SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Philip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church.
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SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to 1 Timothy 6.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that just impressed me when she said that.
SPEAKER_01: You know how many times I've had people talk about how somebody just came up to them and said, I was praying for you, and the Lord told me to pay your car off.
SPEAKER_01: A lot.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're not immune from that.
SPEAKER_01: I was standing right here one night, and the Lord said, There's uh a person in here that can't make their car payment.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I want you to make their car payment.
SPEAKER_01: And so I told, I said, I don't I don't know who it is.
SPEAKER_01: But I said it's only one.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And and and and sure enough, they came up, of course, we paid their car payment.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing there's another instance that the Lord said, There's a person here, they can't pay their utilities.
SPEAKER_01: And you tell them come up and you'll pay their utilities.
SPEAKER_01: And I said that, and they they didn't come up.
SPEAKER_01: And it was maybe five, ten minutes after service they came to me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Too late.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta act when the Holy Spirit's talking to me.
SPEAKER_01: So the Holy Spirit will first start talking to you about where to sow, where to give, what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what he said to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you where to sow, where to give, what to do, how to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And then once the seed's in the ground, he can start talking to people about how to help.
SPEAKER_01: The seeds gotta be in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 6, and we're gonna talk, uh, minister today uh for some time.
SPEAKER_01: We're on this road of revelation.
SPEAKER_01: I've been ministering on uh the spirit of poverty, and the Lord said to me, talking about the spirit of poverty, he said that obviously uh you know there's a spirit that stands behind poverty, a poverty spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to me, I'm gonna give you six signs that a poverty spirit's in operation.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I've been ministering along those lines because uh as a as a pastor, God's getting us ready for something.
SPEAKER_01: And you know that we we are living, I I believe, especially the next two years, the next three years, I believe they hold great abundance.
SPEAKER_01: I really do.
SPEAKER_01: But I also believe there's challenging times coming.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that with all my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not doubt, that's not negativity, that's just seasons.
SPEAKER_01: That's just how things go in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, uh the people that are in power, and I'm not saying that I'm I'll be very honest with you, I'm not saying that we're prosperous because of who's in power now, or that we're gonna be not prosperous if somebody else is in the white.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: But what I want you to understand is it can be greatly affected by the person that's in power, it can be greatly affected by the choices they're making.
SPEAKER_01: And as believers, we live in a world that operates in the temporal arena.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in here, I don't know anyone in here.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone here this week got a spiritual paycheck?
SPEAKER_01: An angel brought it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, here's your check.
SPEAKER_01: You have a raise.
SPEAKER_01: No, they did not do that, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's it's temporal, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like that as they call it what?
SPEAKER_01: Cold, hard cash.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a misnomer because I've never found it neither cold or hard.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of soft and warm, actually.
SPEAKER_01: But the the the the issue is the issue is that there will be challenges.
SPEAKER_01: And God's saying, I want to get you ready for it.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I remember back in 2008 when the housing market fell apart, and you know, they they were they were charging exorbitant amounts for homes.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember that.
SPEAKER_01: Real estate people were making money hand over fist.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they were selling$250,000 homes for$400,000.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just crazy mortgage market.
SPEAKER_01: And the bubble burst and it all fell apart.
SPEAKER_01: People lost money, they lost their, they lost everything, right?
SPEAKER_01: And it impacted the economy.
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord, if you were here at that time, some of you will remember, for over a year, he had us teaching on how to thrive in perilous times, how to stand in a time of trouble, right?
SPEAKER_01: Not because I'm so smart, but because if you're sheep of this pasture, I pray for you, and God will say what the sheep need to eat.
SPEAKER_01: And so he keeps telling me, I'm getting people ready for this.
SPEAKER_01: So every raise you get, every bonus you get, every uh uh uh increase that you get on your job, right?
SPEAKER_01: Praise God for it, shout about it, glorify God for it, but don't just go run by something with it.
SPEAKER_01: Ask God, what do I need to do with this?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Where do I need to invest it?
SPEAKER_01: What do I need to do?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He's preparing us for something.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And it's both good and challenging.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be he's preparing us for abundance to channel, let's say out loud, God show me where to channel this abundance.
SPEAKER_01: See, because he's gonna do that.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, am I helping you with this?
SPEAKER_01: Joseph, remember Pharaoh had a dream?
SPEAKER_01: He saw seven fat cows, and he saw seven skinny cows, and it says they were so skinny that they were they were almost frightening.
SPEAKER_01: And it says that it frightened Pharaoh in his dream.
SPEAKER_01: And it says what?
SPEAKER_01: That the seven skinny cows came and devoured the seven fat cows, and yet they didn't gain any weight.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And Pharaoh told the dream to Joseph, what Joseph said.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Here's what the Lord says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, There's seven years of abundance coming.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what the seven fat cows represent.
SPEAKER_01: He said, but there's also seven years of famine coming.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, people will forget the abundance because of the famine.
SPEAKER_01: So he said, here's what we need to do.
SPEAKER_01: He said, we need to put a 20% savings plan in operation throughout the whole land.
SPEAKER_01: When did they put the savings plan in operation?
SPEAKER_01: In the time of abundance.
SPEAKER_01: Why did they do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because the leanness is coming.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so people let let people look at you and they say, well, why?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, we eat out three days a week.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you?
SPEAKER_01: Because lean leanness might show up.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: He's getting us ready for something.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing it has minimal or no impact if I've already listened and already prepared.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying there's going to be famine.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm using that as an example to say in the 20 years of in the in the seven years of abundance, he was saving 20% of everything that came in.
SPEAKER_01: And when the leanness showed up, they fed the world.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it didn't affect them.
SPEAKER_01: So there are things that are gonna affect the world, they don't have to affect us.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just because God will miraculously bring us something, it's because he's saying, right now, start putting something back.
SPEAKER_01: Start.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go through these real quick.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna teach on all of them.
SPEAKER_01: Six signs of poverty spirits at work.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, a love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Six signs of poverty spirits at work.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, a love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, trust in money.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, failure to be rich towards God.
SPEAKER_01: Failure to be rich towards God.
SPEAKER_01: Number four, a selfish me first attitude.
SPEAKER_01: A selfish me first attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Number five, a refusal to consistently sow and enter into the law of seed time and harvest.
SPEAKER_01: A refusal to consistently sow and enter into the law of seed time and harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Number six, inward jealousy of what others have or are able to do.
SPEAKER_01: Inward jealousy of what others have or are able to do.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody need any of those repeated?
SPEAKER_01: Five and six.
SPEAKER_01: Number five, refuse to consist refusal to consistently sow and enter into the law of seed time and harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Refusal to consistently sow and enter into the law of seed time and harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Number six, inward jealousy of what others have or are able to do.
SPEAKER_01: Inward jealousy of what others have or are able to do.
SPEAKER_01: We got them all?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit of poverty has to be broken off of a person's life, not cast out of the person.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're believers, can't be possessed by a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But it has to be broken off.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's it is predominantly, it's predominantly projected onto a person through their thinking, how they were taught.
SPEAKER_01: And that thinking has to be broken off.
SPEAKER_01: And that that spirit of poverty constantly drives that thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Because the uh a poverty spirit starts with learned behavior.
SPEAKER_01: What mindsets were cultivated over the course of the years?
SPEAKER_01: You know, if if a person wasn't raised saving money, they adopted the mindset that it didn't matter if I saved money.
SPEAKER_01: I've talked to people before and they said, I'm glad I married the spouse I married because I would have never thought about saving money or retiring.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, if if you do think about that, you think, well, that's that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it is crazy to you because you were taught, or you at least it came to your understanding at some point.
SPEAKER_01: There are people that don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And the spirit of poverty thrives in that because the spirit of poverty thrives in ignorance.
SPEAKER_01: What I'm consistently ignorant of, I have no knowledge of the value of.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Many are oppressed by that spirit and are not aware of it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: It has to be recognized and pushed against.
SPEAKER_01: I have to push back against it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Because every listen, everything that you believe, every mindset, every thought process that you have about financial abundance is either going to age you or hurt you.
SPEAKER_01: See, I was raised with this mindset about money.
SPEAKER_01: Spend it when you got it, because you don't know if you're going to get any more.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so consequently, when when uh when we got married, that was my mindset.
SPEAKER_01: Now see, this this is dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's you you spend everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so the the mantra in our family was when I was growing up, was it only takes God a second.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, we needed God to come through a lot of seconds.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What if my parents would have just had a responsibility fund?
SPEAKER_01: Now see, this is not natural teaching, it's spiritual teaching.
SPEAKER_01: What if what if they would have just had a responsibility fund?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, back in the 70s, what if they would have just had an account with$1,000 in it?
SPEAKER_01: What could they have done with$1,000 in the 70s?
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all weren't alive in the 70s, I understand, so you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But when you consider that$12 worth of stuff in the 70s cost$100 today, you can readily see how much farther$100 went.
SPEAKER_01: So what if that would have been taught instead of spend everything you get?
SPEAKER_01: See, looking prosperous does not mean you're prosperous.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody that drives up in a brand new car, there's nothing wrong with a brand new car.
SPEAKER_01: Don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say here.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean that they can afford it.
SPEAKER_01: It just means they got somebody to finance it for them.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, when you when you go to the to the to the whoever, the the auto lot, whichever lot you go to, they're just going by what you made them aware of.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously they're going to run your credit, and if you got halfway decent credit, they'll give you a car.
SPEAKER_01: If you got halfway not decent credit, they'll give you a car with a big interest rate.
SPEAKER_01: Because they will find a lender that will lend you the money.
SPEAKER_01: And I've watched people sign contracts for upwards of 20% interest on a car loan.
SPEAKER_01: Because they thought that car, that new car, that new car smell, you know, you get into a car you can't afford, and that new car smell will make you sick to your stomach.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: See, but that's that's imprinted on people.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The spirit of poverty has to be recognized and pushed against it.
SPEAKER_01: There's times that you push against the spirit of poverty by saying, I'm not going to finance that because I don't need that to make me look wealthy.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I am what I am what I am.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what anybody thinks about my house, I don't care what they think about my car, I don't care what they think about what I wear.
SPEAKER_01: Well, your house isn't all that much.
SPEAKER_01: I could care less.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter to me.
SPEAKER_01: Your car's not that fancy.
SPEAKER_01: It's paid for.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never see a bumper sticker on my car that says, I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: See, it's it's it's it's it's imprinted on people.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And it has to be pushed against consistently.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone say consistently.
SPEAKER_01: So we want to deal specifically today with the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: The love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, 1 Timothy 6 10, you could probably quote this in your sleep, but notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there are two basic errors that people make when they're dealing with this scripture.
SPEAKER_01: The first is misquoting it.
SPEAKER_01: And here's how they misquote it by saying, money is the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many times I've heard that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know what they say, money is the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the Bible says, it's not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: It says loving money is the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And this is usually those that don't believe in what they call the prosperity message.
SPEAKER_01: You know that that gets me because there is no prosperity message.
SPEAKER_01: It's just what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: It was God through the uh it was the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John that wrote in 3 John 2 and said, I, beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in hell.
SPEAKER_01: That word prosperous means to have a good journey, a good life, a prosperous journey, an effective journey, a successful journey.
SPEAKER_01: So boil it down.
SPEAKER_01: God wants you to be successful in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a prosperity message.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: But that's what they're usually against that.
SPEAKER_01: I've had them say you're one of those prosperity guys.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad it shows because I would rather be that than a poverty guy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm you're I'm never gonna get up here and preach to you that God has any good thing in poverty and you not having what you need or what you desire.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing in it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The people that preach that way have probably ever either never been poor or they don't know what the word of God says.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever been poor and you think God has something to do with poverty, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: You we need to help you.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, it's it's just like this.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever watched anybody die with a horrible disease and then turn around and say God had a hand in it, you don't know God very well.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The second error is committed by those who believe it's God's will to prosper them when they emphasize that it says it's the love of money that's the root of all evil, and then they spend no time telling people what the love of money is.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I know that my wife's been hearing the word 33 full-time years.
SPEAKER_01: I know, because we'll be married 33 years this year.
SPEAKER_01: So I know she's been hearing the word that long.
SPEAKER_01: And she was in the conference that I just did, and she said, that's the first message I've ever heard anybody teach that told me what the love of money was.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: People will warn you about it.
SPEAKER_01: Stay away from the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
SPEAKER_01: How can you stay away from something you don't know what it is?
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: There are two basic errors, so amen.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 6 9.
SPEAKER_01: Notice this.
SPEAKER_01: They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
SPEAKER_01: And people say, see there, rich people get in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not what it said.
SPEAKER_01: They that will be rich.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is this important?
SPEAKER_01: This is where the love of money begins.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: All this person wants is to be rich.
SPEAKER_01: That's their desire.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they're going after.
SPEAKER_01: They just want money or they desire to be rich at any cost.
SPEAKER_01: And this desire to be rich at any cost is the problem, not the riches.
SPEAKER_01: I heard I heard I was watching an interview with a billionaire one time, and they they were talking about how much money he had, and they asked him, They said, You have all this money?
SPEAKER_01: They said, How much is enough?
SPEAKER_01: He said, just a little more.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, there's nothing wrong with being a billionaire.
SPEAKER_01: But he proved his heart was the love of money because it was just, I just need more money.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: They have thought about it and have given it deliberate, mature consideration and decided what they're after.
SPEAKER_01: Money.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm after.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, you don't just see this in higher-up people, you don't just see it in CEOs and Bernie Madoffs and all these different people.
SPEAKER_01: You see it in the guy that lives down in Bayser.
SPEAKER_01: You see it in the guy that lives in Bonner Springs or Olatha, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's never home.
SPEAKER_01: He's working every hour they'll give him.
SPEAKER_01: He's just killing himself and just going after the money because he wants the boat, he wants the this, he wants the that, and his family's alone or her family's alone, and they would not tell you that they've entered into the love of money, but that's their whole pursuit.
SPEAKER_01: So our work.
SPEAKER_01: This job and I'll take a part-time job and I'll do DoorDash and money, money, money, money, money, money, money.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want my kids to go through what I went through.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, that's the spirit of poverty talking.
SPEAKER_01: You can get caught up in that.
SPEAKER_01: Your kids do not have to go what you go through what you went through if you will just keep your head right about the finances that God's blessing you with.
SPEAKER_01: Don't try to erase your father's failure by not being there for yours.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: They thought about it and they've given it deliberate, mature consideration.
SPEAKER_01: And what they decide, this is what I'm after.
SPEAKER_01: Money.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So it's misplaced desires for riches.
SPEAKER_01: It's a misplaced desire for riches.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the denomination I grew up in, we were big for saying, I don't want any of this old world's goods.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they thought about them enough.
SPEAKER_01: No, you you need this old world's goods.
SPEAKER_01: You just don't love them.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And this misplaced desire for riches, here's what it causes: a lack of contentment.
SPEAKER_01: See, contentment has been treated as insignificant by many.
SPEAKER_01: When in reality, it's the core of being prosperous.
SPEAKER_01: It's the core.
SPEAKER_01: In 1 Timothy, you're there in chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Godliness, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say great gain.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a difference between contentment and satisfaction.
SPEAKER_01: Because again, what people say is, well, you just need to be content, whatever your lot in life is.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say be content with whatever your lot in life is.
SPEAKER_01: It says if you find yourself in a certain situation, the way out of it is to be content and believe God.
SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself in a financial struggle here today, you're not going to get out by worrying about it.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to get out by being content.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is where I'm at.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me sit down and count the cost.
SPEAKER_01: What can I do to get out of this?
SPEAKER_01: This is what the word of God says.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, this isn't your fault.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's not your fault.
SPEAKER_01: I got myself into this, so I'm believing you're going to help me get out of it.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not going to worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to complain.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be content and you're going to bring me out.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: See, that's not satisfied.
SPEAKER_01: That's content.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is where I'm at.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you could tell the Apostle Paul wasn't from Kansas because he said, I'm content in whatever state I'm in.
SPEAKER_01: It's a dad joke.
SPEAKER_01: You know the difference between lawyers and buzzards?
SPEAKER_01: Lawyers get frequent flyer miles.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, that's bad, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Dad jokes.
SPEAKER_01: There's another one.
SPEAKER_01: You want to hear another one?
SPEAKER_01: Said, How do lawyers sleep?
SPEAKER_01: Well, they lie on this side and they lie on this side.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not picking on lawyers.
SPEAKER_01: I hope nobody in here is a lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But it's contentment.
SPEAKER_01: And this is so powerful because the Greek word for contentment is translated sufficiency, and it's translated that way in 2 Corinthians 9.8, all sufficiency in all things.
SPEAKER_01: But the adjective, content, which we find in Philippians 4.11, where Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I'm in to be content, it means having a sufficiency in oneself independent of others.
SPEAKER_01: So contentment is not being satisfied with poverty, but having sufficient substance in my life to be independent of others.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, I've learned to be content.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever in life, I've learned to be content.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Paul said in 1 Timothy 6.5, notice what he said.
SPEAKER_01: He said it was perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that what?
SPEAKER_01: Gain is godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Or that godliness was a means of gain.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: See, godliness, though, he says, with contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_01: So again, godliness is not a way to get gain.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't give you the opportunity to have seed time and harvest just so you can get more money and more stuff and a bigger car and a nicer house.
SPEAKER_01: What's the primary reason?
SPEAKER_01: Number one reason, primary reason to be blessed.
SPEAKER_01: To be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: So I can be generous.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what Paul said in Ephesians when he was writing to people that had got saved recently.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Listen, you got born again, now let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him work with his hands so that he may have to give to him that doesn't have.
SPEAKER_01: Generosity.
SPEAKER_01: So the primary purpose for uh finances is to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a means of gain.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: There are times you put a seed in the ground with no thought about what you're gonna get back.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's times you focus that seed and you're believing God for something.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But you're putting seed in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: And so you can constantly, consistently pray and thank the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that the seed's in the ground and the harvest is coming up, and I thank you that I have all sufficiency in all things, no matter what the need is.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I've given, therefore it's given unto me.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm content.
SPEAKER_01: I say I'm content.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Paul said?
SPEAKER_01: He said, he wrote Timothy and he said, he said, because here's what we know for certain.
SPEAKER_01: He said, you brought nothing in the world and you can take nothing out.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, so having food and raiment, be content.
SPEAKER_01: Now that doesn't mean you don't go after a house and you don't believe God, but here's what it does mean: that when they say, dearly beloved, we've gathered to remember our friend, you're not taking the house.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what clothes you have, it doesn't matter what labels on them, it can be Hugo Boss, it can be Denali, it can be Hart Shafter and Marks, it can be whatever.
SPEAKER_01: You're not taking them.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna bury you in one.
SPEAKER_01: You're not taking anything else with you.
SPEAKER_01: And so if that person thought that that closet full of suits is what made them godly or what was important, they're gonna find out real fast that was not what was important.
SPEAKER_01: Godliness is not a means to gain.
SPEAKER_01: And understand what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: Because I need to break this down.
SPEAKER_01: The spirit of poverty has lied to us.
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's taught Christian people that riches are wrong and they're wicked, and only sinners want money.
SPEAKER_01: Then I'm a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: You mean you want money, don't you?
unknown: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Why'd you work last week?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody, why'd you go to work?
SPEAKER_01: If you wanted to volunteer, why didn't you just tell your boss, don't worry about paying me no more.
SPEAKER_01: I'll volunteer.
SPEAKER_01: Did you do that, Lex?
SPEAKER_01: Did you do that?
SPEAKER_01: No, she's like, no.
SPEAKER_01: Did not.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you get what what do you get for a full day's work?
SPEAKER_01: You get a full day's pay.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the week, or however they do it now, I don't know, uh direct deposit or whatever, you you get the fruit of your labor.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Now why?
SPEAKER_01: Just because you wanted to go and work so hard?
SPEAKER_01: No, because you worked so hard.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you knew, number one, you wanted to bring value to the marketplace, and number two, there was a dividend attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So it's taught us not to want money, not to desire things.
SPEAKER_01: No, we we need, we need to desire, we need to desire more.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't need to look at God as just a way to get gain.
SPEAKER_01: That's the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: That's how preachers get off.
SPEAKER_01: That's how preachers mess up.
SPEAKER_01: Is they start using biblical principles just to make money.
SPEAKER_01: And when you start using biblical principles just to make money, Paul said you've made merchandise of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, just like selling a trinket.
SPEAKER_01: I remember preachers used to send out green billfolds that had been prayed over and they were going to attract money.
SPEAKER_01: I mean preachers speak in tongues when they send them out.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, baby, she goes, Here's your prayed-over green prosperity billfold.
SPEAKER_01: They send out a green string and tell you to put it in your wallet and it would attract money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, see, you're looking at me because you were raised right in this church.
SPEAKER_01: They're out there, they're preachers out there so crooked that when they die, they'll screw them in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: But but but but but here here's here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Godliness gain is not godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 9:8, we read it over the offering.
SPEAKER_01: I'll read it from the Amplified Bible, and God is able to make all grace, every favor, and earthly blessing come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need, notice, be self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: That word self-sufficient, remember it's translated from the word contentment.
SPEAKER_01: So we could say, be content, possessing enough to require no aid or support, furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation.
SPEAKER_01: This is not struggling, barely getting by.
SPEAKER_01: It's having all sufficiency in all things.
SPEAKER_01: Contentment is being fully supplied in every area of my life.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, I don't have a misplaced desire for riches at any cost.
SPEAKER_01: I'm content.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we hear phrases sometimes, you know, keeping up with the Joneses and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we kind of laugh at that, but you know, that's a thing.
SPEAKER_01: I had I had a family member that that uh lived here in DeSoto, and uh they they had built a new house, and I was over visiting with them, and uh, and uh uh uh a neighbor had moved in, they had built a house next door.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever this family member did, they put a fence around their house, their backyard, and the neighbor had to get a better one.
SPEAKER_01: They put a trampoline in their backyard for their kids, and the neighbor had to get a bigger one.
SPEAKER_01: It was like one, and and and would let them know how much their stuff cost.
SPEAKER_01: Spending their life trying to keep up with somebody that could care less about what you had.
SPEAKER_01: See, they're not content.
SPEAKER_01: I say they're not content.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you know, the neighbor pulled in and they got a they got a new Lexus.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but your Ford's paid for.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm gonna be content.
SPEAKER_01: Say out loud, I'm content.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 6, 10.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what it says, the love of money, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
SPEAKER_01: So, what is the love of money?
SPEAKER_01: At its core, it's the desire to be rich at any cost, whatever it costs me.
SPEAKER_01: The love of money, the original Greek says, is a root of all evil, of all kinds of evil.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, it's a root that from which every kind of evil can grow.
SPEAKER_01: The love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now you I'm I'm not gonna take the time to teach on it because we we've got some more to get into, but you just think of of any any evil thing.
SPEAKER_01: Why would somebody persist in that knowing it could hurt people and destroy their lives?
SPEAKER_01: The love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: You know, most Taco Bells, you know they make around four million dollars a year.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Now that's before before expenses.
SPEAKER_01: So profit is what?
SPEAKER_01: Anything you have left after expenses.
SPEAKER_01: So uh you own a Taco Bell, you probably make around million and a half, two million dollars a year.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm saying, so why would you want to own a Taco Bell?
SPEAKER_01: Because of the nutritional validity of their food, or because it will make you money.
SPEAKER_01: So think about this.
SPEAKER_01: The guy that owns a bar that he knows people are gonna come and ruin their marriages and destroy their families, and there's gonna be people that might even die because they get drunk and run off the road, and somehow he soothes his conscience every night and goes to bed by saying, It's not my fault, I didn't make him drink.
SPEAKER_01: What's he in it for?
SPEAKER_01: Money.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: The the the the the the the meth dealer that's running around destroying people's lives?
SPEAKER_01: Why is he doing that?
SPEAKER_01: Money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, those are overt, extreme examples.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: But but but what about what about the person, what about the the the mom and dad that their kids are always in the hands of a babysitter, they're always staying at grandma's house, they're always doing this, they're they're working every hour they'll give them, not necessarily because they need it, but because they just want more stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want my kids to ever go through what I went through.
SPEAKER_01: I want my kids to be able to go to Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: What are they giving up for money?
SPEAKER_01: Time with their family that you can never get back.
SPEAKER_01: See, it's called the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I want it at any cost.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know we all go through times we've got to work hard, and and and I've done that.
SPEAKER_01: I I there were times I there were a season we went through, I had to work every hour they would give me.
SPEAKER_01: We wasn't gonna make it if I didn't.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not consistent, that's not all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Because it can morph too easily into I just want more.
SPEAKER_01: The more you love money, the more your lifestyle creeps.
SPEAKER_01: And so when you start making more money, don't right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't don't just expand your lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: Quiet in Zion.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Just because now you're making enough that you can afford this doesn't mean you need to go buy that.
SPEAKER_01: Put that money in the bank.
SPEAKER_01: Show the spirit of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: I don't love money and I don't love things.
SPEAKER_01: I'm pushing back against you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm putting something back for my future.
SPEAKER_01: It is more important that my children have something in the future than that they go get to see a human-sized mouse.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Pastor, you know it's not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if there's three of you in your family, can you afford$15,000 today?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you decide to go to California to go to Disneyland with three people, you're gonna spend fifteen or twenty thousand dollars on the trip.
SPEAKER_01: This is the way it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be up around five, six thousand dollars just on airfare, just on getting there.
SPEAKER_01: And then it's hundreds to get y'all into the park.
SPEAKER_01: And a hot dog's eight bucks.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: But Pastor, you you went and I didn't take anything out of any account to go.
SPEAKER_01: God blessed me to go.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm just listen, I'm honest.
SPEAKER_01: At that time, we were coming into what, 30 years or uh uh excuse me, 25 years of pastoring here, 30 years of marriage and one other thing.
SPEAKER_01: And God laid on a man's heart to bless my wife and I.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to send us to Hawaii.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife, my wife has no desire to go to Hawaii, so I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: Her desire is my desire, so that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: So, where do we want to go?
SPEAKER_01: We'll go see the mouse, but we also want to go to a conference out there, so we'll fly and and go and and go to the conference.
SPEAKER_01: We were blessed to go.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm glad that we were.
SPEAKER_01: Now we go other places, but here's what I'm trying to explain to you: don't think that, see, the spirit of poverty will push you to go after that.
SPEAKER_01: And you're just going after it, and you're just going after it, and you're going after it.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with doing it, but don't be driven to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that drives you is not God.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't drive you, He leads you, He directs you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: He gently pulls you, He doesn't drive you.
SPEAKER_01: Anything that's driving you isn't God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you gotta do this, you gotta do that.
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't, no, I don't.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Daddy, we really want to go to Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're not going to Disney World this year, but here's what we will do.
SPEAKER_01: We go to Worlds of Fun.
SPEAKER_01: And we've been to Worlds of Fun before.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you don't appreciate it?
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to go nowhere.
SPEAKER_01: Here you go, we'll go to the park.
SPEAKER_01: Get on the mayor and go around.
SPEAKER_01: Run, daddy, run, daddy, run, daddy.
SPEAKER_00: And you step over there by your wife, and you're like, we should went to world's fun.
SPEAKER_01: Sarah puts Jeremy on her shoulders, squats him four times.
SPEAKER_01: We're all right.
SPEAKER_01: What's that got to do with the spirit of poverty?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing at all.
SPEAKER_01: Never allow your lifestyle to balloon to the point that you have to abandon what is important to finance your lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: I've I've listened I've watched I've watched people start what they called prospering and they abandoned church, they abandoned coming to the house of God, they abandoned what they were doing for God because God's blessing me so much.
SPEAKER_01: If God's blessing you so much that you can't come to church, there's something else going on.
SPEAKER_01: If it's God blessing you, then what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna carve out every Wednesday night you can, you're gonna carve out every Sunday morning, Sunday night that you can.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be there as often as you can.
SPEAKER_01: And again, I understand we go through seasons, right?
SPEAKER_01: There's guys in here, you got seasonal work.
SPEAKER_01: It's busier in some seasons.
SPEAKER_01: We understand that.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: But it's when it becomes consistent.
SPEAKER_01: It's when God starts blessing a business that was not being blessed because that person was not doing what they should have been doing, and they got involved with the things of God, and God opened up the windows of heaven on that business, and that person gave God the credit and said God did it and then abandoned the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: They showed where their love was.
SPEAKER_01: Get rich, have money at any cost.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts chapter.
SPEAKER_01: When I help am I helping you today?
SPEAKER_01: And you got to recognize these things.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord said to me one time, He said, Money is a form of commerce, but it's not the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Every time, listen, every time the government starts a new program, they'll start it with this.
SPEAKER_01: We have allocated five billion dollars for this program.
SPEAKER_01: As if money is the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just throw money at it.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have so much debt in our country that we'll never pay it off.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you do realize it is physically impossible to ever pay that debt off.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the multiplied trillions of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: Cannot be paid off.
SPEAKER_01: Your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, your great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren will have that debt.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: The love of money.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make it easier to print money.
SPEAKER_01: So they come off the standard of gold in 1971, and now the right in 1965, 1950, if you had a$10 bill, there was$10 worth of gold to back that$10 bill up.
SPEAKER_01: But in 1971, they quit doing it, and what happened?
SPEAKER_01: It's called inflation.
SPEAKER_01: And it exploded.
SPEAKER_01: But they think money's the answer.
SPEAKER_01: And$5 billion sounds like a lot of money.
SPEAKER_01: But by the time this one gets their share, and this one gets their share, and this one gets their share, and this one gets their share, and they all love money.
SPEAKER_01: By the time they get everything that they want, about a hundred million gets put towards the program that they allocated the money for.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: They think money's the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Money is not the answer.
SPEAKER_01: I say money cannot fix your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Money cannot fix the problems you have with your kids.
SPEAKER_01: Money cannot satisfy you.
SPEAKER_01: And the more you go after money, the less satisfied you become.
SPEAKER_01: Because what?
SPEAKER_01: You find out what Solomon found out.
SPEAKER_01: Vanity.
SPEAKER_01: It's all vanity.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I didn't deny myself anything.
SPEAKER_01: I partook of everything.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I bought everything under the sun that money could buy.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, and here's what I found out.
SPEAKER_01: It's all useless.
SPEAKER_01: It comes to nothing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what kind of car you have, it's going to be sitting in a junkyard one day rusting to pieces.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter how expensive it was.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter how much you paid for it.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter how Italian the leather was.
SPEAKER_01: One day somebody's not even going to remember that.
SPEAKER_01: In two years it'll be outdated.
SPEAKER_01: They'll bring out another model, and people go, Oh, you're driving that?
SPEAKER_01: See, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: And when when I'm just going out and the spirit of poverty drives you.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Say out loud, I love God and I use money.
SPEAKER_01: I never love money and use God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Acts 6.
SPEAKER_01: Whoo, glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Is good if I do say so myself.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just dance about it.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm cooking, I'll taste my food and I'm like, mmm, mmm, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: My wife will come in and see me dance, she goes, Good, is it?
SPEAKER_01: I say, Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Acts 5, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a familiar verse, but let's, uh, familiar passage, but let's look at this.
SPEAKER_01: We'll read down.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, well, we'll read through verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: We'll paraphrase the rest.
SPEAKER_01: But a certain man named Ananias was Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's stop right there and understand why they sold this possession.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you back up into Acts chapter 4, the last three or four verses or so in Acts chapter 4, there's this movement of giving that's going on in the church.
SPEAKER_01: There's needs in the church.
SPEAKER_01: People are getting saved every day.
SPEAKER_01: There's needs in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, people that had land sold it and brought the price to the apostles.
SPEAKER_01: And then it ends chapter 4 by saying Barnabas did this, right?
SPEAKER_01: So they sold it and brought the price and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice, verse chapter 5, verse 1 starts off with the word but.
SPEAKER_01: So it's connecting Ananias and Sapphira to what was said previous.
SPEAKER_01: So they're bringing the price of the thing.
SPEAKER_01: There's no indication that the apostles asked them to do this.
SPEAKER_01: There's no indication that they asked them for the entire price.
SPEAKER_01: They chose to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you give in any house of God must be, according to the Apostle Paul, according to what you have determined in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Not by arm twisting, not by putting pressure on people.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you determine.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What you determine.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people say, I've given to this church.
SPEAKER_01: You chose to.
SPEAKER_01: You can come here the rest of your life and never give a dime.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not going to change how we look at you or think about you.
SPEAKER_01: You understand?
SPEAKER_01: A certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me say here right quick, that's not wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's only wrong if they said we're going to bring it all.
SPEAKER_01: And even if they said they were going to bring it all, and they changed their mind, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: You just stand up in front of everybody and say we were going to give 50,000, but we sold it and we got to looking at it and we've decided to give 30,000.
SPEAKER_01: It's your money, it's your land.
SPEAKER_01: Do whatever you want to do with it.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: They kept back a part of the price, his wife being privileged to this, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
SPEAKER_01: And to keep back part of the price of the land?
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he said, while it remained, wasn't it yours?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, before you sold it, wasn't it yours?
SPEAKER_01: And after it was sold, wasn't it in your power?
SPEAKER_01: Didn't you have a right to determine how much you were going to give?
SPEAKER_01: Why have you conceived this thing?
SPEAKER_01: You've not lied to men, but to God.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: And what's the next verse say?
SPEAKER_01: Heard those words and fell down and gave up the ghost.
SPEAKER_01: Now you know what that this is not in the Bible to improve giving.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: This is not one of the scriptures that we have on our confession list.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 5, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, Lord, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I declare this day that upon hearing these words, I'll fall over dead and give up the ghost.
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not it.
SPEAKER_01: But it is here for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you read on down, it says they took him, buried him.
SPEAKER_01: Remember about three hours later, his wife came in.
SPEAKER_01: What Peter asked her?
SPEAKER_01: You sell the land for so much?
SPEAKER_01: Now wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's look at a couple things.
SPEAKER_01: If God's just looking to judge them, why'd he give her a chance?
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: You sell the land for so much, what could she have said right there?
SPEAKER_01: Why would she not say no?
SPEAKER_01: Love of money.
SPEAKER_01: I want money more than anything.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Yeah, for so much.
SPEAKER_01: What did he say?
SPEAKER_01: How is it that you've agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: So this love of money goes deeper than just temporal things.
SPEAKER_01: It affects you spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: When it says they kept back part of the money, it's a word that means uh to embezzle, to keep back.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me say it exactly right.
SPEAKER_01: Withdraw covertly and appropriate for one's use.
SPEAKER_01: Now understand this.
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't wrong.
SPEAKER_01: It was not wrong if they wanted to keep it back and appropriate it for their own use.
SPEAKER_01: It was their money.
SPEAKER_01: Where's the problem?
SPEAKER_01: When they lied, right?
SPEAKER_01: It was their money.
SPEAKER_01: Peter told them they could have kept it.
SPEAKER_01: Why did they lie?
SPEAKER_01: The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
SPEAKER_01: When a person loves money, they're not above lying.
SPEAKER_01: When they love money, they're not above cheating.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a sign that a poverty spirit's at work.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he knows it, that spirit knows it will end in destruction.
SPEAKER_01: Once the love of money has a person, they'll do things they would not normally do.
SPEAKER_01: They love money so much.
SPEAKER_01: Now, watch, follow me here.
SPEAKER_01: They love money so much they lied to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: They lied to their fellow believers, they lied to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Money is a form of commerce, but it is not the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I have a problem when ministers get up and they say things like, I believe there's three people in here tonight that are supposed to give$500.
SPEAKER_01: Walk out of that service.
SPEAKER_01: Walk out.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, don't walk, run.
SPEAKER_01: There are times I've stood up here and I believe that there were people that needed to sew.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, God is my witness.
SPEAKER_01: As far as I know, I've never given an amount.
SPEAKER_01: And as far as I am determined, I will never give an amount.
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul said, you give as you purpose in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: If I say there's three people in here that's supposed to give$500, what are you going to start thinking?
SPEAKER_01: Am I one of them?
SPEAKER_01: And what what's there now?
SPEAKER_01: What's there, whether I'll admit it or not?
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said it.
SPEAKER_01: Pressure.
SPEAKER_01: Or what if I said this?
SPEAKER_01: What if I said this?
SPEAKER_01: There's somebody in here, his family's in here, got a lot of kids.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe you're supposed to give$300.
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna think?
SPEAKER_01: Michelle?
SPEAKER_01: Michelle would be like, I don't have that many kids.
SPEAKER_01: We're one short.
SPEAKER_01: It's supposed to be 300.
SPEAKER_01: We're one short.
SPEAKER_01: And Dave says, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Well, why would he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Why would he get up and say that when God didn't say that?
SPEAKER_01: The love of money.
SPEAKER_01: When ministry becomes a business, it's because the person loves money.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Paul wrote, and I'm gonna hurry because I'm watching my time, Philippians 4, 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what Paul said, and we'll read down a few verses because I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you today?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were careful, you wanted to, but you lacked opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Not that I speak in respect of want.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let's look at this verse for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: For I've learned in whatever state I am to what?
SPEAKER_01: Help me out.
SPEAKER_01: To be what?
SPEAKER_01: To be content.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what he said?
SPEAKER_01: So Paul's saying, no matter what I face, I'm content.
SPEAKER_01: I'm independent of external circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: He did not say that external circumstances were not pressure and that they were not there.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm independent of them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not moved.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to enter into a big plea because I'm facing a challenge.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The next verse, notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: I know how to be a base and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things.
SPEAKER_01: I'm instructed to be full and be hungry, to abound and to suffer need.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he's not saying I'm supposed to be full and I'm supposed to be hungry, I'm supposed to abound and suffer need.
SPEAKER_01: He says, look, I understand that there are things that go on in life, and I'm going to face situations.
SPEAKER_01: And I've learned the secret is to be content in it.
SPEAKER_01: And what did he say?
SPEAKER_01: I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: What's that verse about?
SPEAKER_01: We quote it sometimes out of its setting.
SPEAKER_01: What's that about?
SPEAKER_01: No matter what I'm facing.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm facing a challenge in my finances, I can through Christ be content.
SPEAKER_01: If I have abundance, I can through Christ be content.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just people that don't have money that are uncontent.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times it's people that have more than enough and they're not content with what they have, and they go after money just as much as the person that doesn't have what they need.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just poor people that love money, it's rich people that love money.
SPEAKER_01: And rich people aren't bad, and poor people aren't bad.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow the church has leaned on that the wrong way.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about rich people loving their money, and rich people this and rich people that.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if that's your attitude, you need to repent.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus was rich.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is rich.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, he said he became poor so you could be rich.
SPEAKER_01: Fully supplied, completely filled.
SPEAKER_01: Rich, rich, rich.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I wouldn't call myself rich.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then call it whatever you want to call it.
SPEAKER_01: Fully supplied, completely filled.
SPEAKER_01: But that's why that's one of the reasons that he died.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 4 14, notice what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Notwithstanding, you have well done that you communicated with my affliction, my weakness, my hard time.
SPEAKER_01: Communicate, you have given into it.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice, if he was against money, why did he tell them it was a good thing that they helped him?
SPEAKER_01: Why didn't he say, You're right not to help me?
SPEAKER_01: Taught me something.
SPEAKER_01: I learned through my lean season.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I learned through my lean season too.
SPEAKER_01: I learned lean seasons don't are not good.
SPEAKER_01: They kind of stink.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: Now you Philippians know in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me.
SPEAKER_01: As what?
SPEAKER_01: Concerning giving and receiving, but you only.
SPEAKER_01: No church opened up a credit and debit account with me, but you only.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Debit and credit.
SPEAKER_01: Giving and receiving.
SPEAKER_01: I'll receive more and have more finances than I ever had when I keep this constant process of giving and receiving, of crediting and debiting.
SPEAKER_01: The giving opens up the receiving.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: This is how we're to live.
SPEAKER_01: See, many only give when they have a need.
SPEAKER_01: And that's evidence of the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
SPEAKER_01: They only give when they have a need that must be met.
SPEAKER_01: They'll never give consistently.
SPEAKER_01: He said one of the six signs that a poverty spirit was at work was a refusal to consistently enter into the law of seed time and harvest.
SPEAKER_01: I knew a couple one time they used to sit right there, sit right there on the front row.
SPEAKER_01: Years ago, sit right there on the front row.
SPEAKER_01: And I was ministering one night, and I said, if you're facing financial challenges, the only way out is to sow your way out.
SPEAKER_01: They got mad, shut their Bibles, mad, angry on the front row.
SPEAKER_01: But they thought about it and they they quit getting mad.
SPEAKER_01: And so one day they came to me and and they said, uh they said, you know, this is the seed, you know, the seed, and and we're gonna sow the seed.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't remember what they were sowing it, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing I never saw them sow before, and I never saw them sow after, and that seed didn't do anything for them.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they were sowing the seed like a lottery ticket.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna sow a seed and God's gonna do all this for me.
SPEAKER_01: You know what you do, do not do consistently will never have any lasting impact on your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go back through this story that you've heard me tell uh numerous times, but it's a proven fact.
SPEAKER_01: Every year, it's a statistical fact, every year in January, more people sign up for gym memberships, and it's it's a it's a boom season for gym memberships because people sign up and the man and and outfitters they get they get all this money because people are buying shoes and they're buying shorts and they're buying workout outfits, and it's a proven statistical fact that by February 15th, most people have quit going to the gym.
SPEAKER_01: Proven fact.
SPEAKER_01: And then that same person goes, I don't know why I'm not losing weight.
SPEAKER_01: Because you love pie more than you love the treadmill.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty simple.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get mad at me, please.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, what if, what if, what, what, what you do consistently?
SPEAKER_01: If you give once, what'd you just do?
SPEAKER_01: Plant it a seed.
SPEAKER_01: You'll get a harvest off that seed.
SPEAKER_01: But what are you gonna do when you need another harvest?
SPEAKER_01: What if I'm giving now for a harvest I don't even know I'm gonna need?
SPEAKER_01: That's that's what I'm that's when you're doing it consistently.
SPEAKER_01: That defeats the love of money.
SPEAKER_01: I don't just give, I'm a giver.
SPEAKER_01: I don't just sow, I'm a sower.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I live my life.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That I'm saying that, I'm not saying me.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's your mindset.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see this?
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm not a person my wife loves.
SPEAKER_01: I'm her lover.
SPEAKER_01: Now don't mistake, love her.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm her lover.
SPEAKER_01: No, ain't nobody loves me like her.
SPEAKER_01: Or her like me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm her lover.
SPEAKER_01: You might love her, but you're not her lover.
SPEAKER_01: Try to be her lover, we're gonna have a problem.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Not gonna work.
SPEAKER_01: I'll knock you out and Sarah can squat you four times.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, I'm never sitting on the front row again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm just not, glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: That's alright.
SPEAKER_01: I I'm wireless, I can walk all the way back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm almost done.
SPEAKER_01: But you understand why I'm saying that?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: I love her every day.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We are lovers.
SPEAKER_01: You are sowers, not just people that sowed or will sow.
SPEAKER_01: You are sowers.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a sower, so I'm a reaper, I'm a giver, so I'm a receiver.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And then as we wrap this up, what you will not let go cannot be multiplied.
SPEAKER_01: In Philippians 4, and you know verse 19, Paul talked about the harvest of blessing in the verses previous that was accumulated into your account.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Not because I desire a gift, but I desire uh fruit that may abound to your account.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what he said?
SPEAKER_01: Not because I desire a gift, I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
SPEAKER_01: Amplified Bible says that's accruing to your account.
SPEAKER_01: But then verse 19, what did he say?
SPEAKER_01: But my God shall supply all how much all of your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what he said?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And one translation says, liberally supply, fill to the full your every need.
SPEAKER_01: Every time you give, a harvest of blessing is accumulating to your account.
SPEAKER_01: You know, money lovers have a zero balance.
SPEAKER_01: Because they don't do it consistently.
SPEAKER_01: Liberality, liberal supply, liberal giving defeats the spirit of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: You can't make me love what I won't keep.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So, how do I defeat the spirit of poverty?
SPEAKER_01: These are things you can write down and say regularly.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, declare that your family and your ministry is thriving.
SPEAKER_01: You declare that.
SPEAKER_01: My family, if you have a ministry, it's thriving.
SPEAKER_01: But my family's thriving.
SPEAKER_01: We're not struggling, we're thriving.
SPEAKER_01: And you say that consistently.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, sow consistently.
SPEAKER_01: Your seed is evidence of your authority and ownership.
SPEAKER_01: Your seed is evidence of your authority and your ownership.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to ask.
SPEAKER_01: We've been working on getting our seed beds cleared out in the backyard, and I don't have to ask anybody if I can sow a seed back there.
SPEAKER_01: I own the place.
SPEAKER_01: I can sow whatever I want.
SPEAKER_01: Don't have to ask.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like the fact that he's growing cucumbers.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: My land, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's evidence of my authority and my ownership.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if I go to Brother Kevin's backyard and plant tomatoes and he didn't want tomatoes, he's got a right to pull them up.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's not my land.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't belong to me.
SPEAKER_01: I can sow a seed.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest ability that God's given anyone is the ability to convey, which is the ability to sow, the ability to plant seed, and that's the greatest ability God's given anybody.
SPEAKER_01: And you have that ability.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, bind the plan of the enemy in the financial realm.
SPEAKER_01: We bind the plans of the enemy in the financial realm.
SPEAKER_01: Not going to work against me and my family.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, loose the life of God into your finances and bind the spirit of poverty so it has no operation.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a lot of utterances that that we said today.
SPEAKER_01: Lots.
SPEAKER_01: And so what you need to do is you you're gonna have to go back to the YouTube channel.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to podcast, right?
SPEAKER_01: We saw the podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Are we working on working on?
SPEAKER_01: The podcast will be back up and running.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the the reason why that that that they went away for a bit, we we came off of what we call faith network, uh, because that's what the Lord told us to do.
SPEAKER_01: So we're we're repopulating another source.
SPEAKER_01: But my point is go back to YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: Uh listen to it over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because there's things that I I told the Lord when I started mentioning that ministering this, I'm I'm saying a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And so we got to listen to it over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: And each message is different because there's more anointing to say more every time.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I believe God.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe God?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
unknown: Hallelujah.