Prosperity is for you

www.cremministry.org

Transcript

Jesus In The Boat

SPEAKER_00 0:57

And this special day is the 17th of May, the year 2026, and we bless the Lord for his faithfulness. Indeed, as the song has been saying, that when Jesus is with us, we are sure of being able to reach the other side. When the Lord spoke to them and told them, let's get into the boat and go to the other side. And then there came the foul and wind, and the boat was almost sinking, and Jesus was sleeping there. Then they woke him up, says, Master, you're not concerned that we are sinking. And he stood up and rebuked the wind. And the wind calmed down. And they were able to go to the other side. They were able to go to the other side and continue their ministry because Jesus was together with them. And so this morning, our desire is that the Lord Jesus will be with us as we journey together in life, as in our families, in our workplaces, in our careers, even in our businesses, in our church today, as we go to worship the Lord, may His presence be with us. Because when He is with us, it does not matter how many people are with you. If the Lord is not there, you are fighting and losing battle. So the first person we need in is Jesus. And then we know once he's inside, we can then take more passengers because we know we are assured of victory. So welcome, brethren, this morning. Bless the Lord. And we open our hearts, allow him to minister to us even as we prepare to go to our respective hours of worship.

Breaking The Poverty Mindset

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Now, last week we talked about overcoming the poverty mentality, poverty mindset. And today I want to just conclude from where we stopped. So last week, if you remember, we said that it's important that we overcome the poverty mindset. We cannot live extraordinary lives if we don't overcome the poverty mentality. And the last point last time we were talking about, we say don't think stingy, but be generous. And we had read Proverbs 28, 22, say the stingy are eager to get rich and unaware that poverty awaits them. And we saw, brethren, that we need to have, you're going to overcome the poverty mentality. You need to think, uh, you need to be generous. Don't be stingy, don't withhold things, don't be a person that is stingy with things. Where you're so you are so attached to what God has given you that actually uh you're of no use to anyone. We said, if you want to overcome the profit mindset, walk around with a generous mindset. Be generous with everything that you have, anything that God has given unto you, whether it's time, uh be generous with your time. There are people around us that are hurting um and and they need they need they need our help. How will we help them if we cannot even listen to them? You know, if you don't listen to them and and and be generous with your time and just sit down and listen to know and understand what's going on in their lives. Um, you know, one way of doing that is being in the mission field. We are preparing ourselves for yet another mission coming up on the 29th, 30th, and 31st. And we, you know, people abandon their things and we go out there and we spend time with students. That's being generous with your time. Um, you know, you leave your things, you leave your businesses, you are workplaces, you leave the comfort, and you go and spend an entire weekend uh with um, you know, these children, or you go and spend an entire weekend on a mission where you leave your things and you're out there, not for yourself, but for other people. That's being generous because generosity is not just about money. Many times we think it's just about money, but there are a lot and many other things that you can be generous with. You can be generous with your time, you can be generous with your gifting. There are people that are so gifted, but they are so stingy with your gift that is of no use to anyone. Um, they are there, they are good when they come around and you know, they are flowing in the gift, we love it. But as soon as we finish and they disappear, we never see them again. Um, we never see them again. They just come once in a while to show us uh how gifted they are. You find that, you know, gifted person, but that gift is of no use to the kingdom of God because the person that's been given that gift is not generous with it. So we need to be generous with our giftings. Like praying by the grace of God that uh this is something that we really need as a church. Um, there are people that dispense their gifts sparingly. You know, they show up um once in a while. Uh, when there's a big preacher in town, that's when they want to lead praise and worship. When we are, you know, doing the conference and it's the highlight of the year. Uh, you know, and now that's when now you want to be available to play for us or lead the worship or to do something because it's a great event. But when we are in the trenches um and going for missions, you are nowhere to be seen. You're not available, you're being stingy uh with your your gift. And the Bible says, let us be generous. Whatever God has given to us, let us be generous. Let's make ourselves available so that we can be used of God. So you can be stingy also with your gifting. Um, you can be stingy with your life, you cannot help anybody, you cannot even cancel anybody, you cannot give anybody an idea. You you could you can see somebody going wrong or think somebody struggling with something, and and you know you can help that person, but you don't even attempt it. Why? You are being stingy with the information that you have, you're being stingy with the knowledge that God has given unto you. So you can also be stingy with knowledge. Um, that you know, God is telling us, let us live from a position of generosity. And then, of course, uh, we need to be generous uh with our finances and all that. Um, so there are many things that we can be uh stingy with, and there are many things we can be generous with. And so I pray that the Spirit of God will help us to be a ministry, a team that is generous. Uh, whenever people encounter us, they can say that, wow, this was a team that was generous. Um, you know, where the you you can give where you give people undivided attention. And that's why part of us as a ministry, when we go for a mission, we don't we like to be there 100%. We don't like doing two things at the same time. We want to be there where the mission is, and we'll be there for the period and the time that we have come there. We want to dedicate our time and resources for to be there in everything. Uh physically present, our minds are there, we finish, and then we can come back. Uh, so we can be generous uh with our time. So the Lord wants us to be generous, and you know, the the the the the word of the generous continues increasing day by day. If you decide to live from a position of generosity, your ward continues to increase every single day. When you become stingy, your world shrinks. And you can call it, you can say, people, why is my life not progressing? Have I been bewitched? No, you are not being bewitched, you are the one who has bewitched yourself by being stingy. Um, and the the word of the generals will continue to explore, to increase. And I pray by the grace of God that us as a ministry will continue, God you know, to be generous with the little that we have, and so that we can you know be used of God in every

Generosity Beyond Money

SPEAKER_00 8:55

way and possible in Jesus' name. And so this morning, I want to pick it up from there, and I just want to focus on why we should fight uh poverty, why we should fight poverty and embrace prosperity, why we should fight poverty and embrace prosperity. That's what I want to uh just uh speak about this morning as we get into our service and then we'll spend some time in prayer. Why should we fight poverty and embrace prosperity? What does the Bible say? So, first of all, I just want to define what is poverty. Poverty is lack of provision. Those of us here who have experienced poverty firsthand, if you reflect in your life when poverty was a challenge, it was actually lack of provision. Um, you do not have enough food. So it manifested in you not having food and going several days um, you know, without eating or um and not having sufficient um you know food in your home, um, or you do not have sufficient clothing. A lot of us, when we were growing up, we went through that. Um, you had only one uniform and you know, you circle it around, you know, one dress, one shirt, and uh you know, you just sort of circle it around. It's lack of provision, lack of provision. Um, some of you it manifested in challenges in school where you don't have enough school fees, and some of us here have had a lot of uh sort of scars on that because you could not um maybe you know do your schooling the way you should have done. So you had a lot of gaps because you had to keep going looking for school fees coming back, and those um it can be quite challenging and can affect you, it can affect your performance. So, you know, that is poverty will manifest itself in lack of provision for uh for school fees. Um, again, you could be having a health challenge, and you you don't have provision to be able to access medical facilities. So, poverty is basically lack of provision. When you lack when you when you lack provision, and that is what we define as poverty. And so, how can it be God's design if we have inadequate provision? If you look at scripture, you'll see that, and we'll look at a couple of those scriptures, but it cannot be God's design for us to have inadequate provision. If you look at it from the beginning, it was never God's design. That was not his idea for us to be in a place where we are lacking provision. Um, you know, the by the the the the from the word God in Genesis, the Lord talks about blessing. Um you know, as we are blessed, he blessed us. Uh, if you just so in in in that's my first point is that it's it, you know, God says it is his will, it is God's will for us to be blessed, for us to have prosperity, for us not to have luck. And if you read Genesis chapter 2, verses 10 to 12, Genesis 2, 10 to 12, it says, a river watering the garden flowed from Eden. And from there it was separated into four head waters. The name of the first is Pishon, it winds through the entire land of Avila, where there is gold. Um, the gold of that land is good, aromatic resin and ornyx are also there. So in Genesis chapter 2, verses 10 to 12, you can see that the garden of Eden, it talks about there being gold. That is just, you know, gold remains one of the most precious metals up to today. And nothing has ever overtaken gold. Um, everything is indexed to gold. We keep our reserves. Every country is moving actually now to keep their reserves in in using gold. So gold remains one of the most valuable, precious metals that exist on earth. And in the river, in the garden of Eden, the Bible says the entire um, you know, the Eden, um, the you know, that that was a place where actually gold was present. So from the beginning, you can see that prosperity and the best of the best was actually there. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 9. Bible says, then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors. So God delights, um, he delights in us being prosperous. He says the same way that he tells the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 39 that actually I'm going to make you most prosperous. I pray in the name of Jesus that this will be our portion, that God will make us prosperous, he will make you prosperous. That's his that is desire. He says he'll make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb. And again, I want you to see here, God will make you prosperous in the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb. So prosperity is tied to what you have in your hand. Prosperity is not some gift that will be put on the post office box to arrive in your doorstep. No, it is it blesses the work of our hands, and that means we must have something in our hearts for the Lord to bless. Um, we and that's our part. That's the partnership. So he says it'll make us most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb. He says that is now from our inside out. He says it will bless the fruit of our womb and make us most uh prosperous. So you can see from the word God, prosperity is God's will for our lives. And so when we find ourselves in a position of poverty or lack of provision, it cannot therefore be cause planned, it cannot be cause design. And I think it's important for us to agree on that. Um, because remember, we said it's all about the mind. What you believe is what carries the day.

What Poverty Really Means

SPEAKER_00 15:30

If you believe that God has called you into poverty, then you you then you'll manifest that in your life. So it's God's will for us to be prosperous. Remember, I'm talking about why we should fight off poverty and embrace prosperity, why we should fight off poverty and embrace prosperity. And we are saying that you know prosperity is God's will for our lives. And we see that very early in the beginning that the garden of Eden was flowing with gold. And he why he comes to the children of Israel and he tells them he wants to you know make them most prosperous, and he makes reference to delighting in that prosperity just as he delighted in your ancestors. That means it's not just the current generation of that is he wants to be to prosper. He said he's been delighted in that, even with the ancestors. So God delights in your prosperity, he wants you to be prosperous, he wants us to be prosperous, he wants this ministry to be prosperous, and we need to believe that uh it's God's plan uh for our lives. And then another reason why we should fight for poverty is when we are prosperous, we can support ourselves and we can support our families. We can support ourselves and we can support our families. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 11 to 12, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 11 to 12, the Bible says, and to make it your ambition, this Paul advising the Thessalonian church, he just make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. And he said, You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders, and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. This is Paul encouraging the Thessalonian church, and he's telling them one, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. It's you know, make it your purpose and make it, you know, just purpose to lead a quiet life. He's basically saying stay in peace. It's not um, you know, God's plan for you to be in fight and fighting everybody, fighting your neighbor, you're fighting your sisters, you're fighting your brothers, you're fighting everybody. He's saying, No, that's not God's plan for you. He's saying, make it your ambition. That means to the extent possible in your power, lead a quiet life. That means be at peace. That's the best way to describe it. Be at peace with people. Make that your ambition to live in peace with people, minding your own business. And then he brings that other aspect. He says, Work with your hands, work with your hands. This thing of working with our hands is very important, it's a is a critical component because when there's no work with our hands, the God's hands are tied. There's nothing he can do when it comes to uh you know blessing her. Say it's work with your own, um, you know, work with your own um with your own hands, and so that you your daily life may win the respect of outsiders. Now that's important because we it's very difficult, brothers and sisters, to reach others when they don't respect you. It does not matter what the one of the key ingredients of you being able to reach people is you having respect. If people don't respect you, it does not matter what you say, their minds are blocked. You find a blockage, um, you find um a complete blockage, um, you know, as when you speak, and therefore, whatever you are saying is you know, there's that they're shut down because they don't respect you. And I'm sure you've seen that in in the workplace, um, you know, in leadership, even in countries where you know somebody's talking, but nobody's listening, and he's saying all the right things, he's doing the right things, he's saying the right things, but people can't hear, and this is why they can't hear is because they don't respect him, and respect is born out of trust. So, once, for example, people know that you are a liar, that you don't mean what you say, that what you say and what you do, the two things don't write. Um, that you have no credibility. So it does not matter what you say, they will not respect you. And when they cannot respect you, you cannot influence them, and when you cannot influence them, you cannot reach them. So, this to me is a very, very critical thing for our lives. And Paul tells the salon, there's a lot in the church. You know, make sure that your daily life wins the respect of outsiders. Those that you talk about your daily life, your day, the way we do life, just the way we do life on a daily basis, which means the people that you interact with, the people you interact with, neighbors, anybody that God puts in your life, by the time you part company, um, um, by the time you part company, you you you need to be saying that you know, I I respect that person. You know, is is I respect that person, he's he's somebody I can I can I can trust. Once people can trust you, they respect you, then you can be able to influence them. So and trust is something that is earned over over time. So the Paul is encouraging the people, he's saying so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders. And then he comes and he says he finalizes that scripture by saying, so that you will not be dependent on anybody. So you cannot be dependent on anybody. He's saying, let us try our level best to make sure that we are not dependent on people. Because if you're also dependent on people, then again, it can cause this respect. And when you are when there's no respect.

Prosperity As God’s Will

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Can then you can't reach them. So Paul is challenging the church and he's saying, make it your ambition, um, you know, to make sure that you win the respect of outsiders. And he's saying, we we we that respect must be from our daily life, the way we conduct ourselves every day. You know, when you give an appointment that you tell someone, I'm coming, do you come? Do you honor that commitment? And if you cannot come for whatever reason, do you call, say, oh, I'm sorry, I cannot be able to make it. You know, or do you just are you just casual? Do you keep time? You know, do you are you with the way you need it? Um, you know, so that the the daily things, what we call daily lives, is what wins respect. And once people win respect, then you begin to influence them. And I think to me, that's one of the things that's hindering the gospel. One of the biggest things in terms of the gospel is because the Christians, we ourselves here, everyone of us, myself included, is sometimes we don't win the respect of outsiders. So when we then talk, they don't see, they don't listen. Because they see the character, our lives, and they compare with what we are saying, and it doesn't add up. And then they are put off. And that becomes a big interest. There are people today who don't go to church, not because of the devil, but because of what we have done to them. We have hurt them, we have, you know, been very nasty to them. We've, you know, and that hinders them from um, you know, from receiving Christ, because they say, Oh, you know, and the enemy is of course very clever. He he uses that to say, look what they what he did to you, and they say they are Christians. So there are a lot of hurt people out there who are no longer walking with the Lord, who are no longer serving God. And you ask them why, because they were hurt by people in the church, or they were hurt by the church itself, or they were hurt by Christians, and that has hindered the gospel. So Paul is saying, let our daily lives win respect, and then we will not be dependent on anybody. So here again, when we are prosperous, when we have uh we are we are cross when we are we have prosperous, we can be able to support ourselves, support our families, and not being dependent on other people. When we are not dependent on other people, we can be more effective, we can be able to reach more people, uh, and and and I think God gets all the glory. So we need to strive not to be dependent on others. It's there scripture, Paul really challenges us. And say, again, you say we it does not matter where you start, but it's a strife. You st you strive, that's why we invest in our children. We take them to school, we invest them, get them training. Why we are trying to make them independent so that tomorrow they don't depend on you and depend on on me. Because being independent is something that is so so uh important. So we need to strive as much as possible not to be dependent on others, to be able to lead our own lives. And you see, when you live like that, you're able to be careful how you live, how you manage your life, how you organize your life, how you you know you save, how you because you are thinking about tomorrow, and tomorrow something happens, and then I'm dependent on other people. So it's going to cost to force you to reorganize yourself, to think about how you save for the future, how you don't consume everything today, and then make sure you you you know you think about the future. It makes you invest, you know. For example, the few weeks here we've been we've been talking about the insurance programs for you know that we we try to encourage people to join. Why are we doing that? Because we are thinking about tomorrow. We don't want tomorrow something happens when you are dependent on others. We want to make sure that so it forces you to live in a particular way. So I'll invest in an insurance program because I want tomorrow if something happens, I don't want to be completely exposed and I'm now dependent on people. So when you when you when you when you when you make it your ambition not to be dependent on people, there are some things you begin to do. There are some things you stop doing, you stop consuming everything. You know, you earn 10,000 shillings and then you consume all of it. You know, in this, and you could you can always argue that I've got many needs. No, because remember, before you even started earning the 10,000, you didn't have anything. So you can always save. If you earn 10,000 shillings, assume that you didn't earn 10,000 shillings, you earned only 6,000 and then budget and live within 6,000 and save the 3,000. So it's a mindset where you keep it aside so that tomorrow you can be able to dip into it and take it and use it. But you see, if you don't live like you say, ah no, no, I it's not even enough, my needs exceed, and and you find yourself actually living, not saving, when you don't have savings, then you expose yourself. Tomorrow, when something happens, you have got nothing you can you can fall back to. And then you are dependent on, you end up being dependent on your parents, being dependent on your on your friends, or being dependent on something. So I think um on other people. So Paul is encouraging us, saying, let's try to be not be dependent on others. And I think it's good advice. And I I pray that the Lord will help us because I know in the church environment, if you are not careful, and I'm I must say this because a lot of people don't speak about it, um, it's very easy to lean in and start wanting to depend on the church. And and and the Bible is very clear. It was never intended that you begin to depend on the church for support. In fact, the only people that the the Bible tells us to support is widows. I think they're very, very clear. And even when it comes to um widows, even says, and it's not actually every widow say if widows who are committed, who show there's a clear specification there. So it's very possible in today's social environment because you know African socialism, uh, we always want to be there for each other, but we need to be very careful that we don't cross the line and you begin to live a life where you want to be dependent on the church or you are dependent on the ministry. No, that's not biblical. The Bible is saying here is that do your level best so that you're not dependent on anybody. If people come in, something happens, and people come in and is support or whatever individual is fine. But you should not be dependent on anybody. I know that a lot of you know people fear speaking like that because you can feel like you're insensitive. Um, can appear like as a pastor, you're not being sensitive, you're not being this. But that's the truth. That's what the Bible says. It says, let us make it our ambition not to be dependent on others. That's how we build strong churches, that's how we build strong families, even families. You know, in a you want to make sure that everybody in the family can can stand on their own. You are not dependent on one another, so that when something happens, then we can pull together and be able to overcome those things. But you yourself need to be completely independent, and as to be it's an ambition. I'm not saying you arrive there on the one, something that is in your heart, you're completely sold out the idea of being uh independent because that uh pleases God. Hallelujah. So when we are prosperous, uh we can be able to, we can be able to support ourselves and support our family, and it's a very, very important part. Then number three, when we are prosperous, it makes life a blessing, it makes life a blessing. In Psalms 31:19, it says, How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all on those who take refuge on you. How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, brethren. God has stored good things for us, and we need to believe that every day we need to wake up, we need to declare those promises of our lives and say, you know, we know God that you have actually you have abandoned, you have you have stored up good things for those who fear you. And we need to declare that over our lives because um we need to and we need to we must enjoy

Work With Your Hands

SPEAKER_00 30:45

uh wealth, we must enjoy that wealth, and we must know that it's God's plan for lives. It being prosperous, it makes life just a blessing, it makes life a blessing, and I pray that that will be a portion. Uh, we can be a blessing to people, we can be a blessing to the church, we can be a blessing to the nation uh when we are prosperous. I'm just talking about why we should fight our poverty and embrace prosperity. Prosperity enables you to make life a blessing uh in Jesus' name. Number four, um, again, this is an important point here. We must make sure that we put our hope on the cross. Um, we if we are not careful, uh, even as we talk about prosperity, we can turn around and put our hope on the wealth that we have. But God is saying in the middle of all that, we must make sure that our hope is on the cross. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 17 to 19, Paul um cautions or actually and advises uh the uh Timothy. In 1 Timothy 6, 17 to 19, he says, Command those who are rich in the present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in the wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So Paul is telling um in verse 17, he's saying, Command those who are rich. He's not saying there's something wrong with being rich. He's saying, but tell those who are rich in this present world. He's saying, make sure that your wealth does not result in arrogance. Don't to be arrogant, which is one of the one of the things you have to be very careful because if you are wealthy, you can become arrogant, um arrogant or put their hope in wealth. You can begin to be arrogant or put your your hope in in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment, you cannot put your hope in God. Can you allow yourself to be arrogant? I was I was um sharing, I think I may have told you that story here recently, but I was uh you know, I was just sharing with another friend, and he was telling me about uh how this very rich Kenyan family, one of the richest Kenyan families, um, you know, and one of the most senior, you know, um civil servants, he was one of the most, most senior civil servants. And you had everything, he had everything, everything that you could imagine of. He had a house in Karen, um, very, very nice house in Karen and other, you know, Porsche areas in the in the in Nairobi. And um, but he was so arrogant. Um, he was telling about a time when uh I think two or three wives or something like that. And one of the wives comes to the club, I think it was Karen Country Club or something, to see them to see this man to ask for school fees for his for the for the child, for you know, for the for the uh for the child. And this man calls a security and gets the wife chased away from the club, the from the club, completely evicted, you know, and he is, of course, very well the rich, he's uh he's he he was so so influential he was that they used to have his own table that nobody sat on at the club. Whenever he came, that's where he would sit. You know, a dedicated table for him. That's how powerful he you know he was. And the wife comes just asking for some little money, you know, for school fees, like some 20,000 or something like that. And this man chases that woman out of the club, out completely goes. And it was so bad. Those who were there, you know, said, wow, just 20,000 shillings. This man is a billionaire. He's a he's a billionaire. He has like, there's nothing he doesn't have. He's a he's a billionaire. And that's the time when he was at the height of his power. That's where he would go to that dedicated table in Karen, and and people would be fighting to come and sit with him, you know, because they want to be around him, the power and all that. But fast forward, he is now retired, um, and his family starts falling off. Um, you know, one son commits suicide, another one dies. Um, you know, the wife, the wife dies, um, is uh in this big house. Now he's left with only uh, I think a grandchild and uh and and and and the mother-in-law or something who has to build this child, big this big home. You know, this big home. But he's only left him and uh a grandson. There's nobody. There's nobody. He goes to the same car and club where he used to sit, and there's nobody who has to be near him. Nobody wants to be near him now. He's out of power, there's nobody who is talking to him. And that was the case until the man died. He died lonely, man. Nobody wanted to associate with him anymore. His family completely fragmented, gone, nobody, big houses with nobody. You know, big mansions, homes in Motaiga, Karen, um, all over the country, real estate all over the country, coffee farms. But there's nobody. He died a lonely man. And you know, his friends, you know, buried him. So the point is is you can be rich, and if you are rich, you can either become arrogant and put your hope in the wealth, and you you know, you think things are going to be like that. Um, but Paul tells the Timothy, I say, No, command those who are rich not to be arrogant and to put their hope in, not to put their hope in wealth, which is uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. And he says, Command them to be good, command them to do good. So he's saying, Those who are rich, he said, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. So when you have prosperous and you're wealthy and you don't put your hope in the world, he's saying you have the means to do good. That means you can do good to somebody, you can be rich in good deeds, and you can be generous, and and you can be generous and actually be able to uh impact the people around you. And then in verse 19 says, in this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. So in this scripture, he says it's it's fine to be well, this go to be rich, but don't put your hope in the wealth, don't allow it, make you become arrogant, but use it to do good, use it um to be to be be generous and be willing to share. That's

Wealth Without Arrogance

SPEAKER_00 38:15

what Paul commands at Timothy. So, brethren, again, yes, that's uh there's a caution there. Number five, when we are prosperous, we have the power to change our world. We have the power to change our world. If we're going to impact this country, this world for Christ, we need resources, we need pros, we need to be prosperous so that when we say we are going for a mission, we can go. When we say we are putting up a building, uh, we can put up a building quickly without without struggle. We need the power to bless. Um, and that's what Paul was telling the Timothy saying uh command the rich to be good, rich in good, yeah, to be rich in good deeds. How can you do it if you have no resources? So we need the power to bless, and that power to bless comes from using prosperous. And a lot of good can be done when we have the ability to do so. Think about if you had limited resources today, how you can impact the world. Think about the people you can help, um, the relatives who you can be a blessing to, the church, the ministry. Um, you know, and in Proverbs 3.27, it says, do not withhold good from those to whom it's due. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to act. So being prosperous gives you the power to act. You can be good, you can you can you can buy houses, we can put up buildings like the Krem Center and use it as a tool for evangelism. We can buy buses, we can finance missions. We just come from Kadiani missions. And I saw the budget yesterday, it costed us close to 300,000 to prepare and do Kadiani mission. Uh, we're going to be another mission coming in two weeks' time. Uh, we're going to spend an equal a similar amount. We could not be able to do this if we didn't have money, if um the ministry didn't have resources. So we can hire buses, we can hire staff um who minister to us, um, who take care of us. When you go to the Krem Center, you find the place is neat, it's clean, it's organized. It doesn't just happen, it happens because we have got staff who we have uh hired, who actually is there dedicated doing that, keep that place um you know clean and organized, and the loans done and every everything. It we we will not do that if we didn't have money to hire people. Um, you know, and and and and we can run youth programs, we can then conferences, we can do many things that actually can be impactful. We need prosperity to do that, and that's why we need to make sure that in our minds we kill that poverty mindset and then begin to embrace prosperity and understand that we need it for God's um, you know, to advance God's agenda. Um, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, they are considered to be the wealthiest people, and combined, they have given billions of dollars to charity. In fact, I think Bill Gates and Warren Buffett said by the time they die, they want to have given out all their wealth, all of it. They are trying to give out their wealth when they are alive. So they are sponsoring charities everywhere, they are you know in research, medicine? Basically, they are giving billions of US dollars to charity. Can you imagine if those were Christians? Can you imagine if those were Christians? The Muslim world do that every day. All these mosques, have you ever had a fundraising to put up a mosque anywhere? Never are those mosques run. You never hear of the Muslims you know doing a fundraising. Have you had the president? Ever had the president going to do um a donation to Muslims to build a mosque? All the politicians, let me not use the president alone, the politicians who keep running around doing fundraising. Have you had them in a mosque? Never, but you'll find them in churches and ask yourself why? Why is it that more these mosques all over the place they never do fundraising? Because you find their dedicated Muslims who are financing them. There's a lot of money from the Muslim world used to finance, to support those mosques, to keep them going, and you never hear them struggling. Can you imagine if such power was with us Christians? You know, there's so much strain, so much embarrassment of um the churches, um, you know, and they can only be removed if we have Christian billionaires who can also give to charity. And those Christian billionaires are here in this meeting today. I pray by the grace of God um that God is going to raise you, he's gonna raise um, you know, um us, he's gonna raise our young people, especially those young people who are coming after us, who you have the opportunity to hear some of these things we are talking about here, um, that you're going to be a different generation that's going to do far much more than we ever ever imagined could be done. Why? Because you have the information. So we want we want we want Christians who are

Resources That Change The World

SPEAKER_00 43:20

who are prosperous, uh, who can be able to really make a big difference and begins with our mindset. Uh number six, when we are prosperous, it brings it glorifies God. Your money can glorify God, not just a person. When you put up a house, um, when you put up a building like the creme center, which people talk about in Chumbi now, if you go there and mention creme, um, you know, and those who live there will tell you you mention creme, they say we are uh oh, those rich people, right? They say those rich people. Um, why why why do they ask why do they do that? Uh, because they have seen uh what what what we have been able to do and that brings glory to God. God. God, it's not good for the church to be associated with poverty. So I like it that way. Oh, yeah, those millionaires, yes, yes. I say amen. It brings glory to God. They cannot associate that with anybody else. And it's not a boast. It's not anything. Oh, that's not a it's not something like that. But it's good when people associate God's work with prosperity. No, that I received a couple of some of the security men who had come to visit me there when I was at the Krem Center. And as soon as they arrived, they they walk around the compound and they came and told me, Hey, by the way, which muzung? I'm already being muzung. Who is sponsoring you? No, we don't need we don't we don't have a muzung who is sponsoring us. Um these are all Christians who are doing what you have seen here. So it shocks people. Um why? Because we have been able to do that for God. So it brings glory to God. Um, number seven, we can live an inheritance. Um we can live an inheritance in Proverbs 1322. When you are prosperous, you can live an inheritance. And some of us here do not inherit much from our parents. And we have to make sure that you don't leave nothing for your children. If you got nothing from your father, make sure that your children inherit something from you. In Proverbs 13 22, it says a good person lives an inheritance for their children's children. But a sinner's world is stored up for the righteous. So a good person, I believe all of us here are good people, lives an inheritance for their children's children. So you're living an inheritance not just for your children, but even your children's children. So we when we when we are prosperous, we can live an inheritance. Our giving can uh can be a blessing for generations to come. The cream center, which I keep making reference to, is an inheritance for future generations. One day, when we are all gone, that building, that center will be talking about us. When we are not here, long gone. Everything we are doing there is generational. We are putting up that building. Now we are putting up the dining hall facility. These are all things that will outlast all of us. When we are long gone, and the children, our children's children, children will be there, say, Oh yeah, there was once a generation that was here that left us an inheritance. Um, when the new generation takes over and they are running cream, they'll not be taking with empty hands, they'll be getting something that has been invested in an inheritance that we are leaving for them. And then they'll also you know add more and continue putting up. And that's that's what it means: leaving an inheritance. And then lastly, we also receive an inheritance in Matthew 6, 20, 21, says, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves

Legacy On Earth And In Heaven

SPEAKER_00 46:55

do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, where is is there your heart would be. You know, when we give, when we empower others, it also we we are able, we we receive, when we give, we receive, and we create ourselves an inheritance, and we can be able to um find it in heaven. Uh, so not only are we living an inheritance, but we also receive an inheritance when we are prosperous, and that's one way of uh really building uh for the future. Uh so brethren, allow me to reach there.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

Um good to request our minds of the kitchen, everyone, I've got the ball to the buttons.