Kenneth Copeland - Living at the End of Time

Living at the End of TimeA Time of Supernatural Increase

Contents

1 Time Has Culminated in Jesus
2 Sowing and Reaping an End-Time Harvest
3 Signs and Wonders ... Without the Wonder
Prayer for Salvation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit
About the Author

Chapter 1

Time Has Culminated in Jesus

All my adult life my mama used to tell me,

"Kenneth, Jesus is coming this year."

I would say, "Is that right, Mama?"

"Yeah," she'd say, "He's coming this year. And you had better get yourself straightened out!"

Well, the year would go by, and no Jesus. But each new year, here she'd go again...

"Kenneth, Jesus is coming this year. You'd better straighten up!"

"Yes, Mama, I know...."

Occasionally, when she started in on me I would say, "Mama, you said Jesus was coming last year.

What happened?"

She'd say, "I know I didHe's coming this year!"

I'm telling you nothing could change her, nothing could influence her. I would even get real spiritual on her and say, "Mama, you're not supposed to set dates on Jesus' return."

"The year don't count," she'd say.

So 'round and 'round we'd go every year. From the time I was a teenager in school, I was so tired of hearing my mama tell me, "Kenneth, Jesus is coming this year!"

Well, she did that until the day she went home to be with the Lord in 1988. Then, as far as she was concerned, it happenedJesus came. He came, and off they went together to heaven. The only difference was, she left her body here instead of taking it with her.

Now, I tell you all of that to say this: JESUS IS COMING!

I don't know if it's this year. I don't know if it's next year. I don't know if it's next week. But I do know He's coming and it's a whole lot sooner than most of us think.

"Well, Brother Copeland, how can you be so sure?"

Read the Word. Then just take a good look around you.

It doesn't matter where on this planet you livethere is more Glory, more outpouring, more preaching, more Word, more believers, and even more hell on this earth than there has ever been before. It's nothing like mankind has ever seen.

Time as we have known it is over. These are different times we're living in now. And what I'm about to tell you is almost unthinkable, not from a bad standpoint, but from a good one.

You and I have entered into a space of time, a little, narrow band of time, which, in the scheme of all mankind, is the biggest and perhaps the most important block of time since the creation of Adam.

We have stepped overin the spirit realm and the natural realminto exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

How do I know?

Let me answer that by taking you back to where all this began.

Overtaking the Sower

To better understand this narrow band of time in which we now live, let's look at John 6:5-13: When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

Now if there was ever a picture of exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, this is it.

Thousands of people eating bread and fish until they were full, and 12 baskets filled with the leftovers.

People today, like people back then, would say, "My, my, what a wonderful miracle of God!"

And they're right, it was a miracle of God. But this was more than a miracle. On that day, culminated in Jesus. It was compressed, or tightly compacted, within a short space. The growing time for the seed the little boy planted in Jesus' ministry was instant.

Let me show you what I mean. Go back again and examine what happened on that grassy mountain near the Sea of Galilee. But instead of reading about it in John 6, look at the same event recorded in Matthew 14:19-21:

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Now, notice what happened: The disciples told Jesus, "There's a boy here with some bread and a couple fish." Jesus asked for the food, and they got it for Him. He took it, looked toward heaven, gave thanks for it, blessed it, broke it and distributed it among His disciples. They, in turn, took the food and distributed it among the people...and they distributed it...and distributed itto approximately 20,000 people. Then, they went back and picked up all the leftovers. Twelve baskets full!

What I want you to see is that this whole process of Jesus taking the loaves and fish into His hands, blessing them, breaking them and distributing them, is the whole sowing and reaping process condensed into a matter of moments.

That lad sowed his five barley loaves and two small fish into the ministry of Jesus. Jesus received the boy's seedplanting it in fertile soil. He watered it, then immediately there was a harvest. Not only was there enough to feed everyone until they were full, there was also plenty left over for the storehouse.

Whose storehouse? That little boy's storehouse! He was the one who planted, wasn't he?

So what happened? What are we seeing take place before our very eyes?

The reaper caught up with the sower.

"What?! How can that be, Brother Copeland?"

Simple. Look at Amos 9:13: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt."

The Word prophesies that there is a time coming when seedtime and harvest time will run together.

That young fellow sowed his bread and fish into Jesus' ministry that morning, and went home later that afternoon with 12 baskets fullall because time culminated in Jesus. And that, my brother and sister, is the kind of time we're living in today.

Christmas in September?

You and I are now living and operating on a whole new time frame. When we made Jesus the Lord of our lives, we got over into His time schedule and He got into ours. But what I really want you to grasp is that Jesus' time frame and the world's time frame do not function the same. Oh, we're in the same space as the rest of the world, but we're not functioning on the same scheduleand I'm talking literally.

What do I mean?

Well, among other sources, the study notes in the Bulinger Bible explain how the current gentile- ized calendar you and I use is inaccurate and way off-schedule. These sources explain how dates such as Jesus' birthday are incorrect, and have been for centuries.

Now this may come as a shock to you, but Jesus was not born on December 25. In fact, He wasn't even born in December, Jesus' birthday is actually sometime at the end of September.