Faith for Freedom Revival: We’re in a Defining Moment (7:00 p.m. CT)

Jerry come on up here son I love what we do and I love we do it to God we do it together now for some water of a long time long amen I mean Jerry now I've been together an awfully long time and from the very beginning you know I was thinking tonight about your what's your dad a lawyer said looked out there you know he's a reigning real good he's careless valve dad Olin creature what a funniest thing with beings I have ever in my life met and he'd say it every time you get a pretty good rainbow no he said well just a little clear up shower mm clear up through your knees and deeper but anyway I miss him don't you know when he told me when I moved to Fort Worth he said Doug Jerry the soul is so bad over here you probably have to fertilize your mailbox to get a letter I got to tell you something Lord time they've been in the narrow line I mean in an airplane those twin Cessna over there in Shreveport where he lived not took him flying and that first time you'd ever been off the ground anyway and he's he's not not a big man but his carpenter all of his life just swing at a big hammer you know just many and he's just gristle straw yeah Florida man strong well we were sitting in and back in that's 47 you know back then the cattle car you know and whole roll you know of laboratories like that well he walked up to this one that had vacancy on it and he pulled it and it went back and he pulled it and it went back and I'm Tracy I'm sitting there I'm just in a place where I could see this well he got up mauled back there I don't know why I mean I just followed it and I'm looking at him in another and I wonder what is this and he pulled it snapped back well you know old and he he just yanked it and this poor dear soul she was hanging on to that door for dear life screaming and of course Carolyn's under the seat hey he said I looked back to her and Titus find that woman he said I never hear again I think she jumped off the plane she was so embarrassed we were he was always having funny experiences though we were all I'd say that this has gone a while tonight I mean this is back during the days of apartheid tired I hated that thing that anyway we had preached in South Africa and but we were we were going on to Europe and and then from there back home so when we left Johannesburg then we were not on South African Airways so we were just flying right straight up through the continent of Africa this headed this you know just as north as you yet well one of the things made me think about this is that mascara because we had our own airplane were that you know that had range enough to go anywhere except the United States we would go down and get those little painter's masks and so you'd put that on they just smoked all they wanted to and then you know it didn't bother anything I went off without my mask I forgot it we're in South Africa together you know it's the painters children they didn't have any of those kind they they had this green plastic thing that came down here like this in a triangle and all the way down here with this filter in the middle of it look out like an oxygen mask and these mental midgets that they're very very very very small brain people the no-smoking section was on this side of the airplane and the smoking section was on this side [Music] and that one guy smoking a cigar owe me big as a whole handle man this is gonna be one of nice man and they stop somewhere in there you know and and picked up some passengers in there and this so this man got on and and he's seated right straight across from me great big good and long well the people were back here and behind curtains and all the stirred mr. decision and so forth and he pulled that that and I thought this is gonna really smell bad so I got my paint mask out and I put it on [Applause] and I said and they stuck their heads up under the curtain Oh Carolyn got down she got down in the floor Gloria was beating me on the back but I was breathing good you better take this away from me doc yeah that flight attendant came to me twice Yano said is he all right I said going hallelujah thank you sir we've had some fun times 50 years a fun times praise God amen I want to add something to that that's [Applause] we've been together all these years preaching together over 50 years our families our kids together and all of those years everywhere we've been whatever we've done without a gross worth absolutely without a cross Union you know what I don't see you told me that you'd be a father there yo we were we were at one of the first places within the the little cheap motel and the walls were so thin I mean you could hear conversations going on Portsmouth Virginia yes it was dear lord and glory now earlier did listening to our own little staff and they just Krita dentist taken my messages apart and just general going on this is my first meeting he could hear it I heard him come through the door what is this you're taking the man's money you don't like the way it preaches get out that's not word for word but that that's a real good paraphrase ah brother Jai we didn't mean it well then shut up it was strife free right now yes praise God you know since we're talking these stories since we're telling these stories what do you want to know I got a good one okay when I arrived in Fort Worth to come to work with him my old car had over a hundred thousand miles on it is worn out oh man I walked in this office little office on Barry Street where his dad insurance office was and went into his office and I said sir I'm here and ready to ready to do what you need me to do and we talked for a little while and he said now we're gonna leave tomorrow you got a place to live and I said yeah I found a little place not too far from here they said now in the natural I can't afford you and if you ever get paid it'll be because you use your faith right I said well brother Copeland I'll use my faith before I got here so let's do it so we leave the next day and back then we didn't go for a night or two with three weeks yeah and so during this three week time I'm supposed to get my first paycheck you know and I told your dad I said could you send it over to Carolyn so she will have something live on while I'm going and so brother Copeland and I knew it was payday it's payday and man I needed my payday dear lord I needed it and so he called me he called me into his room he said now Jerry I just got off the phone with Daddy he said we had enough money to pay the bills but there wasn't enough left over to pay you now I wanted to say but I didn't but I wanted to say well did you get paid I just kept my mouth shut and he said but there wasn't enough money to pay you so I said okay so I went next door to that little room where you could hear between the walls and my room became a wailing wall man I needed I needed my money and I walked up down those floors confessing every scripture I knew I confess the maps the index everything and they could hear me over there and boy I was as as Jesse would say I shucking the corn and so we went to the meeting that night he didn't say anything to me next morning we went over to the service he still didn't say anything to me but then later that afternoon he said by the way daddy called right after you left the room and said there was a man it was Monty Montgomery Montgomery Monty Montgomery knocked on the door as your dad was leaving office he said they W I'm so glad I caught you before you left I wanted to bring this over to you earlier today I didn't I didn't have time to get here but I hope it's not too late he gave him a check there's enough to pay some other things and pay me but he didn't tell me until about two services later and then he says by the way daddy called right after you left and you got paid Carolyn's got you check and I said well when did it happen he said well right after you left I said well why don't you tell me then he said well Chloe and I heard you over there praying and he said Boyd I'm not gonna tell that boy the money came in because he'll believe God for next week's to [Applause] those are good old and good all day laughter over y'all Lorna mercy Oh building foundation and and you're one of the reasons that OHS mobile went out of business yeah oh dear Lord that car now I thought that old Oldsmobile that the glory had no it was no man nice car that's mine oh you know what brother Hagin I mean buddy terracing told you when you pulled up there in that car brother Hagins office to get those tapes I went now got time for this oh man I had to have those tapes so bad and I didn't nobody I didn't know brother Hagin anybody on and man oh man I'd heard that one and I just had to have him I said Lord when we get back home I gotta have everything this man yeah so I called Buddy answered the phone cuz I'd know who he was in so I took my driver's license with me no no I know I took that they the title yeah that had a car and I and I said sir first of all do you have anything like a little battery operated tape player some of you yeah a little more till and I said I really need one of those and and I'd like to have some tapes okay then I said and I brought that titled in my car and you can just hold that I said I have some preaching engagement and I said now I'll pay you just as quick as I can no no no he said no that's no they don't need to do that and he said to have whatever a woman he said you'll pay me on well thank you he told brother Hagin he said Lord Mersey looked at there so you caught he looked out dates that I like to attend so brother copelan's car and I thought no no no no we can't have that parked around here we preach brushes I was thinking about that I was mobile you took me to the airport in oh yeah has another good story Oh Lorna won't hear it again yeah he calls me and tells me to take him to the airport now this this January and it's cold oh oh it's cold and my old car it didn't run half the time and so if I had to be somewhere of course he taught me you know if you show up ten minutes late you told a ten minute life so now I'm you know boy I'm really conscious of not being late and so I go out there an hour before time and pray in tongues over that car make sure it start because it didn't respond to just turn the ignition on it only responded to tongues and so I got it started and drove over the word he lived got him in the car and got his stuff in the car and I left the car running because I didn't want to take a chance to quit and couldn't get it started again so we're driving along there and he's got on a nice top coat I didn't know what a top coat was and I'm dressed in yellow just Brinke dink stuff that I had I came out of a Paint and Body Shop I didn't have any nice clothes I wore uniforms all the time and so he's sitting over there you know and he said he started talking to me and I you know I've learned I don't say anything unless he says something to me first so we just real quiet and he started talking to me and you could see our breath because my heater wouldn't work and then he said Jerry turned the heater on I said brother Coleman it's on full blast don't be moved by what you feel as the first time I got to use that on him you know and he said the heater zone I said it wide-open look it's on high right now we're freezing in that car and finally he just took his hand and slapped the dash and said I command you in the name of Jesus work and boil that here to come own like to run us out of there and I said I said brother : don't dare stop using your faith now because the transmission slips and all the traffic's coming your way so we got to get out of this Oh hallelujah but look what the Lord has done hey man come on give him a good shout of praise praise God now all this I didn't know this was going to happen that all this is very appropriate for the message I want to share with you tonight back a few days ago I was I was praying and just spending some quality time with the Lord and I heard him say this phrase in my spirit this is another defining moment in your life with what you're going through right now this is a defining moment in your life and I sensed in my spirit there was not just a word for me but I sensed it was for the entire body of Christ with what we're going through right now and I knew that in a few days I was going to be going up Texarkana to speak in Tracy Harris's ministers conference and I was sensitive leading the Lord that that's what he wanted me to share in that conference so I did and then praying about this service tonight the Lord impressed upon me to share it here because most of you weren't in that meeting and I think you need to hear it this is another defining moment in your life now before I get into what I want to share with you let me give you some meanings of the phrase defining moment what are we talking about I wrote down several there there are some people who have described a defining moment as like a fork in the road it's like coming to a place in your life where you have to make a decision to either go left or go right or straight or back up and go back where you came from it's like a fork in the road but a a deeper meaning would be it's one of those times when how do you react determines the direction that your life will go in it's one of those times when how you act will determine what direction your life will go in it can take you on a path of failure and destruction or on a path to some of your greatest victories it's been said that a defining moment in life shapes you and causes you to become the person that you eventually will become now what we were talking about there is really some defining moments in our lives when I was listening to brother Copeland this morning talking about him going to oru and he you remember the story about he didn't go when he the Lord first talked to him about going he was kind of hesitant in doing so but then when he finally made the decision to go to obey God go he said that he was 30 years old when he went he's oldest student there and when he registered that day he sensed the leading of the Lord to go up to the sixth floor and that was off-limits to students you couldn't go the sixth floor but the Lord told him to go and he wasn't sure at that time why but you know and he started up there and stopped at the fifth floor and then finally went on up to the sixth floor where all Robert's office was and he met Ruth rooks which had been all Robert's only secretary for the entirety of his ministry Ruth was a sweet lady and he met Ruth rooks and he told her that I just thought I needed to tell you that I'm a commercial pilot I have a commercial license I can fly airplanes and he didn't realize it but all Roberts had stepped up behind him and he didn't know it was there and when he turned around all Roberts's standing there and you you heard the story this morning and he was hired immediately as copilot oh no or Roberts airplane that meant he went everywhere all Roberts went he was in the meetings and they were still doing some of the last of his tenth Crusades so he got to be in that that is what you would call a defining moment life-changing moment amen the time when his mother gave him his first Kenneth Hagin tape and he talked about that this morning and he listened to that message and said man I got so excited I wound up under the coffee table you know just a shouting and praising God and then that's when he was introduced to the ministry of Kenneth Hagin and then from their own he got in every meeting he could back in those early days he and Gloria and brother Hagin became a mentor to him that was a defining moment the moment he heard Kenneth Hagin for the very first time that was a defining moment life-changing moment all of us have stories of defining moments I have many but I heard the Lord say this is another defining moment in your life in every one of our lives because what you say and what you do right now and throughout the remainder of this year is going to determine your future thank you for your enthusiasm we're discovering right now that a lot of preachers talk a good talk but they don't walk the walk we're finding out that a lot of people who call themselves faith people word people when the chips are down they're not so much word people after all a lot of preachers that were preaching prosperity are not preaching it anymore a lot of preachers that were preaching about the blessing or not preaching it anymore there's nothing worse than a fake preacher Amen I that's what kept me out of the ministry for years I heard the call of God which was a defining moment in my life in 1957 watching all Roberts own television under the big tent I was watching him in my grandmother's home in Oklahoma City I was just about to turn 11 years old and sitting in a standing in her living room I heard all Roberts preach for the first time I didn't have a clue who he was never heard of him before and while I'm standing there in my grandmother's home I heard the call of God all my life he said someday you'll preach like that someday you'll pray for people like that and that's not what I wanted to do it never thought a preaching had never entered my mind I already knew by the time I was nine years old what I was going to do my dad was in the automotive business my dad repaired wrecked automobiles my dad restored classic automobiles my dad built hot rods and racecars I grew up on racetracks we would traveled a circuit in East Texas North Louisiana southern Arkansas Eastern Mississippi we hauled race cars all over that part of the country as as a young boy I grew up that now I wanted to be exactly like my daddy he represented everything I wanted to be and he began to teach me the trade went out nine years old how many of you remember when families used to have breakfast together my dad never went to work or my sister and I never went to school before we had breakfast as a family and my dad would not get up from the table until he hear me say this he waited for me to say it from nine years old I said it every morning dad when I grow up working on our own business there's gonna be a big sign out front Seville and dad and he'd get a kick out of that surveilled and dad painting body works you know and he would not leave the table until he heard me say that so that was my dream and and this preaching business God was interfering with my plans so I never told a soul about it I never told a soul about it and I just ignored it and I figured you know someday God will realize they made a mistake and find somebody that really wants to do that so I pursued my dream and by the time I was 21 years old I owned my own business I was doing exactly what I dreamed I was going to do I've repaired wrecked automobiles I restored classic automobiles dad now we're still all in race cars all over that circuit in fact my dad raced against Carroll Shelby right here on Eagle Mountain way back years ago I have a Life magazine yeah on this Airport because after the war a lot of the airports became sports car tracks and my dad I've got a I've got a life magazine on the front cover it's Carroll Shelby racing at Eagle Mountain Raceway and my dad raced against E so I came over here as a lung young boy and I didn't remember that until years later that this is where my dad used to come and race and so I was I was living my dream I was doing exactly what I dreamed I was doing now I married a Pentecostal girl that was a defining moment - she told me and you many of you've heard these stories but I think it's important to rehearse them for a moment she told me the night before our wedding Gary and we grew up together on the same street we've known each other since I was 11 and she was nine and and we were not boyfriend-girlfriend back in those early days but there came a time when she changed and she grew up and I was attracted to her and I asked her to marry me and the night before our wedding she said no Jerry I made a vow to God when I got fill of the Holy Ghost at 8 years old that the man I marry will be born again fill the Holy Ghost speech the gospel and go to Africa I said Carolyn I'm not doing any of that you're marrying the wrong man I'm not doing any of that I say if you marry me you're gonna spend the rest of your life on a racetrack I'm gonna race automobiles she said you don't know the power of intercessory prayer I said I've never heard of it she said well that doesn't matter all you got to do is go in there tomorrow night when the preacher says do you take this woman oh you have to do is say I do and me and God will take care of the rest and you a loved her I want to marry her so we married and for the next three years I tried to prove to her that that was something she ate and it was not a vision from God you know but one day now listen a defining moment one day February 1969 a preacher from Fort Worth Texas came to Shreveport Louisiana preached a week in life Tabernacle pastored by and founded by Jack Moore the church my wife grew up in she begged me every night when I came home from my shop to go hear this preacher I wouldn't go I said Carol I don't want to hear another preacher she said if you will go tonight and you don't like this preacher I will never ask you to go again I said no that's the deal I've been waiting on you promise I'll never have to go again she said I'll never ask you to go again I said I'm going and so we got in the car and headed over to life Tabernacle on the way over there I asked her now who is this preacher you want me to hear she said Kenneth Copeland I said Kenneth Copeland Kenneth Copeland Kenneth Copeland I'd heard that day and then it dawned on me where I'd heard it before we got our first rock and roll radio station in Shreveport in 1956 and the year later 57 as a very important year in my life 57 I remember listening to that station and a man on there had a hit song called the pledge of love and it was sung by Kenneth Copeland I said I know who that is she said how would you know who Kenneth Copeland's you don't go to church I said well there was the Kenneth Copeland in 1957 had a hit record on the radio cause the pledge of love I even knew the words I started singing it to her she said it's not the same man I said well how do you know if you asked him she said I've never even spoken to him I've never met him but I just know it's not the same man I said what can't rock and roll singer's get saved she said oh I'm sure they can but it's not him well I'm going for two reasons tonight number one if I don't like him I never have to go again number 2 when he gets through preaching if I'm still there I'm gonna ask him if he was that same guy I'd like to be right one time is there any other husband who's ever wanted to be right one time don't lift your hand don't lift him well I get over there and I told her on the way over that I said no we're gonna settle in the very back row and the moment I don't like him I'm gonna get up and leave and you get home best way you can she said if that's what it takes to get you there I agree so we said right on the back row closes door when we get and he started preaching well I had already prepared myself not to like him because I know if I don't like him I never have to go again so I'm just sitting there kind of you know listening but not listening and waiting for the moment I can get up and leave 15 minutes into his sermon he just stopped it said I don't know why I'm saying this yes absolutely nothing to do with my sermon I guess somebody here needs to hear it 1957 I had a hit record on the radio called the pledge of love I was headed for a rock-and-roll stardom and boy that got my attention that's what got my attention that night not the message that's what got my attention and now I'm right out on the edge of my chair hanging on to every word he said and when the service was over I'll never forget it as long as I live I can see it just like it happened yesterday he grabbed his Bible and he's notebook off the podium and said if you believe it it'll work if you know it won't good night I'm out of here how though dear God where's he been all my life John Wayne has finally come to the pulpit that's what I thought amen well I didn't surrender my life in the service but when I went home that night I couldn't sleep I will tossed and turn all night long and finally three o'clock in the morning I got up and I walked into my living room I said God I don't know why you still want me I've been running from you since I've ten eleven years old but if you still do Here I am I don't I don't know what you can do with me he said don't worry about his son I'm a master making champions out of failures and he said you just surrender your life to me and I'll do the rest and he 3 o'clock in the morning I received my salvation I was immediately baptized in the Holy Spirit I prayed in tongues from 3:30 in the morning till 7 o'clock that morning I felt like I was standing out in the sunshine and it was shining on nobody but Jerry Savelle the glory of the Lord filled my living room that was a defining moment you understand what I'm saying and then I begin to prepare to shut in my business down and start planning to go into full-time ministry I shared my business down and somebody brought all of the messages that brother Copeland preached that week on reel-to-reel tapes and said the Lord told me to bring these to you and if you listen to them they'll change your life she said brought him in a paper bag here I said well how am I supposed to listen to these she said you don't have a tape player I said no I don't have a tape player she said I'll be right back she went home she come back with this great big tape player that you set on a credenza had speakers you know it was this big he didn't carry around on the arm you know and she said I was hoping you already had one God told me to bring this when I brought the tapes but I was hoping you already had one so forgive me for disobeying God here here's my tape player I set that up in our guest bedroom and I started listening those messages and the first one I listened to is just simply called the Word of Faith I listened to it I listened to it I started taking notes I outlined them I listened to every message over and over I would spend a minimum eight hours a day up to 12 14 hours a day listening to those messages for three months and when I came out of that bedroom I had the fire-god in my hands or the Paragard in my hands the fire-god my heart the Word of God in my mouth and only one problem was enough so one to hear a word I had to say and I said well Lord what I do now he said hit the streets of your city the hippy movement was on 1969 the drug culture is beginning to take root and there were a lot of people in the streets my first sermons were in the streets this report Louisiana preaching the drug addicts alcoholics prostitutes hippies and I was winning them to the Lord left and right in fact I had such success in the streets the police department had me to come to the jails every week and I had such success in the jails the Sheriff's Department sent me to the prisms I had great success in the prisons winning people to Christ the only problem would preach it in the streets to hippies and preach it in the streets drug addicts and prostitutes and go into the jails and preach it and preaching in the the prisons the offerings are terrible and they might have any money I said God how am I supposed to live I got I got a wife I got two babies I got a house note I got a car note how am I supposed to live and one night this was another defining moment one night I'm watching Oral Roberts back then oil robbers had a primetime special television broadcast I'm sitting there watching Oral Roberts and he introduced for the first time a new book the miracle of seed faith he said if you'll write to me I'll send it to you as for this book I'll send it to you free and postpaid I turned to Carol I said Carolyn here's one we can afford get the address and write for it and as soon as that book came in the mail I devoured it and in that book he not only taught me seed faith but he also taught me how to make God my source of supply amen it was a defining moment are you understand what I'm saying about a defining moment you know there are times in your life where it it it sets you own a a pace it sets you in a divine direction well I'm still living in Shreveport and brother Copeland came for a second visit this time I'm no longer a backroad Christian who don't want to go to church I can hardly wait for the man to get there I'm a front row Christian and I could hardly wait for them to turn him loose iiiiii just I'd lock in man I'd lock in sometimes people ask me what you mad about that wouldn't met well you had this frown on your face the whole time he's preaching now I just locked in on concentrating I was taking it all in I was oblivious to everything that it was going on around me because I needed this it was life changing and one night about the third fourth night in that meeting he just stopped like he did the first time I heard he said Jerry stand up I'd met him got to talk with him briefly had had a meal with him with my mother and father-in-law he said Jerry stand up I stood up didn't have a clue what he's going to do he said I was in prayer today and God showed me that you and I will be a team and we're gonna spend the rest of our lives together preach the Word of God from one end of this planet the other it'll be your responsibility to believe God for the perfect timing for the team to begin set out and then he finished his message I was so young in this I turned to Carol I said what did all that mean she said I think we're moving to Fort Worth Texas I said well why would we do that she said well he said you're going to be a team and you're going to travel together I thought wow the man who brought the message it changed my life and now I'm gonna be a team with him we're gonna travel together for the rest of our lives that was a defining moment now you remember brother Copeland said this morning that you had an opportunity before going no are you to go to Hilton Sutton's church and and work in that church and he would mentor you the same thing happened to me I got an invitation to preach in Oklahoma City and I drove up there to do this youth meeting and I started out with about 12 young people and in within three or four days we 185 people to the 185 young people to the Lord in the streets Oklahoma City and we had such a revival among the young people there people were calling it the Jesus Movement and so the pastor of that church he begged me to stay in Oklahoma City moved Oklahoma City and become the youth minister and boy it was tempting because I didn't have any guarantee of the paycheck you know and yet I knew that that word from brother Copeland he said it'll be your responsibility to believe God for the perfect timing for the team to begin and before I left Oklahoma City I said to the pastor I'm going home and pray because I can't give you an answer right now and I didn't know how to get in contact with brother Copeland you know ask him is this going to happen soon no he said it'd be my responsibility to believe God for the perfect timing boys far as I'm concerned perfect timing was now you know and so I came home and the moment I walked in the door Carolyn said Kenneth Copeland called and wants you to meet him in Jacksonville Beach Florida I jumped in the car I kept my with Carolyn and my two daughters my mother-in-law wanted to go and we drove all the way to Jacksonville Beach Florida that was the first time we actually were in a meeting where we were working together and I was out witnessing on the beaches and he's preaching in the meetings and everyone on my one on the beach I'd bring him into the meeting so they hear the word and that week I won over 150 people to Christ on the beach one on one evangelism bringing them into those because some of those some of those guys are pastoring churches in in Florida today amen I preached for them that was a defining moment he asked me when he moved into Fort Worth I said as soon as I get back home we'll be there we drove back home loaded up everything and moved to Fort Worth these are defining moments I wouldn't take anything for those moments amen now there's so many so many defining moments I don't want to get into a lot of them but trust me and I know you you've had defining moments as well where something happened and it changed the direction of your life amen I believe you had a defining moment when you hooked up with me at overcoming faith Center back there years ago remember those days I remember when you first came praise God amen and this today what we're going through right now what the world is going through I heard the Lord say this is another defining moment how you act and how you talk from this moment forward is going to determine your future and your destiny this is not the time to back off from the word of faith let me see if I get a little better response on this side daughter this is not the time to back off amen you know this is all I know this all I know I've never been religious I've never been to the seminary I don't know any other denominational creeds and doctrines this is all I know word of faith he started it in me and for 51 years I've been living it and it's still working and my mama didn't raise no fool I'm not going to change now when I found something that has worked for 51 years and it will continue to work and it's working right now right in the middle of all the turmoil that is going on in our world today my ministry has not suffered in the least during this entire time in fact my incomes up new partners joining all the time hallelujah amen I hadn't had to layoff one staff member not here in America not in any of my offices around the world hadn't had to cut anybody's salary back in fact I've given him time off sometimes they'd only come to the office three or four hours a day and still got paid just like they were putting in eight hours God has taken care of us and the reason why is because I have never left my roots in the Word of Faith I'm still preaching what I preached 51 years ago the only difference is I got more experiences and I have greater insight but I'm not changing hallelujah you've heard me say it before we got a saying in Texas you dance were the one that rung him and I've been dancing with a word of faith but 51 years and I'm not changing partners now come on somebody give the Lord a good shout of praise now I want you to listen to this go with me to the Book of Luke for a moment and and as you're turning there let me give you one more definition of a defining moment and this one I believe is the most appropriate for where we are right now it's a point at which the character of a person is truly revealed or identified it's a point in which the character of a person is truly revealed and identified in other words it's like the old saying what we're going through right now is separating the men from the boys come if you know that phrase amen you either believe it or you don't either going to stick with it or you won't coronavirus doesn't change a thing [Applause] the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God shall stand forever somebody give the Lord a good shout for that Amen the word of our God shall stand forever last time I checked in Philippians chapter 4 verse 19 still said that same thing my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus and you won't find at the end of that unless you're going through coronavirus now this is where you find out what you're made of can you say Amen hallelujah alright now let's go to the Book of Luke for a moment Luke chapter 22 and I want you to see a defining moment in Peters life Luke chapter 22 verse 31 and the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan has desired to sift you as wheat but I prayed for you that thy faith fell not now the first time I read that way back there I still live in his report first time I read that I thought it was a misprint in my Bible because Kenneth Copeland told me that faith didn't fail faith worked and there I just read Jesus said I'm praying that your faith fail not I was shocked it really shook me up that day when I read that I thought is Jesus actually saying that faith can fail the Bible says in first John 5 which became my my ministry theme scripture verse 4 and this is the victory that overcometh the world in our faith and now Jesus saying I'm praying that your faith fail not and I kept praying about that and finally I was able to get some other translations and boy with us one translation I found straightened it all out for me what the literal Greek implies is not that faith will fail he's saying I'm praying that your faith will not be reduced to inactivity that's a difference amen I'm praying that your faith will not be reduced to inactivity amen and notice if you keep reading the story I'm praying that your faith will not be reduced to inactivity verse 33 and then and he said unto Him Lord it's Peter talking I'm ready to go with thee both in the prison and to death now I'm sure that impressed the other disciples don't you know James and John the sons of thunder said Wow woo if I could ever get like Peter he's willing to die with him he's risen willing to go to prison with him oh man I would like to be like Peter it sounded good it's a lot of people talk a good talk I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death jesus said I tell thee Peter the shall crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me don't you know that was a shock to everybody jesus said Peter you're going to deny me three times and he said in verse 35 when I sent you without purse and scrimped and so forth and he's talking about how he took care of them but notice this is a defining moment in Peters life how he reacts how he responds affects his destiny and you know what happened if you keep reading the Book of Luke if you go over to chapter 31 I'm sorry chapter 24 you know Peter denied him remember the little maiden that came up there and said don't you know him aren't you one of his disciples and he denied him three times and so forth it came to pass what Jesus said and the Bible says that immediately in verse 62 of chapter 22 and Peter went out and wept bitterly because he had denied Christ but then after jesus is risen from the dead in chapter 24 and verse 12 it says then arose Peter and ran unto the sepulchre he got his act together I heard richardroberts preach a sermon one time and he called it God is the god of a second chance amen he's the god of a second chance amen and so Peters having a second chance here and then of course you know what happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 who was the one who stood up boldly and preached and one three thousand people to Christ oh one sermon hallelujah Peter amen the day of Pentecost actually when he ran to that separate ER Sepulcher to see that Jesus had been raised from the dead that was a defining moment in Peters life changed his whole life the Apostle Paul had a defining moment on the road to Damascus you remember the story on the road to Damascus a defining moment where Jesus appeared to him and it changed his life he had another defining moment he had many just like all of us have but another one that is certainly recorded in the Bible is in the book of and he's letter to the Corinthian church and he said the messenger of Satan a thorn in the flesh sent to buffett me he said I asked the Lord thrice to get it off of me and the Lord said my grace is sufficient in other words I've given you the authority you get it off you take care of this and then Paul made this statement a defining moment I will rather glory in tribulation but when I'm weak then am i strong hallelujah and then later he riot he says this and it's recorded in the book of Acts Acts chapter 20 verse 24 one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible and I've learned it way back there and I and I made it my personal confession I say it all the time Paul said in the midst of all kinds of adversity trials and hardships and and beatings and stonings and everything else he makes this statement but none of these things move me that was a defining moment I never forget listening to brother Copeland there at life tabernacle and one night he said I'm not moved by what I see I'm not moved by what I hear I'm not moved by what I feel I'm only moved by what I believe and I believe the word of God I leaned over to Karen said boy I'm moved by all those things he just said he wouldn't move by I was moved by what I saw I've moved by what I felt but I said to her one day I'm gonna be like that where nothing moves me but the Word of God I have arrived hallelujah I've been that way for a long time I'm not moved none of these things moved me how to do and boy I've been through some battles I've been through some challenges just like we all have but praise God God has always sustained me God has always met me on the other side of every trial and and gave me great victories praise God amen you'll never hear what I'm going through you'll only hear me talk about it after I've overcome how they do you amen because I don't talk about what I'm going through I talk about the victory when it's all over with praise God amen so notice these are defining moments now the Apostle Paul made this statement in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 2 writing to the believers there he said you are written epistles known and read of all men you and I are written epistles known and read by all men somebody's watching you right now yes watching what you say and what and how you act but they're more interested and how you respond and how you act then even in what you say because you can say one thing and respond a different way but people are watching you I remember shortly after I came to the Lord I was still in the National Guard I wanted to serve my country but Carolyn was pregnant with our first child I knew I couldn't go off to Vietnam the Vietnam War is going on back then and I joined the National Guard and we got called up for active duty and after I'd gone through basic AIT we were told we're going to Nam I'm sitting I'm sitting in the barracks in Fort Dix New Jersey and our company commander said you're going to Nam and just like a lot of the National Guard units have gone to Afghanistan you know in our day we're sitting in the barracks waiting to go to McGuire Air Force space and flattered Vietnam and Carolyn has just had our first child I hadn't even seen my first child yet and now they're getting ready to send us to Vietnam so we're sitting there and Carolyn's back home praying and we sit there all day you know in the Army it's hurry up and wait and so we're sitting there in the barracks all day told us not to leave the barracks and finally our company commander came in and and there was units from all over Louisiana and there were some units from Arkansas and from Mississippi we're all there together we're all going to be shipped out to Vietnam the company commander came in and said this unit although all of you guys are going to Nam but this one unit is going to stay back home stateside because the civil rights movement was going on then and said and this one unit the governor of the state of Louisiana has asked for you to come back home and you're going to be trained with the State Police for riot control and it was my unit and we went back home while all the other guys I went through AIT with a basic training with they went to Nam and so I came home so I'm still in the guard there's a 6-year commitment okay so I'm still in the guard and there was a guy I went to high school with we graduated together I hadn't seen him since we got out of high school and he had become one of the if the Apostle Paul was the chiefest center of them all Danny was number two this guy was wild he was a heathen he was perverted I mean he came in there every time we had a drill with some of the wildest craziest stories you ever heard and they just they just he was like a magnet and then the guys would just gather up around him to listen to his perverted stories and his wild weekend's he had and I'd be sitting over in my bunk when we get off duty and brother Copeland had sent me a set of e w kenyan books and I took them with me and I'm sitting there reading those books and Danny would come over to my bunk and start telling all these stories to see if it would tempt me to go out and drink with him and run around with him and all that they were gonna do over the weekend and I just wouldn't pay any attention to him not just you know say I'll be praying for you guys and that didn't sit well with him you know and so they finally left me alone well Danny and I served in the guard for at least another couple of years and he never got any better he'd got worse and one night we're at Life tabernacle and Pastor Nolan Logan asked us to all come up they had kneeling in the church back there you know and and he'd asked everybody to come up and kneel at the altar is what they call it and pray before we dismiss so Karen and I are knelt down there praying minding her own business and somebody come up and tapped me on the back of the shoulder I turned around and it was Danny I shocked I said what are you doing here he said I can't get you out of my face I can't get you out of my dreams I can't get you out of my mind I've been trying my best to get you to backslide and you wouldn't do it I've been watching you like a hawk and you wouldn't compromise you wouldn't quit he said I want what you got and Danny got born again that night he got filled with the Holy Ghost and Danny and I became Barnabas and Saul and we won over two thousand men in our units to the Lord Jesus we were we were we were a revival team praise God they knew how how perverted Danny had been but now they saw in you Danny praise God now I didn't know it but my life was an epistle that Danny was reading every day your life is being read right now what are they seeing on the pages of your life are they seeing at one time chapter 26 last year when there was no coronavirus oh he was strong in the Lord and in the power of his might but now chapter 36 in the middle of the coronavirus what are they reading now what are they seeing in you now folks were in another defining moment and how you act and how you respond from this moment and particularly to the rest of this year is going to set the course for the rest of your life you're either gonna wind up turning back are you gonna go forward like you've never gone forward before I choose to go forward how about you hold up yonder say I choose to go forward and give the Lord a good shout praise God now now listen to this you're all aware of this but most of the time when the disciples were facing difficult situations they would hear Jesus say one of these phrases he'd ask him this question in every most difficult situation they face number one where's your faith number two how is it you have no faith number three oh ye of little faith number four be not faithless but occasionally he said great is thy faith which one is he saying to you right now where's your faith o ye of little faith how does it you have no faith stop being faithless or is he nudging the father and son whew I'm marveling at that guy's face look look at him they don't compromise they don't quit they don't change they don't fold up they still preaching the same thing they were preaching before all this happened whoa that's great faith I want God's marveling at my faith how about you well the Bible says he also marveled it unbelief I don't want him marveling at unbelief I want him marveling at faith this is another defining moment for each and every one of us now go with me to James chapter 1 I'm about finished here James chapter 1 and let's look at verses two and three you're all familiar with it my brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience the amplified says when you're enveloped in or you encounter trows count it all joy how many of you been counting it all joy ever since March one of the greatest greatest messages I ever preached that's going around the world I printed it in a book back in 1981 it's been printed and I don't know how many languages it's still my best-selling book after all these years and I've written over 80 books if Satan can't steal your joy he can't keep your goods hallelujah count it all joy that's where I learned this counted all joy when when you are experiencing tests and trials that's unheard of in most Christians they only counted joy or they only have joy when everything's going well and everything's going good got money in the bank everybody serving the Lord in their family got food on the table but what do you do say a defining moment reveals your true character what do you do when the tests and the trials come now the message translation I really love this translation of this verse you know that under pressure your faith life is forced out into the open shows its true colors that's an awesome way to say it you know that under pressure your faith life is forced out into the open and shows its true colors that's what's happening right now people in the body of Christ the world is seeing our true colors are you still word of faith are you still a believer not a doubter he still believed in prosperity even in bad economy well that's when you need to believe for prosperity amen amen now when I got ready to there's much more I could share with you but I believe I would just stop it at this level when I got ready to fly to Texas County the other day to do that ministers conference with brother Tracy got in my airplane and a couple of my staff members were with me I'm sitting in the back and in my my seat and I just got through like brother Copeland does every time he gets in there's airplay I just put my hand on the ceiling and thank God for that airplane praise God this is my ninth debt free airplane hallelujah and I praise God for that airplane and I prayed over the pilots and I prayed over our trip prayed over my partners and the moment I put my hand out after I said amen put my hand at the word of the Lord came to me and man I I got my notebook out and started writing and here's what I heard the Lord say how you respond and react to what you're experiencing right now is going to have either a negative effect or a positive effect on your life and ministry you'll either fall back or you'll go forward you'll either suffer lack or you'll have your greatest financial breakthroughs my plan is for you to experience Supernatural increase and have one of your finest years thus far but it all depends on what you do from this moment on let this be your finest hour let it be a time when all will see and all will know that your God is the faithful God come on lift your hands and give the Lord a shout praise God amen and then then just just after we we rotated and got airborne the word the Lord came to me again I got my notebook out and wrote this down he said a few minutes later and don't be surprised when unusual funds come from some unexpected sources understand this there's notice closely understand this there is no lack of money only a lack of obedience in the body of Christ but that is changing I'm moving up on numerous people right now and they will follow through with what I'm instructing them to do so stay in faith refuse to waver I assure you I will not allow you to fail come on give the Lord a good shout of praise amen hallelujah under pressure your faith life is forced out into the open and shows its true colors that's what's happening right now amen don't ever say God brought this on he's tempting me no God temps no man well how is God going to know how react if he doesn't test me anybody that knows every thought and intent of your heart already knows what you're going to do you don't have to test you to find out anybody that knows every hair and it's numbered them on your head knows what you're going to do and if you've lost a few he remembers the original count amen he didn't have to test me to see what I'm gonna do he knows my heart well the Bible says God tempted Abraham that's not a good that's not a good translation of it God proved Abraham yes God proved joven here God already said about joke this man I know him he's evil he won't compromise he won't quit he proved him he held job up like a trophy is that Satan fire your best shot I know how this is going to end and job held fast nay he had some opportunities you know when you got a wife like job had you don't even need a devil once you just curse God and die how'd you like to live with that for 24 hours amen but God blessed job and restored everything he he lost hallelujah we're in a defining moment folks we're in a defining moment what we do from this moment particularly throughout the end of this year is going to determine what kind of here we're gonna have next year now I'm gonna closely with this in September of 2019 I'm flying with brother Copeland to Australia in his plane and we flew from Fort Worth to Honolulu and they're going to refuel in Honolulu and we were only on the ground what about an hour and a half or so and then we flew on to the Gold Coast of all straight that's a long journey brother Copeland I'm we've talking and having a good time with each other and reminiscing and preaching to one another and so forth and he said I'm gonna I'm gonna go back and take a nap for a little while he said they've got a place for you back there if you'd like to take a nap I said go ahead brother Copeland I'm I'm just gonna sit here and I was reading something before I got on the plane and I thought I just finished reading it and I said if I get sleepy I'm just gonna lean back in the seat and and take a rest here he said well I'll be back after a while so he went to the back of the plane and laid down took it out so I was reading something and I continued reading it and then I put it down and I just closed my eyes and leaned the seat back close my eyes and it was almost the split second that I close my eyes I heard and I know the voice of the Lord I heard him say in 2020 now I didn't have 20/20 on my brain didn't have a thought about 20/20 in 2020 I'm gonna open a new door and cause supernatural increase to come to my faithful ones as never before amen man I jumped up and I wrote that down in my notebook and as soon as we got to Australia we we didn't start the meeting till the following day so I had all the next day that night all the next day just praying over that and and and writing notes about it he's listening to the Lord about it now he said that in September of 2019 did he not know that by March of 2020 the bottom was going to fall out of the economy the stock market was on the verge of crashing does it look like supernatural increase to you I know the word of the Lord and I would not voice it if I didn't know I heard God I came back preaching it to my church first and then I started preaching it everywhere I went up until March the 15 my last service was in Denver Colorado on March the 15 the last time I preached out outside of my own city here then the natural when all this came down it didn't look like supernatural increase would come this year but if you study your Bible it seems like every time God's people face their worst of times major breakthroughs follow them amen major breakthroughs are right on the heel of them how to do here not only that I've had I've had some of the greatest financial breakthroughs I've had in a long long time during these last few months hi can I tell you one check it yes I'm gonna tell you anyway I bought a piece of property 25 years ago for about a hundred and forty thousand dollars if I remember correctly it was under two hundred thousand dollars just held onto it I just signed the contract for that piece of property during the coronavirus during the pandemic during the the the bad economy during the the crash I just signed the contract to sell that property for 2.5 million dollars that's supernatural entry that's a door opened as supernatural increase welcome me in how they do you don't give up on God don't give up on his word don't leave the word of faith don't let go of your confidence in God stay where you have been taught amen the worst thing you could do is walk away from all this town just because there's adversity like you've never had before no this is when you need the word of faith more than you ever needed in your life amen this is another defining moment and if you receive what I've said please stand to your feet and give the Lord a good shout of praise hallelujah come on give the Lord a great shout of praise hallelujah amen brother Copeland would you join me up here in a I would like for all of you that are in full-time ministry to please just line up at the front you and your spouse now this certainly applies to everybody but I I got this message when I was going to preach the preachers because preachers one of our greatest assets is influence and if you if you lose your influence on people by them seeing you compromise then you might as well leave the ministry if you don't have any influence so I want us to pray I want you to pray over all these ministers that during this defining moment mm-hmm you're going to stay strong in fact stronger than ever you're not going to compromise God is gonna see you through and you're not gonna lose your influence mmm-hmm it's gonna increase how they do you would you pray that sir lift up your hands right now thank you Father [Music] get a mic okay ela take home like a father press coarsening grow a lapel tingle disc ball metal a lark lately this dogs latest connect hmm thank you for bankrolls still clogged god bless to grass dicks dicks locked on the steadiness the strength the star witness of the faithful servant comes through steadiness and understanding that my word never changes it's the very same glorious word that it ever whoa we're dead right infernally baked rooster mama I'll close velocities issue clever and cannot let growth in Stoke rust tear apply flux cable clever canister to live for La Paz coca-cola for a big issue this is the time even as I gave a sign this night that I moved you to this place where there was rain and there was lightning and there was thunder to mark a season that I declared in my word that is marking the ministers who stand here at this time where I will cause heavily rains fruitful seasons filling your mouths and your lives with joy and with gladness for this night marks the defining moment of a shift that shall begin to take place that you will notice noticeable signs wonders miracles increase that shall be for and you will say Lord something has changed it is because of what you have stepped into this night I have shifted it and you have stepped in and now it is a new season upon a cable TV a caretta saga LaRhonda on a new who oppose any father madam and Ramesh the local audit acknowledge the Lord Jesus mob random or Philebus tisca level or the plural be plural be plural be plural be plural be plural the plural dynkin additional risk level fanatical Asaka like gentle falling rain like fluttering leaves drifting to the earth it will seem as though financial rain has come and it seems as though it just floated into your place only however for the steady ones only for those that have said no no all is well in the household of faith I don't know where it's coming from but I know who it's coming from and his name is my man Jesus my man Jesus has been here my man Jesus knows what this is all about my man Jesus preached in a desert where there was nothing and he took the little loaves in the little fishes and if an thousands and thousands and thousands and these are not days of famine law always from being days of vanity these are the days of victory [Applause] glory to God these are the days of the outpouring it's finally here it's finally here father I pray hallelujah I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus name and I praise you for these your servants your hand maidens your stalwart soldiers in the army of the Lord and steady they will remain strong stronger when everyone else sir is becoming weaker more joyful when everyone else is sad and crying now praise you and I thank you for it Holly we honor you sooner and the glory that's in our midst right now the glory in the presence of your spirit right now spread from here and move from this very spot thank you right on out throughout the nation this contagious moment of faith that's going out online all over this country and all over this world and just [Music] oh you think Ovid 19 is contagious you weight of this gets ahold of John [Laughter] [Applause] carrier I'm a carrier glory the god of Holy Ghost inspected [Applause] and contagious [Applause] praise God hallelujah glory this happens in tents all the time yeah it does glory be to God anointing is here he's God praise God hallelujah hallelujah mama what a time to be serving the world what a time to be serving the Lord kolakozhi temporal disscourn and Allah Carabas openin nd aka horridest atella become from Osaka tasty some of you are wondering how in the world could God bring supernatural increase to me in the midst of all of this he's God he's God you don't get to be called God if you can't do things like this he's God and you just remember the story when God's people were totally surrounded by enemy forces supply lines had been cut off not even the rich had anything to eat the enemy is either going to come in and slaughter them I just let them starve to death but either way in the natural it's all over yeah they have no hope but some lepers on the outside of the village why should we here why sit we here to till we die amen why is that we here till we die and they got up and started toward the enemy's camp God turned their footsteps into the sound of a major army coming and it frightened the enemy to the point that they just ran off and left everything now the prophet of God had said to the village run before this this time tomorrow yes this time tomorrow well then one old boy that you know probably preacher he said this could never happen and the Prophet said oh it's gonna happen and you will see it but you won't protect others run those lepers went in there and found that everything had been left the supplies the food gold silver everything and they wouldn't told the people in the village and in less than 24 hours supernatural increase it got so even in the midst of all of this where it looks like that couldn't possibly happen this time tomorrow you can go to bed tonight wondering where in the world is going to come from and in the morning shouting over it's here holiday [Applause] yeah and think about this you know we're we're we're just linear we think this way God thinks this way that was the same God and to him that was only two days ago or three or four maybe just to three or four days ago a day is a thousand years and a thousand years as a day to him because in him there is no time faith is always right now amen that's the reason Jerry that's the reason for the Hank that's the reason that us faith folks never have to change our lifestyle because of the times we live the same way all the time that's right all the time we don't change because our God never changes faith never changes Amen he asked me one time he said who's the biggest loser of all I said the devil he said oh no he said it was me he said I this place for Adam and he gave it away he committed high treason hmm he said I lost my Adam I lost my earth the devil a being that I created but he said it was perfect in his ways when I create him and he invented Nick iniquity he invented the lie and he said I lost my most beautiful Archangel and he said he came down through the centuries and it finally costs me my son he's you know what the difference was I said by this time I'm kind of rolled up in a ball here he said I never let it I never let the loss get inside me he said I kept I kept my victory I kept my victory I kept my joy I never let it change I saw the end and I until I got it and he said it cost me the most horrible three days in nights I had ever spent and I said Oh glory to God and he said I got you didn't that right I suggest you do it he said I got you and I got your family I said yes you did yes you did he said because of what I lost many many sons and daughters came into glory I thought about the storm kind of blowing around the tent out there Amarillo Texas in the early days of brother roberts10 ministry those tents were huge huge thing those tents got up so large that the finally you could finally get 15 20 thousand people under and around those things this one at that time wasn't that big but it had about 7,000 under it that night and emerald those tent poles weighed a thousand pounds of piece and a tornado came through there and tore that tent to shreds with 7,000 people of it he said the Lightning was so constant that I could see those poles moving around in there because it just lit up those tip poles began to move around by the hand of God 7,000 people if I remember in that number right it was thousands anyway didn't hit anybody [Applause] the next morning he walked out there Jerry he said that place was shambles he said it was absolutely torn all the pieces yeah I just ripped apart and that's when the Lord spoke to his heart now all Roberts more than once it heard the audible voice of God Kenneth Hagin heard the audible voice of God I heard what I believed was the audible voice of God but but he wasn't speaking to me that's the night I flew over this property and I heard coming to you from the Revival capital of the world and Tracy eyelid down my audio panel to see if I'd let the loaf left the low frequency switch off I never do that I never listened to broadcast stations or when I fly you don't either that's all business now I'll look down there because I heard it and that's when the Lord said Oral Roberts you can't go under for going over Jever hear him say it you can't go under for going over I'm going over I'm going over to the other side I'm going over come going up not down I'm going / praise God I'm going to the law other side of the ocean I'm going to the other side of the direction I'm going wherever God's telling me to go I can't go under for going over I'm not hey I cannot be defeated and I will not quit there's just something about some hard head that won't quit yeah well I was a quitter all my life until God got a hold of me and I got old a God I don't never quit somebody's going to quit for I do and it's not gonna be God guess who it will be the devil that backs off and quits and he lives his life under my feet and I take great joy in this life and if he can't steal you joy he cannot steal you goods I remember the day man yeah I have a question did you get anything out of this [Applause] you

Channel: Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Views: 81,232

Rating: 4.7102361 out of 5

Keywords: 2020 faith for freedom revival, character, course, defining, direction, epistle, faith, fork, future, jerry savelle, marvel, moment, outpouring, victory

Id: FQXIZafmqhg

Length: 105min 54sec (6354 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020