Managing God's Financial Plan - Cynthia Brazelton
Transcript
00:00 you know, for the next couple of months, or I should say,
00:05 we have started on teaching on God's financial plan.
00:09 And so on the Bible study nights,
00:11 we wanna be really practical where finances is concerned.
00:14 And I know God's gonna say some great things
00:17 that's gonna help you financially.
00:19 How many could use some more finances?
00:21 How many wanna prosper in the will of God?
00:23 Hallelujah.
00:24 So we're in the right house and some things you might say,
00:27 oh, that's good, I'm doing that.
00:28 And some things you may say, oh, ouch,
00:31 let me get back on track.
00:33 And so that we can prosper the way God
00:35 would have us to prosper, amen?
00:37 - Amen. - Amen.
00:38 - So let me see if I can get up here.
00:40 All right.
00:43 I did it, I made it.
00:46 (all laughing)
00:48 - Hallelujah.
00:49 He's already praying, y'all can sit down.
00:51 (all laughing)
00:54 How's everybody tonight?
00:55 - Awesome. - Awesome.
00:57 - Awesome, awesome, awesome.
00:58 We welcome everyone again that is watching live stream.
01:02 Tonight, welcome to the house of victory.
01:04 If you are a part of the ministry
01:06 and you live in the area, you should be in the house of God.
01:09 So we look forward to seeing you.
01:11 I know I'm glad to be here tonight.
01:13 I miss you all.
01:15 Praise God, so good to be with you.
01:17 I know I miss y'all, I really do.
01:20 And so again, we wanna be as very practical as we can,
01:24 but we wanna put some scripture in your hearing
01:26 just to remind you of what God has for you.
01:29 I know when you're attacked financially,
01:31 you know, the enemy tried to put a lot of stress on you,
01:34 question, doubt what God has for you.
01:37 Is it the will of God that I prosper?
01:39 Maybe this is all I'm gonna have,
01:40 this is all I'm gonna get.
01:42 All these thoughts come to your mind,
01:44 especially when you're under financial burden
01:47 or you're under some type of attack.
01:49 But somebody say, it is.
01:50 - It is. - The will of God.
01:52 - The will of God. - That I prosper.
01:54 - That I prosper. - Amen.
01:55 (indistinct)
01:58 So if you would open your Bible
02:00 to a very familiar scripture, verses of scripture,
02:03 and that is found in Jeremiah chapter 29.
02:07 And we're gonna begin looking at verse 11
02:11 in the NIV version.
02:13 If you get there, say amen.
02:18 He says, "For I know the plans that I have for you,
02:21 declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
02:25 plans to give you a hope and a future."
02:28 Somebody say, God has a plan for my life,
02:33 a financial plan for my life.
02:38 And so what we wanna do is discover God's financial plan
02:42 for your life.
02:42 I don't know about you, but you know,
02:44 starting a family, getting yourself together,
02:46 getting your first job,
02:48 having some type of responsibility for money.
02:52 I don't know if you ever thought about
02:53 what is God plan for my finances?
02:56 What does God want me to do with my finance?
02:59 What is his plan for my life?
03:01 And so once you understand that God has a plan,
03:06 and if you haven't already discovered that plan
03:09 for your finances, you wanna discover God's plan.
03:13 And the only way that you and I can do it,
03:14 I can share a whole lot of stuff with you
03:17 that I've done to discover God's financial plan for my life.
03:20 And we will discover some,
03:21 and we will share some of our testimonies,
03:23 but you have got to get in the face of God
03:26 to know what God has for you and your family.
03:29 You gotta seek God's face.
03:31 Everything you need is in the kingdom of God.
03:33 And so you gotta begin to seek God's face.
03:36 Psalms 25 and 12 in the New Living Translation,
03:40 it says, "Who are those who fear the Lord?"
03:43 Somebody say, that's me.
03:44 - That's me.
03:45 - He said, "He shall show them the path
03:47 "that they should choose."
03:49 Again, those that fear the Lord,
03:51 you have reverence for God.
03:52 He's gonna show you the path that you need to choose
03:56 or which way you should go when it comes to your finances.
04:00 He says, "They will live in prosperity
04:02 "and their children will inherit the land."
04:06 So, you know, for me,
04:08 God is not just thinking about you prospering,
04:10 but he wants you to have this prosperity
04:13 that would affect your life,
04:15 but it would affect your children's lives as well.
04:18 And so God has a plan for your life.
04:20 He wants you to,
04:22 he'll give you the opportunity to choose the path
04:25 that he has for your life,
04:26 that it will affect you
04:27 and it will affect your children as well.
04:30 Third John 2, you know it.
04:32 Beloved, somebody say beloved.
04:34 Somebody say, I am God's beloved.
04:37 I love the way he says in the Passion Translation,
04:39 he said, "Beloved friend."
04:41 Hallelujah, that's how God views us.
04:43 That's how God sees us.
04:44 He says, "Beloved, I wish above all things
04:48 "that you may prosper and be in health
04:53 "even as your soul prosper."
04:56 So your prosperity will be equal to your soul prosperity.
05:01 Obviously, we talked about a lot of your soul area,
05:04 your mind, your will, and your emotions,
05:06 all of that has to be in it,
05:08 and you will prosper equal to your soul prosperity.
05:13 But he says, "Beloved, I wish above all things
05:15 "that you would prosper and be in health
05:18 "even as your soul prospered."
05:21 Now when it comes to your health,
05:23 I love the way he put your health and your wealth together
05:27 so that you and I can draw a picture of God's plan
05:30 for your life that he's already orchestrated for your life.
05:34 How many know it's by the stripes of Jesus you were healed?
05:37 Somebody said, I'm already healed.
05:41 Say it like you mean it tonight.
05:42 I'm already healed.
05:45 So God had already provided healing for you and I,
05:48 and it was by the stripes of Jesus you were healed.
05:52 And so I need you to see that God has already
05:54 provided all things for you and I.
05:56 I said God has already provided all things for you and I.
06:01 I need you to get that on the inside of you
06:03 because when you're going to purchase something,
06:06 or you're going after something,
06:08 or when you're believing God for something for you
06:10 or your family, no matter if it's a thing
06:12 or something that you need to transpire in your life
06:16 where your finances is concerned,
06:18 I need you to know that God has already provided all things.
06:22 Hallelujah.
06:23 Somebody said he's already provided all things.
06:26 And if you start from this place of victory,
06:29 you're going to end up on the victory side.
06:31 If you start from this place of knowing
06:33 that God has already done it for me,
06:35 you're going to end up with receiving
06:37 what God has already provided for you and I.
06:39 I love, I wish above all things.
06:42 Somebody said above all things.
06:43 - Above all things.
06:44 - That you would prosper more than anything in the world.
06:47 I want you to prosper and I want you to be in health
06:51 even as your soul prospers.
06:53 In other words, I don't want you to be without.
06:55 I don't want you to be poor.
06:56 I want you to barely make it.
06:58 I don't want you to live from paycheck to paycheck.
07:00 I don't want you to ever be without anything.
07:02 I wish above all things that you would prosper
07:06 and be in health even as your soul prospers.
07:10 Psalms 35, 27.
07:13 It says, "Let them shout for joy and be glad."
07:17 Let's practice.
07:18 Hallelujah.
07:20 Glory to God.
07:22 Let them shout for joy and be glad.
07:25 Who's that?
07:26 Who favors my righteous cause?
07:29 Anybody favors God's righteous cause?
07:32 Anybody receive what God has to say about you?
07:35 That's me.
07:35 He said, "Let them shout for joy and be glad.
07:38 "Who favor my righteous cause?
07:40 "Let them say continually, 'Let the Lord be magnified,
07:45 "'who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants.'"
07:50 God takes pleasure when I prosper.
07:53 He gets no pleasure in you being broke or without
07:56 or not having enough or barely making it.
07:58 God says, "I take pleasure in your prosperity."
08:02 So he says, "Let them say continually,
08:06 "let the Lord be magnified."
08:08 And so I'm telling you, when you're without
08:10 and it looks like there's shortages in your life,
08:12 you ought to speak to your wallet and say,
08:14 "Let the Lord be magnified."
08:16 You ought to speak to the empty plate on the table.
08:18 Let the Lord be magnified.
08:21 You ought to speak to the debt that's in your face.
08:24 Let the Lord, hallelujah.
08:27 He said, "Let them shout for joy."
08:29 Why am I shouting for joy?
08:32 Joy is the power of God to overcome anything.
08:36 And so you ought to say, somebody say, "Continually."
08:39 'Cause God is continually pouring out the blessings
08:42 of God upon his people.
08:44 It is the will of God that you and I prosper.
08:47 As a matter of fact, you are anointed to prosper.
08:51 Hallelujah.
08:52 Somebody say, "I am anointed by God to prosper."
08:57 Hallelujah.
09:01 You know, Isaiah 27, I'm sorry, 10, 27,
09:05 another familiar verses of scripture to this house, I know.
09:10 And it says, "It shall come to pass in that day
09:14 that his burden shall be taken away from off of his shoulder
09:19 and his yoke from off of his neck
09:21 and the yoke shall be destroyed
09:23 because of the anointing."
09:26 Hallelujah.
09:27 Somebody said, "The anointing is the burden removing,
09:31 yoke destroying, power of God."
09:35 Hallelujah.
09:36 Well, let's look at it in the literally,
09:38 the Young's literally translation.
09:40 And it says, "And it has come to pass in that day,
09:44 turned is his burdens from off his shoulder
09:48 and his yoke from off thy neck
09:51 and destroyed have been the yoke because of prosperity."
09:56 Hallelujah.
09:58 So what God is saying to you,
09:59 prosperity removes burdens and prosperity destroys yokes.
10:04 And I'm telling you, if you got a burden on your life,
10:07 you got debt and you overwhelmed with life
10:10 because there's shortages in your life,
10:12 God said, "There's an anointing on your life to prosper."
10:15 And that anointing will destroy the yokes.
10:18 It will remove the burdens from off of your life.
10:21 Somebody say, "I am anointed by God to prosper.
10:26 Every area of my life is prospering.
10:32 I am blessed of God."
10:35 Hallelujah.
10:37 Glory to God.
10:38 Somebody said, "I'm anointed."
10:39 That means you are prosperous
10:43 and God has prospered you and I.
10:46 And so in order for us to really get God's plan
10:50 of prosperity to prosper the way God would have us
10:53 to prosper, you literally got to change your thought life.
10:58 And we've talked a lot about refreshing
11:00 and restoring our soul, refreshing and storing our mind,
11:04 having a kingdom mindset.
11:06 You might want to go and just medicate on those words,
11:08 those teachings, pull them up on Facebook,
11:12 pull them up on YouTube, meditate on those words
11:14 because your thought life will determine the area
11:17 of your prosperity.
11:19 You will prosper even as your soul prosper.
11:24 So you've got to change the way you view money,
11:27 change the way you view prosperity,
11:29 change the way you view life where your money is concerned
11:33 or not even your money, how other people's money is concerned.
11:36 It's amazing how much information or how much we have
11:40 to say about somebody else's prosperity.
11:43 Now you can't judge anybody's prosperity
11:45 'cause you've never seen their seed.
11:48 Now prosperity is a result of the seeds
11:50 that you and I sow 'cause you don't know what seeds
11:52 that person is sowing to receive the prosperity
11:54 or the harvest that they have,
11:56 but we have a lot to say about,
11:58 oh, they don't need all that,
12:00 or why do they have all that,
12:01 or they should give some of that to somebody else.
12:03 How do you know how much anybody is giving to anybody?
12:06 And so how you view prosperity will determine
12:09 how far you go or how you are cut off
12:13 from what God has already provided for you.
12:16 Somebody said I'm already prosperous.
12:18 - I'm already prosperous.
12:19 - And so your thought life is so important,
12:21 it has to shift in order for us to work God's financial plan
12:26 you gotta think prosperity.
12:28 You can't think poverty.
12:30 You can't have a poverty mentality.
12:32 You can't think all the time I'm broke, I can't afford that.
12:37 Oh, that costs too much.
12:40 You know, something costing too much is relative,
12:43 and it's relative obviously for you how much money
12:45 you have to determine whether something costs too much.
12:48 For somebody else it doesn't cost a lot at all,
12:50 but for you it may cost a lot,
12:52 and so you have literally cut off yourself
12:54 from receiving what God may want you to have
12:57 whether you use money or don't use money,
13:00 but you're cutting yourself off
13:02 simply because of the way you think.
13:04 Remember Proverbs 23, be careful what you think.
13:07 I'm sorry, Proverbs 4.
13:09 Be careful what you think.
13:10 Your thoughts control your life.
13:12 They're controlling your money.
13:14 They're controlling what you have and what you don't have
13:16 simply by the way you think.
13:19 So when it comes to finances, you can't always think money.
13:24 You gotta think the will of God.
13:26 You gotta think what God has for you.
13:28 If we thought money, anytime we bought anything,
13:32 we wouldn't have anything right now
13:34 because anytime God spoke to us to buy anything,
13:37 we never had the money to buy it.
13:39 Are y'all hearing me tonight?
13:43 You know, God says, you know, go get that building
13:45 or go in that church or do this
13:48 or I want you to set up that.
13:50 We didn't have the money to do it.
13:52 We didn't think money.
13:53 We think the anointing.
13:55 The anointing removes burdens.
13:56 It destroys jokes.
13:58 We thought the will of God.
13:59 What does God has to say about what he's telling us to do
14:04 and to achieve and to get?
14:07 And so we have to renew our minds where money is concerned.
14:11 We gotta think that my father owns it all.
14:14 It belongs to him.
14:15 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof
14:18 and he's given it over to the children of men.
14:20 God's given it over to me.
14:22 He put, in other words, another translation said,
14:24 he put us in charge.
14:25 - Hallelujah.
14:26 - Hallelujah.
14:28 And so you have the ability to say continually,
14:31 let the Lord be magnified.
14:33 Hallelujah.
14:34 And so we have to renew our mind concerning money
14:38 and concerning God's will for our life.
14:41 And so again, Romans chapter 12,
14:44 don't be conformed to this world,
14:46 the world's way of thinking,
14:48 the world's way of doing things,
14:49 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
14:53 so that you can prove for yourself
14:55 what is God's good, acceptable,
14:57 and the perfect will of God for your life.
15:00 You can't let a banker or a realtor or a creditor
15:03 tell you what you can afford and what you can't afford.
15:06 You limit yourself by listening to somebody else
15:09 and what they're saying
15:10 or the numbers don't add up in their books.
15:13 But God says, don't copy the behaviors
15:15 and customers of this world.
15:17 Don't be conformed to this world,
15:19 but be transformed.
15:20 Hallelujah.
15:23 By the renewing of your mind.
15:26 And over the next couple of months,
15:28 I'm praying that God will renew our minds
15:31 and think like God thinks
15:33 and to receive the impossible,
15:35 receive the supernatural in every aspect of our lives,
15:39 never worrying about how, where it's gonna come from,
15:42 but knowing that God has provided all things.
15:44 And every time there is a need that rises up in your life,
15:47 you have it because God has it
15:49 and God has already provided it for you.
15:52 Anybody believe in God with me?
15:54 Hallelujah.
15:56 And we're gonna use God's financial plan
15:59 to cause it to be a reality in our lives.
16:02 And so we can't think, you know, poverty.
16:05 We can't think, you know, shortages.
16:07 We can't think, I can't afford it.
16:09 I can't, that costs too much.
16:12 We can't go to a restaurant
16:14 and look on the right side of the menu
16:18 and then how much something costs
16:19 and determine whether we wanna eat it or not.
16:22 You can't think price and then what you wanna eat.
16:25 You can't go to store and look at price tag
16:28 before you look at the object
16:30 to determine whether that's something you want or not.
16:33 You gotta think like God thinks.
16:35 And also, in the area of your thinking,
16:37 you gotta think legacy.
16:39 You gotta think, 'cause the way you are thinking
16:42 and the way you handle money
16:44 and the way you think and what you think about money,
16:47 you literally pass that on to your children.
16:51 And they end up with a poverty mentality
16:53 and they end up, you know,
16:55 paying, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
16:58 They end up lying and cheating on their taxes.
17:02 They end up doing things that are unethical
17:04 because they've just, they watch your life.
17:07 So you gotta think legacy.
17:09 Your children need to see you believe God
17:12 and God meet the needs of your family
17:15 and that God'll meet any need.
17:17 Hallelujah.
17:18 You gotta see your life and what you do and how you sow.
17:21 It says Proverbs 13, 22,
17:23 "A good man will leave an inheritance
17:25 "to his children's children
17:27 "and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."
17:31 Somebody say, "God has wealth laid up for me.
17:36 "I plan on getting mine."
17:38 Somebody said, "Me too."
17:40 Somebody said, "I plan on getting mine."
17:42 (audience laughing)
17:44 So again, so how we view money,
17:47 a good man will leave an inheritance
17:50 to his children's children,
17:51 not just leave inheritance of money,
17:53 but a way to handle the money
17:54 so that we can experience a legacy
17:58 that will continue to flourish and increase
18:01 where finances and money is concerned.
18:04 You might have been broke all your young adult life.
18:07 Now you got a little bit.
18:08 So your children shouldn't start where you started.
18:12 Your ceiling becomes their floor.
18:14 They have because of the inheritance
18:17 of learning how to handle money like you have.
18:21 The Bible says in Proverbs 22, six and seven,
18:24 "Train up a child in the way he should go
18:27 "and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
18:29 "The rich rule over the poor
18:30 "and the borrower is servant to the lender."
18:33 And so you're teaching your children about borrowing.
18:36 You're teaching the children about being enslaved
18:39 to a creditor, enslaved to a bank,
18:41 enslaved to somebody, or always borrowing money,
18:44 never having enough, always asking grandma for some money,
18:48 asking your neighbor or your brother,
18:49 your uncle, your aunt for some money,
18:51 never seeing you release your faith
18:53 and believe God for things that you need in your home.
18:56 He says you're training a child in the way they should go.
18:59 Mom's always borrowing money from somebody
19:02 and then they don't even always see you pay it back.
19:05 And so he says you are training up a child
19:08 in the way they should go
19:09 and understand the rich rule over the poor
19:12 and the borrower is servant to the lender.
19:14 How many know we are called to serve the living God?
19:17 And he has good wages that he pays
19:19 for those that serve the living God, hallelujah.
19:23 - You know, I was just thinking about,
19:25 you're saying so many wonderful things
19:30 but you have to catch it supernaturally.
19:35 Do you understand?
19:36 You can't capture this from your natural standpoint
19:39 of view.
19:40 This is meant to challenge us naturally
19:43 because what God is saying to you, it's not natural.
19:47 Jesus said, my words, they are spirit.
19:49 - Hallelujah.
19:50 - And they are life.
19:51 Every time Jesus opened his mouth,
19:54 there was a release of the Holy Spirit
19:56 to cause what he was saying to come to pass.
19:59 But for you and I to grab hold to what God is saying,
20:02 we cannot think naturally concerning that.
20:05 So that's why, you know, Paul writes about,
20:10 it's so important for you and I to renew our mind
20:12 because only the renewed mind can take possession
20:15 of what God has already done for them.
20:18 The natural mind thinks the things of God to be foolish.
20:21 Doesn't make sense and as long as we do things
20:24 from that point of view, we won't move out,
20:26 we won't use our faith to take possession
20:28 of what Jesus has already done for us.
20:30 Now, you've got to understand that what he is sharing
20:36 with you and I, these are things that you already have.
20:38 These are not things that we're trying to get.
20:43 He's trying to elevate your thinking.
20:45 That's why he wrote in 2 Peter chapter one,
20:48 he says, God uses divine power to give you all things.
20:52 He already uses divine power to give you all things.
20:54 Watch this, that pertain to life and godliness.
20:57 But here's the key, through the knowledge of him.
21:00 We need another knowledge to take possession
21:03 of what heaven wants for you.
21:05 You're not gonna take possession of what heaven has for you
21:07 if you're operating from your human knowledge.
21:10 Human knowledge thinks the things of God makes no sense.
21:14 It's not logical.
21:15 Like you mean to give and it shall be given to me?
21:19 Human knowledge resists that.
21:20 It's really difficult to walk with God
21:23 until you can have the transformation
21:27 that comes as you do the word,
21:30 your life will be transformed.
21:34 Now here's, I love the Bible because it will
21:38 create a pathway to success.
21:41 But you've got to, like he says in Isaiah,
21:44 you've got to be both willing and obedient.
21:46 It's not good enough just to be willing to do
21:49 what God wants, but we also have to be obedient.
21:52 But it's not good enough just to be obedient.
21:54 You know, we're obedient because it doesn't make sense to us.
21:58 Doesn't make sense that I can take my, what,
22:01 10% of what I give and I give it to you
22:03 and I'm gonna turn out better.
22:04 Makes no sense.
22:05 You know, I'm a mathematician by profession
22:09 and numbers don't, you don't take something away
22:12 and end up with more.
22:14 Do you understand?
22:15 Makes no commonsense, not even logical.
22:17 But we're dealing with the supernatural
22:20 and what God has given you an invitation to
22:23 is the realm of the impossible.
22:25 And he's trying to get you to get to a place
22:27 where the supernatural becomes natural.
22:30 And the only way that you and I can live
22:32 supernaturally naturally is for our minds to be renewed.
22:36 You can get to a point that the way you look
22:38 at your natural lives, you can look at your spiritual lives
22:41 with the same vigor and the same confidence.
22:44 See, we're very confident and natural about finances.
22:48 You're very confident to look at what you have in the bank
22:50 to determine what you can and cannot do.
22:52 You're very confident in that.
22:54 Well, we can't afford that.
22:55 Let me see what I got.
22:56 You're so highly developed there.
22:59 Just think, but you're only responding
23:01 based on the knowledge you've been given in the natural.
23:04 So all of our response is in response
23:07 to the knowledge that we have.
23:09 Do you understand?
23:10 So what God is saying,
23:11 I'm gonna give you a different knowledge.
23:13 It's not gonna be the knowledge of the world.
23:15 It's not the wisdom of this world.
23:17 It's the wisdom of God.
23:18 I'm gonna give you my wisdom
23:20 because this wisdom will dominate
23:22 the natural laws of mankind.
23:24 That's why we see Jesus, he walks on water.
23:27 He's always dominating the natural laws of humanity.
23:30 He walks through walls.
23:32 He does things that are supernatural.
23:34 And then he wants to mentor you into that reality.
23:37 And so how does he mentor you
23:38 into the reality of the supernatural financially?
23:41 He begins to give you his word.
23:43 You got to think like God
23:45 in order to experience what he's experiencing.
23:48 Why?
23:49 You cannot have what he is offering you,
23:52 even though it's already yours
23:53 when your thoughts are not his thoughts.
23:55 I love what he says in Isaiah 55.
23:57 He says, "My thoughts are not yours."
24:00 And you have to settle it.
24:02 That God doesn't think like we think.
24:04 He says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts,
24:07 "say of the Lord, and my ways are not your ways.
24:09 "My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."
24:13 Far beyond.
24:16 So here's the invitation that we are getting.
24:19 God is inviting us to do life
24:22 far beyond anything that we could imagine.
24:25 He's trying to get you outside of the box.
24:30 You know, we've been taught all of our lives
24:31 there's color inside the box.
24:34 God says, "Get out of the box."
24:36 You outside the box.
24:37 No, there are things, there are creative miracles,
24:40 there are supernatural things inside of us
24:43 that we haven't even began to tap yet.
24:46 But the pathway to tapping those things is his instructions.
24:51 God's information becomes his pathway
24:54 for that to be a reality.
24:56 Every promise of God becomes God's pathway
24:59 to that promise.
25:00 God is not just making you a promise,
25:02 giving you information.
25:04 He's giving you information which includes
25:06 the pathway for that to happen.
25:08 And it's supernatural.
25:10 And he doesn't want it to happen just once in a while.
25:12 He says, "For just as heaven is higher than the earth,
25:15 "so my ways are higher than your ways.
25:19 "And my thoughts are higher than your thoughts."
25:20 He says, "The rain and the snow,
25:22 "they come down from heaven and stay on the ground
25:25 "to water the earth.
25:26 "They cause grain to grow,
25:28 "producing seed for the farmer, bread for the hungry."
25:33 He said, "It's the same with my word.
25:36 "It's the same with my word.
25:38 "I send it out and it always produces fruit.
25:43 "I send my word out."
25:44 Notice what produces the fruit.
25:46 "And my word always produces fruit."
25:48 See, do you understand?
25:50 So if you want what heaven sees,
25:52 you wanna walk in the same realities
25:54 that Jesus is trying to mentor you to walk in,
25:58 you have to do it the same way he did it.
26:00 He says, "Now I sent it out, my word,
26:03 "and it always produces fruit."
26:05 So it's not on you, it's not on me personally,
26:10 it's on the word.
26:11 His word is the one that produces for us.
26:14 It will produce fruit.
26:15 It will accomplish all I want it to.
26:19 So God says, "Now I'm giving you something
26:21 "that will produce the fruit of what I promised you."
26:24 "It will accomplish what I promised you."
26:27 "I'm giving you the very thing that I used to accomplish it,
26:32 "and it's supernatural."
26:33 I'm using, see, we're living by words all the time.
26:37 We're either living by the words of the natural life,
26:39 the natural man, or we can live by God's word.
26:42 God's word is tied to his kingdom.
26:45 God's word is tied to an unlimited resources.
26:48 God's word is tied to his grace,
26:50 which his grace is for your life.
26:53 God has tied you in to unfailing resources,
26:58 and we've got to break free of the reality
27:02 of the human world telling us what we can and cannot do.
27:06 That's our struggle, that's our warfare,
27:08 that's our fight, that we could believe God
27:11 and not be moved by what we see.
27:13 And that's where we're struggling.
27:14 The warfare that we're dealing with
27:16 is learning how to believe God
27:18 with this onslaught of natural things
27:21 that we are experiencing and feeling,
27:24 and yet God is saying, "Son, I can do more than that.
27:27 "Come away with me, here's a word on it."
27:29 We're learning how to develop the same trust
27:34 we have trusted in the natural laws
27:38 to now transfer that trust and dependence
27:41 on God and his word.
27:42 Why?
27:43 He said, "Because my word will not return to me void.
27:45 "My word will prosper in the thing to where I have sent it."
27:50 And I want you to know God sent you and I his word,
27:54 and he's already prophesied over that word
27:56 on the inside of you.
27:57 It will accomplish, it will prosper in your life.
28:00 It will produce the very thing
28:02 that God said it would produce.
28:04 Why?
28:05 Because God's not a man that should lie,
28:07 nor is he the son of man that should repent.
28:10 If he makes a statement, he will see it through.
28:14 He just needs somebody to see it through with him.
28:17 Sometimes you just got to stand,
28:19 having done all stand therefore,
28:22 having your feet girded about with truth.
28:25 I believe God's word, it's true.
28:28 And no matter what it looks like,
28:29 I don't care what my finance say,
28:31 I don't care what the doctors say,
28:33 I don't care what the lawyers say,
28:34 I know that God loves me, he's devoted to me,
28:39 and he's already worked it out before I got here.
28:42 That's a supernatural lifestyle.
28:49 Learning how not to live by what we see.
28:52 We always know the Bible says,
28:54 for the just we live by faith.
28:58 We live by faith.
29:01 We live in absolute dependence upon him
29:05 and what he has to say about every situation in our lives.
29:09 We're living like he's our father.
29:17 Do you understand your children,
29:20 they live in absolute faith in you.
29:23 Totally faith in you.
29:29 And God is just saying, I need you to live that way.
29:34 They trust what you're saying,
29:37 they believe what you're saying,
29:39 until you start lying.
29:40 Then they start to question what you're saying.
29:45 Then when we start doing things to corrupt their belief.
29:49 No, but you know, even when we in our worst state
29:53 and we grow up in a household
29:55 and we got mothers who know how to pray.
29:57 We know that they know.
30:01 They know our business before we do any business.
30:04 Anybody had a mother like that?
30:07 Yeah, yes sir, they know what you're doing
30:10 before you think you're gonna do it.
30:14 Well, God knows it and he's already provided
30:16 for you got to the place you're in.
30:18 And so we have to start with the word
30:21 and we've got to let this word change our thought life.
30:25 In other words, we just can't just say a quote word,
30:27 has it changed you internally?
30:29 There's a test to determine
30:32 whether it's changed you internally.
30:33 Your behavior will show that.
30:35 Your behavior becomes the fruit
30:38 of what you really think and believe.
30:43 Like we say, you know, I forgive somebody
30:45 but does your behavior show that you forget?
30:47 No, if you forgive me, it will show up in your behavior.
30:53 If God's word is true to you, it'll show up in your behavior.
31:00 You cannot say you believe that give
31:02 and it shall be given unto you,
31:04 pressed down, shaken together, running over,
31:06 shall make give unto your bosoms and you don't give.
31:09 No, you just said to me, you don't believe that.
31:13 It didn't affect your behavior.
31:14 So it didn't affect your internal.
31:16 That's why it says in third John,
31:17 I wish above all things that you would prosper,
31:20 watch this, but it's even as.
31:22 So if this doesn't change,
31:26 then it's unrealistic to expect this to change.
31:30 But if this changes, this will automatically change.
31:38 And that's what God is saying.
31:40 He's trying to change you from the inside
31:44 because we live from the inside.
31:46 We live by the words that we get from God.
31:49 And whether you realize or not, we live by words.
31:53 This is a word planet.
31:55 You're either living by the word of God
31:57 or you're living by the word of man, but we live by words.
32:00 You and the place you live in is because of some words.
32:04 You sign a contract full of words.
32:06 You buy a car full of words.
32:08 Everything we do is full of words.
32:10 We take money 'cause we say
32:12 that this money is worth something.
32:14 Those are words.
32:15 We live by words.
32:19 Now you get to choose whose word you're gonna live by.
32:22 And if we have the same conviction and confidence
32:27 of the words that we live by before we knew God
32:30 and we apply that same conviction and confidence
32:33 where the word is concerned, then you'll live by it.
32:36 Then you'll see God's word.
32:39 That's why you gotta be willing and what?
32:42 Obedient.
32:43 Man.
32:47 And then he's promised you will eat the good of the land.
32:52 Well, if I'm not eating the good,
32:54 then one of the two is out of whack.
32:56 See, we gotta be honest, like be honest.
33:01 Well, why?
33:05 We're not putting ourselves down,
33:06 but we realize that we've gotta prosper our soul.
33:10 Because I'm still living with this poverty mentality.
33:15 And I call it poverty because to live
33:17 only by the world's words is to live with limitations.
33:22 And to live with a limitation is poverty.
33:25 I don't care if you have everything,
33:30 you're doing really well,
33:32 but to not live by the word is to live in poverty.
33:37 Because God didn't intend for you
33:39 to live anything less than himself.
33:41 The motto of this church is as Jesus is,
33:46 so are we in this world.
33:48 It's not meant to be a slogan on the wall.
33:51 It's meant to be lived out.
33:53 People should look at you and say, my God,
33:56 there is a God in heaven.
33:58 And they need to be able to see that
34:01 in every arena of our lives.
34:03 They should see that in our personal life,
34:05 but also in our spiritual lives,
34:07 but also in our financial lives.
34:09 But I noticed one thing about me personally,
34:13 the financial area was the most difficult area for me.
34:17 It was the area that God had to touch.
34:20 And when he touches it, you get breakthrough,
34:23 but then there's still other levels of breakthrough.
34:26 You still have to break through.
34:35 The first time God asked you to give something,
34:37 and you're kind of hesitant, like, well, give,
34:41 what's all this about?
34:42 And so you're very hesitant about your giving.
34:47 And so you start off giving,
34:48 and your giving probably is very minimal, very little.
34:53 And then all of a sudden, God's trying to push you,
34:57 push you outside of those limit boundaries
35:01 you've limited yourself.
35:02 So he begins to push you.
35:03 Come on, do that.
35:05 Do that, do this.
35:06 Praise the Lord.
35:11 - I think we all come into this place
35:12 where we're learning to live,
35:13 and you all gonna come to this place
35:15 where we're learning to live,
35:16 that man does not live by money only, by bread only,
35:21 but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
35:25 - He wants you to come to that.
35:27 If you haven't come to that,
35:29 you haven't prospered in your soul.
35:32 If God hasn't brought you to a place in your walk with him
35:35 where that is true,
35:37 then you gonna come to that
35:40 in order for you to live supernaturally financially.
35:46 See, 'cause a lot of your problem,
35:48 a lot of what we need is not even money.
35:50 God don't have to give you money to give you what you need.
35:54 - Hallelujah.
35:57 - So money can't take the place of God,
35:59 and yet money's trying to replace God.
36:02 But God, you don't always need money.
36:04 You might just need favor.
36:05 Somebody show up and says,
36:08 "Well, I don't have the money for this apartment.
36:12 "I don't have the down payment."
36:13 Don't worry about it, you in.
36:15 You just need a favor.
36:16 You need a God to open a door for you
36:20 that had nothing to do with money.
36:22 So we don't want to limit prosperity
36:25 to be just in the financial area.
36:27 We want to limit it.
36:30 We don't want to limit it there.
36:32 Praise the Lord.
36:34 So, again, that's why for us,
36:37 we don't ever start with money.
36:39 And I think I said that Sunday.
36:40 You don't ever want to start with money
36:42 because money has limits.
36:45 And so if you start with what you can and cannot do
36:48 based on money,
36:48 then you've already determined your outcome at the beginning.
36:53 Never start there.
36:55 Start with what God is saying.
36:57 Start with what you believe He's already done for you
37:01 because that already has a determined outcome on that as well.
37:06 So the key for you and I is find out
37:08 what God has to say about it.
37:10 What is God saying about your life
37:13 and everything that you're doing?
37:15 Because He will watch over His word
37:17 to perform whatever He said to you.
37:19 And He will not be a liar concerning that.
37:22 And you can be confident if God make a promise,
37:25 like Abraham's.
37:26 He says, "I was fully persuaded that what God had promised me,
37:30 God was also able to perform it."
37:33 We just need to know what God has to say.
37:37 That's why we start with the word.
37:39 What does God have to say?
37:42 And it's going to be different.
37:44 And it's going to change something on the inside of you.
37:48 And that change will change something
37:52 externally in your life.
37:55 And so she said, "One of the things we need to think,
37:57 legacy."
37:58 Legacy is important.
37:59 Legacy means that you're not,
38:02 your every thought is not selfish.
38:04 It's not about you.
38:05 God is not going to prosper you
38:09 for all of your thoughts just to be about you.
38:11 The most prosperous people on the planet
38:15 were people who think about somebody other than themselves.
38:19 God will get it over to you
38:23 so that you could get it over to other people.
38:25 I remember my early years of ministry and we had needs.
38:29 And so we were praying for needs.
38:30 And one of the great needs we needed
38:32 was just a tape duplicating system.
38:36 I know a lot of you don't, what is that?
38:37 I don't even know what that is.
38:38 Don't worry about it, it's old.
38:40 It was a cartridge with some plastic tape in it.
38:45 And we recorded messages and people went to the store,
38:48 bookstore and bought those things.
38:52 And so that was how you got the word out.
38:55 We didn't have social media, we didn't have those.
39:00 And so that was a hot item and it cost money to buy.
39:03 And you would buy them and you could chain them together
39:05 and you could duplicate 15 tapes at a time
39:09 'cause you chain these units together.
39:13 So I was praying and believing God for it.
39:15 Woo, Jesus, yes Lord.
39:16 And so in seed and I'm in Texas one day
39:18 and a man comes to me and says,
39:20 "The Lord told me to give you a tape duplicating machine."
39:23 And I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, praise the Lord.
39:27 "I've been believing God."
39:28 Well, I took the tape duplicating machine and I asked God.
39:31 And God said, "No, that's for a man in your city
39:34 "who's been asking me and praying for this.
39:36 "I need you to bring it home and give it to him."
39:40 Now I was praying and believing God for it
39:44 and he's asking me to give the thing that I want.
39:47 Sounds like A-Pram.
39:49 A-Pram, give me your only son, the one in which you love.
39:53 See, listen, you have to depend on God.
39:58 If getting what you praying for
40:01 makes you stop depending on God,
40:03 then you're not ready yet.
40:05 See, God didn't want me to have that.
40:06 He needs to know that my dependency is on him
40:10 no matter what anybody puts anything in my hand.
40:13 That I'm living by every word that comes out of his mouth,
40:18 not living by what I see, not living by that way.
40:22 So I just brought it to him, I gave it to the guy.
40:26 You know, and I gave it to him happily, I wasn't upset.
40:28 And then when God turned around and blessed me
40:30 with one that was probably three times better
40:33 than the one he gave, I had chains and chains of duplicating.
40:37 I was like, "Yes."
40:39 Because that's what God wants to do for you.
40:41 He wants you to be looking to him,
40:44 depending on him and not looking.
40:47 You know, 'cause that's what trips us up.
40:49 Finance is gonna trip you up
40:50 when you start looking at money.
40:52 You look at things, it can replace your trust in God,
40:57 your dependency on God.
40:59 And so, but as long as you are depending on God,
41:03 you're gonna be fine.
41:05 And so you wanna raise your kids to have that as a legacy,
41:09 that they need to depend on God.
41:11 And you wanna make sure that when you go to heaven,
41:14 that they don't have to scrounge up
41:15 to figure out how to bury you.
41:17 Excuse me, or have to come to the church.
41:22 Excuse me, I need money to bury.
41:25 No, that's wrong.
41:27 Think about your future.
41:29 God thinks about your future.
41:31 He has a plan.
41:32 So think about, you know,
41:34 and you can get a plan to bury you for like $10 a month.
41:37 $10.
41:40 And when you leave here, your kids will not be stressed
41:44 trying to figure out what to do with you.
41:48 Throw you in the river.
41:51 That's legacy, man.
41:55 - And so here's some questions, some food for thought.
42:01 You know, what does money mean to you?
42:03 What does money mean to you?
42:06 You gotta think about those things.
42:08 Because you're gonna, your reaction, as Pat Stoney said,
42:11 your behavior is gonna follow what you think.
42:15 So what does money mean to you?
42:17 For some people, it means success.
42:19 For some people, it means love.
42:23 Some people, it means security.
42:27 Some things, it means acceptance.
42:32 Some people, it means respect,
42:36 all those right or wrong answers.
42:39 Those things cannot be elevated above God
42:41 and His word and what He's provided for you.
42:43 How many know success comes from the word of God?
42:46 He said, if you meditate on the word day and night
42:48 and observe to do everything that it says,
42:49 guarantee you will prosper and have good success.
42:54 He didn't say if you had a lot of money,
42:58 you're gonna prosper and have good success.
43:00 There are a lot of people with a lot of money
43:02 that are not successful.
43:04 And so again, you have to think about
43:07 what money means to you.
43:09 'Cause money's always trying to replace God.
43:12 It is.
43:14 If I got money, I got everything I want.
43:19 I don't need God, I don't need God, I got money.
43:22 So it's trying to replace God.
43:24 So God is love.
43:26 - Amen.
43:27 - So you're gonna let money replace God?
43:29 God is your security, the 91st Psalm.
43:33 - Hallelujah.
43:36 - So all of these ideas, you have to be careful,
43:40 they're coming to replace God.
43:43 You are already accepted in the beloved.
43:46 So these things, this is the kind of thoughts
43:54 that we had before we knew God.
43:55 - Another word for respect is favor.
43:57 And you've said already, we have the favor of God.
44:00 God has respect for you, that means He has favor for you.
44:04 And so if you think all of these things,
44:06 money answers the question for,
44:08 you know God is your source.
44:11 God is the one.
44:11 So another question would be, how do you see money?
44:14 And how do you treat money?
44:17 What are your values?
44:23 How do you manage your money?
44:25 You know, we don't have a lot of time for this,
44:28 but Matthew six says, you know,
44:30 you can't serve God and man.
44:34 You can't serve God and money.
44:36 So how do you see money?
44:37 How do you treat money?
44:39 You don't want money to be your God.
44:41 You can't serve God and money.
44:44 So we need to discover what God's purpose is
44:48 for our finances.
44:50 You know, the purpose of money is to be able
44:52 to exchange it for things,
44:54 but there are far more greater and important things
44:57 that money can be used for.
44:59 And so God has a purpose for money,
45:01 He has a purpose for your finances and your life.
45:03 He says, the first thing is it is more blessed to give
45:07 than it is to receive.
45:09 That's in Acts 20 and 35.
45:13 And so God want us to use our money as a means to give
45:17 to advance His kingdom.
45:19 And so He gives us instructions about seeking His kingdom,
45:22 seeking God first in everything that we do.
45:25 And so the next couple of weeks,
45:27 we're gonna discover God's purpose for our finances,
45:30 His purpose for His plan for our finances,
45:33 and some things that we can use
45:35 to accomplish God's financial plans in our lives.
45:38 Amen?
45:39 Amen.
45:40 Well, this is a great opportunity
45:42 to receive tonight's tithes and offering.
45:45 (congregation applauding)
45:46 Hallelujah.
45:47 Praise God.
45:50 Hallelujah.
45:52 Y'all ready to give?
45:53 - Yes.
45:54 - Great, great, great.
45:57 So let's, we've said a lot tonight,
46:00 and I guess, you know, we pray that in the messages
46:03 that God will begin to speak to your hearts
46:05 about what He would have you to give,
46:08 what He would have you to do with the Word of God
46:10 that He speaks into you.
46:11 We just said, Acts 20, verse 35,
46:14 it is more blessed to give than it is to receive.
46:19 Your giving, listen to me, gets God's attention.
46:22 Your giving literally gets God's attention.
46:26 And so we want the attention of God
46:29 because God looks at how we give,
46:31 He looks at what we give,
46:33 and we want God to be blessed by what we give.
46:37 You know, the Bible talks about the widow woman who gave,
46:41 and Jesus watched everybody that was giving,
46:45 and He said, "This woman gave out of her living,"
46:47 because what He was watching, her giving, got His attention.
46:52 And so your giving gets people attention,
46:58 and most importantly, it gets God's attention.
47:01 And I say that because people,
47:03 because your gift makes room for you
47:04 and bring you before great men.
47:07 In Luke chapter seven, real quick,
47:10 our time is short, it's already up,
47:13 but Luke chapter seven, it talks about the centurion soldier.
47:16 Y'all remember the centurion soldier
47:17 found in Matthew chapter eight as well?
47:19 He has a servant, sick at home, sick with a palsy,
47:22 and he wants Jesus to heal his servant.
47:25 So what he does is he goes to the Jews of the city and said,
47:28 "Can you go to Jesus on my behalf
47:31 and ask Him to come to my house and heal my servant?"
47:34 The Jews go to Jesus and say,
47:36 "Jesus, here's a man, a centurion soldier,
47:39 a man that fears God.
47:40 He wants you to come and heal his servant,
47:43 and you ought to go, Jesus, 'cause He's a godly man,
47:46 and He helped us build the church."
47:49 And so his giving got Jesus' attention.
47:52 It got the Jews' attention,
47:54 so much so they was willing to go to Jesus in His behalf
47:58 to get Him to do what He is desiring Him to do,
48:01 and that is to heal His servant.
48:02 And Jesus said, "I will come."
48:04 They go to Him and said, "Jesus, come,"
48:06 and then He realized, "Lord, I'm not even worthy
48:08 that you should come to my house,
48:10 but if you would speak the word only,
48:12 my servant will be healed."
48:15 And here's a man that got the attention of the Jews,
48:17 got the attention of Jesus.
48:19 Your giving gets God attention.
48:21 Is He noticing you tonight?
48:23 Hallelujah. - That's the blessing.
48:27 - Amen.
48:29 - He said it's more blessed to give.
48:31 What's the blessing?
48:32 You get His attention.
48:33 - Amen.
48:34 - I mean, I want God's attention.
48:38 - Hallelujah.
48:39 Amen.
48:40 - You get His attention because now He's gonna put
48:44 more resources in your hand because you are giving.
48:50 - Mm-hmm, that's good.
48:52 - You got heaven's attention to bless you,
48:55 to continue to be a blessing.
48:58 That's what happened with Abraham.
49:01 God says, "I'm going to bless you," why?
49:03 "To be a blessing."
49:07 So you get God's attention to make you a blessing.
49:12 My giving sets me up to be a blessing,
49:17 not to be a vacuum cleaner.
49:19 (laughs)
49:20 To be a blessing and you get heaven's attention.
49:24 Come on, stand to your feet.
49:25 - Hallelujah.
49:27 - That's so good.
49:28 - That's really good.
49:29 - I never saw that.
49:31 You get Jesus' attention.
49:33 - He said, "Give me my blessing
49:36 "and bring me the great man."
49:37 - He did.
49:38 - He's the greatest man in the whole world.
49:39 - Woo, that's good.
49:40 - Hallelujah.
49:42 - You should say that again.
49:44 Wow, say that again.
49:45 - Praise God, I was just saying,
49:47 the scripture says, "Your gift will make room for you
49:50 "and bring you before great men."
49:53 There's no greater man you want to go before than Jesus.
49:56 Hallelujah.
49:58 - Your gift will bring you before him.
50:00 - Yes.
50:01 - That is so good.
50:02 - Yes, yes, yes.
50:03 - You see, now if we believe that,
50:04 we would be throwing everything we had at that.
50:08 It will bring you before Jesus.