Transcription
If you are not instrument rated, you can only last for 90 seconds if you're flying visual, or your senses will lie to you. It's now time for Mark Hankins' Faith for Every Nation. Mark and Trina train and equip leaders in every nation through church services, leadership conferences, mission trips, and media. Get ready for a direct and joyful message about how to grow in your faith and learn more about who you are in Christ. Now, let's join Mark and Trina.
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Welcome to Faith for Every Nation. I'm Mark Hankins. This is my wonderful wife, Trina, and we're glad to bring you a message on faith today, the spirit of faith. And we have a guest today that knocked your socks off, Brother Kenneth Copeland. Wow, we are so thrilled to have you on the program. Now, you know what, I, you know, I've watched you guys over and over and over again, and the way you present faith is so vitally important. And what really, um, advertises your faith to me is to a team. Yeah, all the time. Yeah, all the time. Yeah, we stay together and instead of fighting each other, we fight the fight of faith together. Yes, that's the way Gloria and I have been all these years. Yeah. When we got married, um, Mark gave me, before we got married, he gave me this card. It says, "Two people is not looking at each other, they're walking in the same direction." And then he added the verse, Hebrews 12:2, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith." Yeah, and that's how we started, and that's how we can praise God. That's good. Yeah. And so we're very thankful to be with you today, Brother Copeland, and thank you for taking the time to be with us. Thank you for the Victory Network. You know, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland give us free time daily, Monday through Friday, and, uh, you know, we're very thankful for that, and it's changed our lives. And you said it's like a dream to have a 24-hour faith network, and your dream caused our dream to come to pass. Well, back like I was saying yesterday when we were on the radio, because I got hold of it, you know, by the time World War II was over, um, I had just turned five years old. The day before they bombed Pearl Harbor. So the time that war was over with, I was almost ten. I saw, I mean, I remember it. I remember stuff that went on. And just right in the middle of it, I was raised out there in Abilene, Texas, and there, and there at Camp Barkley was just a little ways from there, and then Dyess Air Force Base, which is now Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. And, and it was, and all of this was right around me all the time. I mean, that's all everybody thought about. Yeah. But people were so completely and absolutely totally committed, and they were learning how to do things that they didn't know they could do. Yeah. And they, like I mentioned, they had that, uh, uh, totally immersion language. Yeah, yeah. That if, if that, if we could, in fact, if I could just get into it, if I just get into it night and day like this and not, not do anything else, yeah, then it, within six weeks, they were, they were fluent in a language. But you couldn't mix it with English. Uh, you had this, you had to isolation. Yeah, you can't mix. You can't get into, into your CDs. Then I'm going to get into this, and I'm going to stay in there. Well, now, wait a minute. You know, now, wait a minute. That other group over there said, no, you don't, you don't messed it up. Wow. If, if, if you're going to walk night and day in faith, if, if you're going to develop your faith, that you just, you just mentioned the author and the finisher. Yeah. As you know, that Greek word is developer. Yeah. Finisher. It's used like a finished carpenter. Yeah. Now, you, you know, you don't want to, you don't want a regular carpenter doing the cabinets. There's going to be big old half-moon hammer marks. You want the finished guys. You're the finisher. Yeah. They need a finisher. And this is back in the days when you didn't, somebody else didn't build the cabinets, he was the finisher. The finish worth, the, he's the finisher of our faith. But Mark, Trina, he can't develop something you don't put in his hands. Uh-huh. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. If you don't put that in his hands. What we're saying here is this, um, I remember this, the very first thing, I mean, number one, I mean, we were like Charles Capps said, we were so broke, we couldn't pay attention. And, uh, I thought, well, I'm going to, I'm going to do this thing. And I'm still a student there at Oral Roberts University, and I'm hearing all this, man. I'm flying for Brother Roberts. I'm, I'm going to the meetings. I'm seeing him preach. I'm listening to Brother Hagin on tape. That day, and I, I was getting a little money along, and I needed some socks, man. I really needed some socks. They didn't have any money. And I thought, I gotta have some socks. And so I scraped together enough money, and I, and I, I went to the store. You know, one in Walmart back there at the end. I mean, I went to the store. And I heard the Lord, "Why don't you believe for socks?" Yeah. My first thought was, "Can you do that?" Well, of course, you can do that. And I, I don't know, I sowed, you know, 50 cents or something, whatever it was, for socks. Yeah. I got covered up in socks. I mean, people would just, peop, my, I mean, somebody would say, "Brother Copeland, I'm just thinking about you and Gloria." And I, I was at the store here, and I saw these socks, and they looked, they looked nice to me. And I'd say, "Oh, thank you. Look at that. They're my size. Thank you." I had socks aplenty. Oh, man. And I thought, "All right, if I get socks, I can get shorts. If I can get underwear, I can get a suit." If I can, and Jesus just said, "Whosoever, whosoever, I have whatsoever." Now, here's why this is important. I love hearing your story because, uh, Dad Hagin, before he went to be with the Lord, the last five or ten years, something like that, he said the Lord told him to go back and teach on the fundamentals. The fundamentals of it. He said, "Because too many of the leaders and pastors, preachers in the body of Christ are preaching or teaching faith from where they are, not from where they started." That's right. He said, "And people can't get it from where they are. They got to get it from where they started." So Dad Hagin said he just was going back just to teaching on the basics and the fundamentals of faith. And the fundamentals of faith are applicable at every level of faith. Oh, yes. Because they are fundamentals. They're fundamental when you start. You know, I've been flying now for almost 60 years, so I learned so much through aviation because it's an applied science. Yeah. Well, the same physical rules apply. Yeah. And once you, once you know that, you begin to think. I remember when, uh, Brother Hagin said, "Now, you can't, you can't, you have to, you can't walk by sight." Yeah. "You have to walk by faith." And I'm looking at that, and I told Gloria, I said, "Wait a minute. I already know how to do that." She said, "What are you talking about?" I said, "I had, that was the first fundamental thing I had to learn when I started getting me an instrument rating." Don't fly by your feelings. No, they'll kill you. Yeah. Now, you know more about this than I do, but I read an article because we fly on planes, have pilots. They said, "If you are not instrument rated, you can only last for 90 seconds if you're flying visual, or your senses will lie to you." Oh, big. You got 90 seconds. It'd like to kill me one time. Not 90 minutes, not 90 days. You got 90 seconds if you don't, if you're not twice. It like to get out. You got me. I won't go into all of it, but you get vertigo. Yeah. And you don't know you had it. Yeah. Yeah, you don't know you have it. No, you haven't. I don't know. And you're, and then suddenly you get in the clouds, and you've been trying to stay contact, and then all of a sudden, you got to look down here, and you, you put your, man, this thing's turning. Yeah. I got to straighten it up. Ah, and you weren't turning at all. Ah, and so you weren't following your instrument. Yeah. And then you come out from under the overcast, and you're like this. Wow. Wow. And here's what was happening. When it first came out of the war, and some single-engine airplanes like the Beechcraft Bonanza were very fast. They come out like this, and it's surprising. You do this, and yank the wings off of it. Oh, or yank the tail off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and then just kill you. So that's a, it's a great illustration that living by faith is learning to be instrument rated. Yes. And looking to the Word. Now, when, when I began to see that, and, and I realized my feelings and, and my natural mind trying to live by faith with my natural fine mind will get you killed. The devil will kill you. Yeah. He'll make it think it's going one way, and it's going another. Yeah. And he'll just sneak up there in behind you and nail you with something that'll, that'll kill you. Wow. Now, maybe kill your family. Sure. And that's why the Apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians 5:7, "For we walk by faith and not by sight." Here's your instrument right there. It is right there. That's my panel right there. Yeah. That's true. And that, let me keep your eyes on it. Let me demonstrate this. Now, I, I can't see you out. Yeah. "If I walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses me from all sin." "If I say I have no sin, I deceive myself." Your feelings. I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me. "If I confess my sin, He is faithful and just to forgive me my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness." Wow. Now, Father, in the name of Jesus. Yeah. Amen. I did it. Yeah. I said it. I did it. Yeah. It's not a problem. It's a sin. Yeah. I feel like a dog, but that doesn't mean anything. Yeah. You're faithful and you're just. Yeah. And, and I've, I've received. I confessed that sin. I was not in for, I, I was not willing to forgive that person. The politicians and all. Yeah. And I, I did it. Wow. And I stand here and I, I praise You, Sir. And, and I'm military-minded. I was in the army. And I said, "Just stand it. Just stand it. Attention. I praise You, Sir." And, uh, permission, uh, to be freed of this sin. Thank you very much. I'm, I, I'm forgiven and I'm cleansed. Yeah. I'm cleansed. All the time. I feel like, "Just shut up." Yeah. Yeah. You're cleansed now. Just shut up. Don't you say anything else. Don't you act any other way. And you put a smile on your face and get up out of the floor and go do business because you are forgiven and you are cleansed. And cleansed from all unrighteousness. All of it. And Smith Wigglesworth said something like this. He said, "There is not one thing in me the blood does not cleanse." That's it. From all unrighteousness. So what am I doing talking about faith? You're walking by faith. The feelings have to show up later. Yeah. Now, what happens? It's amazing how rapidly, yeah, your feelings change. Yeah. Yeah. It's so true because your spirit takes over. Yeah. Yeah. And you think, yeah, glory to God, I'm free of this thing. After all, now the truth is the blood of Jesus. Yes. And so you, you agreed that I did miss it. I, I didn't obey God. But now I'm agreeing with God that the blood of Jesus cleanses me from. You just said what faith is. You agreed with God. God. And so that's why Romans 3:25, well, verse 27 says, "The law of faith." Yes. But Romans 3:25 says, "Through faith in His blood." Oh, man. In other words, to live by faith and to win the fight of faith, the focus of our faith in Romans 3:25 is in the blood of Christ. What the blood of Jesus has done for us, what it does in heaven, what it does in us and cleanses our conscience from guilt and shame. And what the blood does over Satan, who's the accuser of the brethren. That's right. So our faith is in His blood. Now, then the people that, well, let's say, for instance, the people that are watching us now on DirectTV. Before we, we were just on Dish. So there's a lot of, of new people that have never heard this. Born-again people, a lot of them spirit-filled, have heard the wrong thing about the Word of Faith. The devil is going to fight anything that has any form of power, anything that takes him down from his place. He's going to fight it. He started off fighting healing. He started off fighting speaking with other tongues. And he just, but you have to remember, he has been brought to naught. That means zero. That's an accounting term for zero. So he's a defeated foe already. Yeah. Now, what is faith? Faith is a spiritual force. Let's look over there at the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Yeah. Hebrews chapter 11. And, um, he starts with, "Now faith is." Now faith is the substance. Faith is a substance. It is a son. You can't see it, but it is substance. Yeah. It's a spiritual substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, by faith, what faith? By faith in God. [Music] The elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things natural, physical things which are seen were not made of things that do appear. Or not. They're made out of something invisible. Yeah. I, I've heard preachers say, "God created all things out of nothing." No, he didn't. He created out of something you can't see. Faith is not nothing. It is a spiritual force that is so powerful that Jesus said a grain of mustard seed size, yeah, can move mountains. That's like saying it doesn't take much nuclear power to make a real mess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and but look what he said. It was made out of something that you can't see, and by something, a force you can't see. Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, him being dead, yet speaketh. By faith, or by a force, a spiritual force that you can't see. Enoch was translated by a force you can't see. And it's right in here. Yeah. That's the reason one of the biggest verses in the Bible is Mark 11:20. Yeah. Now, when you, when you go from Hebrews 11, we're talking about the spirit of faith. And I had a country guy, I read that coming to my church years ago, and I was preaching on the spirit of faith. And he said, he said, "That makes me want to grab a cornstalk and swing out over hell and spit in the devil's eye." I said, "Well, I know how you feel, but I never said it like that." In other words, the spirit of faith gives you such confidence. And, uh, the spirit of faith literally feeds on the Word of God. I call it God's Word is a spoken thing. It was spoken before it was written, and it was written so it could be spoken. And we put God's Word in your mouth. I call that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. In other words, you take God's Word and you breathe in the faith of God, the God kind of faith. And that's the substance of our faith. When I had God, uh, blessed me with and allowed me to see this in a vision, what an open vision, his spiritual vision, I saw it and I heard what God said when he created Adam. And I, let me remind you, the word Adam is blood. Yeah. That's good. This is a blood book. Yeah. It's, it's our blood. Blood covenant. First blood covenant was it started. Adam was a man with the blood of God. Yes. There you are. Yeah. That's what causes faith. A blood covenant. No. Oh, that's good. He said, I saw him when he, in Genesis 2, and I literally, I literally saw this. Well, in one and two, well, the first chapter there, in the 26th verse, we already know from this, particularly if you read the book of Hebrews, we know how God did this. He spoke these words by faith. By faith. That spiritual force. It's not something that God has. It's what He is. He is love. Yeah. And He has faith, but He is faith. And He has love. The thing of it is, reason the love's furthest because faith works by love. Yeah. Yeah. Well, He has both, and He is both. God used His faith on purpose in Genesis chapter 1. Yes. Yeah. Now, He said in the 26th verse, "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness." He's, and I saw Him standing there in front of Him. They were exactly the same. No way. Adam, because he's in His image. Exactly the same size. And over here, He said, "And He breathed the breath of life." In the seventh verse of the second chapter, He breathed the breath of life, and man became a living soul, or the commas say, a speaking spirit, like God. A speaking spirit. He had to be a speaking spirit. He can't release His faith like God if he can't talk. Yeah. Yeah. He had him like this, and He said, "Man, be." And our likeness, in our image, dominion have. Wow. And it's going right into his nostrils. Yeah. Like this. Yeah. Adam didn't hear that. All he heard was, "Be blessed. Multiply. Multiply." And he became a living, speaking spirit like God. Yeah. Yeah. And so Adam speaking is a part of, of him being made in the image of God. Yes. So the speaking part of faith, we're talking about the spirit of faith. And we're just about out of time right now. And so we're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
And as I began to study that book and read that book, I'm talking about in love, I went to my wife, and we housed up the morning after reading it and said, "Baby, I've been so wrong. I thought I knew something about love." So He has brought life to World Life Church. The night that he stepped in that building, and our church has never been the same, and it's constantly growing. And so God began to bless us over and above and beyond anything that we could actually think. Because when we kept going to the reservation, Shema, that's like, "Mother, you know, we would pray for the world. They're in their wheelchair. Some of them had lots, lots and lots of diabetes and sickness." But we would pray and see those people get healed and delivered and set free. And when that happened, the love of God started flowing through these people. So all of his books, you know, generosity, I've never seen a pastor do what he does and give like he did. I've never met nobody in all the years that I've been ministering that ever, ever walked in that kind of integrity and that kind of love. That's Pastor Mark Hankins. And I am so honored. It's so best. And I've left that in. That has impacted my life and my wife. Like Pastor Mark and Trina, you're watching Mark Hankins Ministries, Faith for Every Nation. God is a faith God, and without faith, it's impossible to please Him. The moment you act on the Word of God, God makes Himself responsible for your results. The spirit of faith will ignite the call of God on your life. In the Spirit of Faith book, Mark Hankins shares valuable truths such as how to win the war of words. The simplest definition of faith is acting like the Bible is true. Faith is an act. Never run to your giant with your mouth shut. The spirit of faith is a pioneer spirit. It enables you to advance, break barriers, and go into new territory. God not only commands us to live by faith, but also to love one another. Walking in the God kind of love is our greatest challenge, but it's also our greatest reward. As we practice speaking and responding with love, our faith will grow, and we'll walk in victory. Faith works by love. In Mark Hankins' book, Love, the Secret to Success, he explains how our greatest quest in life should be walking in the God kind of love. This book also has many translations of First Corinthians 13 that will help you renew your mind to the love of God. You can't grow in God without growing in love. When you order this TV special offer, as a bonus, you'll also get the book, Never Run to Your Giant with Your Mouth Shut. When you hold fast to your confession of faith, you're connected to Jesus's victory. Your gift of $35 or more will help Pastors Mark and Trina Hankins train believers around the world. Order today by calling 318-767-2001 or visit markhankins.org.
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Well, I'm sure you've enjoyed these five days of studying the spirit of faith. My life has been changed. And with Brother Copeland, and it's like a fire lit in there. It was mine. I mean, it just, just to be with you guys, it's just wonderful. We are so honored. And, and the spirit of faith is something that you're a spiritual father to us, of course, Dad Hagin, and Oral Roberts, and those that have gone before us. And that spirit of faith is necessary to do the will of God. Yes, it is. And to follow the plan of God. And so we trust you've enjoyed this. And we've got a book called The Spirit of Faith that, uh, me and Trina wrote it together several years ago. And, uh, this book's available to you. I've got a quote on the back. Says, "If you knew what was on the other side of your mountain, you would move it." That's good. That's good. And so the spirit of faith is available to you, and we make that available. And we believe that if you just feed your faith on the Word of God, God will take you places you've never been before in blessing and in His will. For there is a miracle in your mouth. There's a miracle in your mouth. I believe, and I speak. So I dare you to lift your voice and declare and speak the Word of faith and declare what God says about you in Christ. And so may God richly bless you, and Jesus is Lord. Thank you for watching Mark Hankins Ministries, Faith for Every Nation. For more information on how to build your faith, visit markhankins.org. You can access many free Word resources to help you find who you are in Christ. Thank you for watching.