give so many times over that'd be given to you again. Speaker A 00:33:00 But you can't do it without running. Speaker A 00:33:02 Ask in the bank. Speaker A 00:33:05 You gotta ask the bank about what God tells you to do. Speaker A 00:33:09 God tells me to give. Speaker A 00:33:10 All I got to do is unhook. Speaker A 00:33:14 And you better watch it. Speaker A 00:33:16 You get out of debt and he'll tell you to give. Speaker A 00:33:19 You know why? Speaker A 00:33:20 Because he wants to get you some more. Speaker A 00:33:23 When you become a supplier to somebody else, you fixing to get more and more and more. Speaker A 00:33:29 And you, you go to grabbing and hanging on to it like this and it'll go the other way supernaturally, just boom, just gone. Speaker A 00:33:37 And you didn't even get to play with it while it went by. Speaker A 00:33:43 Lost another Chris cross. Speaker A 00:33:51 Praise God. Speaker A 00:33:53 Now listen to what Jesus said. Speaker A 00:33:55 We found the word separates us from the world and it's Overlord. Speaker A 00:33:59 It'll separate you from Satan. Speaker A 00:34:02 Hallelujah when you make it final authority. Speaker A 00:34:05 Now in John 8, 31 and 32, Jesus said something. Speaker A 00:34:09 We're right there in the book of John. Speaker A 00:34:10 Flip, just flip right back over there at the eighth chapter. Speaker A 00:34:12 Let's, let's look at this. Speaker A 00:34:14 We've used part of this sentence that he spoke. Speaker A 00:34:17 We kind of taken it out of its context and thrown it around a little bit. Speaker A 00:34:21 But there was more to what he said here than this. Speaker A 00:34:22 In the eighth chapter of John, in the 30th verse, as he spoke these words, many believed on him. Speaker A 00:34:29 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. Speaker A 00:34:33 If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Speaker A 00:34:39 Now you notice there's no period at the end of that, that's in a colon or semicolon. Speaker A 00:34:45 The sentence is not over. Speaker A 00:34:48 And you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. Speaker A 00:34:57 Now you don't. Speaker A 00:34:58 Don't take just part of that out either way. Speaker A 00:35:00 Continue ye in my Word and you'll be my disciple. Speaker A 00:35:02 Or turn around to somebody and say, ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. Speaker A 00:35:05 Because without one or the other, the whole thing is not complete. Speaker A 00:35:08 There are a lot of people that have memorized the Bible that are still in bondage. Speaker A 00:35:13 You see, brother or sister, so and so that you know, been teaching Sunday school for 28 years, sick. Speaker A 00:35:21 When the word of God says they're healed, but they're not free, you know it and I know it. Speaker A 00:35:27 And some people have had shouting services, jumping services, loosening services, trying to get free, get us all free. Speaker A 00:35:34 Let your hair down, jump, scream and holler. Speaker A 00:35:36 It don't last until you get home. Speaker A 00:35:39 Jesus said, continue ye in my word and you'll be my disciple. Speaker A 00:35:46 Or you'll be like me. Speaker A 00:35:46 You'll be disciplined like me. Speaker A 00:35:49 You'll be disciplined to me. Speaker A 00:35:51 You will become like me. Speaker A 00:35:54 That's what that means. Speaker A 00:35:55 Be my disciple. Speaker A 00:35:56 Continue ye in my word and you be my disciples, indeed. Speaker A 00:35:59 And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Speaker A 00:36:03 You will know it in other words. Speaker A 00:36:04 And then one of his. Speaker A 00:36:05 One of his men said, how are you going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? Speaker A 00:36:09 He said, through my word. Speaker A 00:36:12 Through my word as a man. Speaker A 00:36:14 Continues. Speaker A 00:36:15 He puts this word first place in his life. Speaker A 00:36:18 It not only separates him from Satan and from the world, but it will separate him from old habits, old ways of doing things, and break open new vistas. Speaker A 00:36:27 And you'll see that the Bible said the entrance of his word brings light. Speaker A 00:36:30 And his light will rise in obscurity and it'll rise up in darkness and shine as bright as the noonday sun. Speaker A 00:36:37 And here's a guy that's continuing in the Word. Speaker A 00:36:40 He continues to operate in the Word and Satan sets traps for him and sets old habits in front of him and sets old ways of doing business that looks so good all these years but for somehow not working anymore. Speaker A 00:36:52 Our old way of running a church. Speaker A 00:36:53 The old ways this and the old ways that. Speaker A 00:36:57 And it just keep getting in. Speaker A 00:36:58 One trap right after another, and it doesn't seem like any way out. Speaker A 00:37:01 But here's a guy that's got the Word first place. Speaker A 00:37:04 And he's not moved by what he sees or what he hears. Speaker A 00:37:06 He's moved Only by what he believes. Speaker A 00:37:08 And he's got the word of God on it that as he walks in it and stands on that word, God will reveal to him how to come out. Speaker A 00:37:17 And he will function out of that thing and come out free from the traps of the old inhabitant that Satan sets and snares for him. Speaker A 00:37:27 Praise God. Speaker A 00:37:29 You get up before something you don't know how to handle. Speaker A 00:37:31 And my brother, if you're not walking in the word of God, you better call somebody that is, get a hold of somebody that is, get them in it with you. Speaker A 00:37:42 Don't call somebody just cause they're religious. Speaker A 00:37:47 Call somebody that knows what God has already said about it and then get in there, bite in, get a holt and stay and it'll come to pass. Speaker A 00:37:59 God will cause that word to rise up within you and you'll be free. Speaker A 00:38:04 Now I'll share this with you in closing. Speaker A 00:38:07 The word of God will separate you from the unnecessary things of this life. Speaker A 00:38:11 Things that are not necessarily sin, not necessarily traps, just unnecessary stuff unto God. Speaker A 00:38:19 When we first start getting a hold these revelations from God, the revelation knowledge I want. Speaker A 00:38:24 Do you know what revelation knowledge is? Speaker A 00:38:26 That's exactly what I've been talking about is revealed knowledge. Speaker A 00:38:30 Revelation knowledge, knowledge that we can gain through what we feel and what we see through our five physical sense gates. Speaker A 00:38:39 Let's call that human knowledge or sense knowledge. Speaker A 00:38:42 Knowledge that we gain by what we can see and what we can feel. Speaker A 00:38:45 Most of our universities and books and so forth are based on that. Speaker A 00:38:48 But you can only go so far in sense knowledge. Speaker A 00:38:52 You can't learn, know or find out about God through sense knowledge. Speaker A 00:38:57 You can't know God through sense knowledge. Speaker A 00:39:00 If you could science, it's tried, but it cannot meet him. Speaker A 00:39:06 There's no way. Speaker A 00:39:07 He's too far out. Speaker A 00:39:10 And when a guy says, well now let's see, where did I come from? Speaker A 00:39:13 Where am I going? Speaker A 00:39:14 And where is God? Speaker A 00:39:14 Where has he come from? Speaker A 00:39:15 Where is he going? Speaker A 00:39:16 He just stepped off into theory where his senses are concerned. Speaker A 00:39:21 You've got. Speaker A 00:39:21 The Bible says that these things are spiritually discerned, spiritually seen into. Speaker A 00:39:26 And sense knowledge is hindered by my ability to speak to you and your ability to hear it. Speaker A 00:39:32 If you've got an error in your ear and I got an error in my talk, then we've got compounded errors, don't we, huh? Speaker A 00:39:41 But the Bible talks about this in the book of Colossians. Speaker A 00:39:43 It isn't in the King James, but the Greek calls it exactly knowledge that you be filled with the exact knowledge of God. Speaker A 00:39:50 Exact knowledge is knowledge that is imparted in the spirit of a man by the Holy Spirit of God. Speaker A 00:39:57 And neither the man's spirit nor the Spirit of God is hindered or hampered. Speaker A 00:40:02 And it gets full knowledge in there in a full measure. Speaker A 00:40:07 That's revelation knowledge or revealed knowledge. Speaker A 00:40:11 Knowledge that's revealed to a man in his heart from the Word by the spirit of God. Speaker A 00:40:18 Some guy reads the Bible and he says, man, look at that. Speaker A 00:40:21 Another guy, I don't see nothing. Speaker A 00:40:25 I see the guys sit all the way through these services. Speaker A 00:40:27 I'd get so thrilled, I'd just kick the benches over, you know, gets a turned on and some guy in front of it down there just going like this. Speaker A 00:40:33 And the fellow sitting there telling me these guys are nuts. Speaker A 00:40:36 I didn't see anything. Speaker A 00:40:38 Some other fellow coming right along in behind me and say the same words, exactly the same words, go through all the same sentences in the same words. Speaker A 00:40:46 And it won't do a form thing. Speaker A 00:40:49 Why we call it an anointing or the revealing power of the Holy Spirit of God on it. Speaker A 00:40:57 And it goes beyond the intellect into the heart. Speaker A 00:41:01 That kind of knowledge will put you over. Speaker A 00:41:04 That kind of knowledge will invent and create and produce. Speaker A 00:41:08 That kind of knowledge causes faith to come up in much power. Speaker A 00:41:12 So when a man is working in revelation knowledge, he begins to study these things and pick up these things. Speaker A 00:41:18 What I started to tell you was this. Speaker A 00:41:20 As we first began to learn these things, we looked up one day and had been two months since we turned the TV on. Speaker A 00:41:29 It was an unnecessary thing. Speaker A 00:41:32 In the town we lived in, there wasn't anything on it worth watching anyway, thank God. Speaker A 00:41:37 In this area we do have. Speaker A 00:41:39 We haven't subscribed to a newspaper in a long, long time. Speaker A 00:41:43 It's unnecessary. Speaker A 00:41:45 You got to know the news. Speaker A 00:41:46 No, I got the news right here. Speaker A 00:41:48 I know it before it come out in that newspaper. Speaker A 00:41:49 Most of the time you can't believe most of that stuff anyway. Speaker A 00:41:54 It's too bent. Speaker A 00:41:55 By the time it gets down here to the press, the information is too bent. Speaker A 00:42:00 If you're foolish enough to trust most of that information, then you're way behind. Speaker A 00:42:06 And if you'll get before God and let the word separate you from these things now there's a lot of people you see that are trying to quit all these things. Speaker A 00:42:13 Trying to quit smoking, trying to quit drinking, trying to quit all of that. Speaker A 00:42:17 What you ought to do. Speaker A 00:42:18 It isn't what you quit that does, it's what you start that changes you. Speaker A 00:42:23 When you get over on God's Word. Speaker A 00:42:25 You begin to spend the time there, the prayer time, the. Speaker A 00:42:28 The reading time, the meditating time, the fellowship with God. Speaker A 00:42:31 You wake up one of them days and that those cigarettes has done gone long down the road. Speaker A 00:42:37 You got separated from them. Speaker A 00:42:39 The desire is no longer there. Speaker A 00:42:42 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:42:43 Somebody said, brother Copeland, you just give people a license to sin. Speaker A 00:42:47 You will sin without a license. Speaker A 00:42:50 Anybody in here don't know how to sin. Speaker A 00:42:54 Anybody in here that most of you can do it without thinking, can't you? Speaker A 00:42:59 What we need to do is get that proficient at the word of God. Speaker A 00:43:05 It'll replace that mess. Speaker A 00:43:07 I got in my car one day and looked up on that sun visor and there that old package of cigarettes stood up there. Speaker A 00:43:12 And they sold it already, you know, they crumpled up. Speaker A 00:43:15 I wouldn't have noticed, I don't guess, that the back hadn't been dribbling out the end of them. Speaker A 00:43:19 And I thought, hey, look at that. Speaker A 00:43:20 I hadn't smoked one of those things in weeks and weeks. Speaker A 00:43:23 They know you starting now, just now. Speaker A 00:43:27 For two solid years after I first got saved, I threw away more of them than I smoked. Speaker A 00:43:32 I quit every day. Speaker A 00:43:36 But I was not separated from them. Speaker A 00:43:39 The word separated me. Speaker A 00:43:41 In fact, I went and got in a meeting down in Houston, Texas. Speaker A 00:43:43 Before I got out of the meeting, I'd been separated from that. Speaker A 00:43:46 Thank God, delivered from it. Speaker A 00:43:48 God said, you will know the truth, and it'll make you free. Speaker A 00:43:53 Free. Speaker A 00:43:54 You know what separated me from the embarrassment of praying over my meal in a restaurant? Speaker A 00:44:01 When I found out from the word of God that I wasn't praying just to make God feel good about me being a nice little fellow saying grace. Speaker A 00:44:09 I don't know what grace business got in there. Speaker A 00:44:11 Anyway, I quit saying grace and started praying over that food. Speaker A 00:44:18 Cause I got to eat it. Speaker A 00:44:20 And the word says that our food, if received in Thanksgiving, is sanctified by the word of God. Speaker A 00:44:28 God has given his word that even your food won't poison you if you'll pray and minister over it properly. Speaker A 00:44:34 And from then on, I didn't care whether you like it or not. Speaker A 00:44:36 I'm praying over this stuff before I eat this. Speaker A 00:44:40 It changed my entire outlook over it. Speaker A 00:44:43 As you know, he used to pray those headache prayers. Speaker A 00:44:48 Sit down in a restaurant, you know, and catch a hold of your head like this. Speaker A 00:44:55 You hold your head down like this. Speaker A 00:44:57 And you kind of wrinkle your brow around a little bit. Speaker A 00:44:59 And you pray real soft now. Speaker A 00:45:01 So everybody in the restaurant think you got a headache. Speaker A 00:45:05 That don't do anybody any good. Speaker A 00:45:07 Certainly not going to do your food any good. Speaker A 00:45:08 You didn't have your food on your mind. Speaker A 00:45:09 All, you had your old reputation on your mind. Speaker A 00:45:14 Oh, but when the word got to me, see, I heard the word of God. Speaker A 00:45:18 I had a tape recorder going in the front seat of my car. Speaker A 00:45:20 I keep somebody preaching at me all the time. Speaker A 00:45:22 We got the Bible on tape. Speaker A 00:45:23 That's the reason we put these messages on tape, so that you can feed on the Word. Speaker A 00:45:28 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:45:29 Let's stand on our feet and believe God.