Prosperity Gospel

Prosperity gospel.

When it comes to money, you have to hold scriptures in tension, because what has often happened

is when it comes to money, the church is usually divided into one side or the other, where

this is the way we need to be, or this is the way we need to be.

When you look at scriptures, it can get quite confusing.

For instance, in 1 Timothy, it says, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation

or fall into a snare.

Now, how do you handle that?

When later on in 2 Timothy or 1 Timothy 5, it says, put your hope in God who richly provides

you with everything for your enjoyment.

How do you put those two together?

Or how do you then take what Paul says again in Timothy, where he says, if you have food

and clothing, you should be content?

And then how do you take the love of money is the root of all evil, and yet God says

again and again, I will bless and prosper you?

Or how do you go with, you need to be a good steward of what God has given, and yet Jesus

himself says, do not even care about the things of life.

I've just given you six or seven scriptures, some of them spoken by Jesus himself, others

spoken by Paul, and you realize that it divides the church into two camps when it should not.

We've got to hold scriptures or verses or teachings on money in tension.

In tension.

We've got to hold it in tension.

We can't balance it off because in every context, in every nation, then every going out and

coming in, the context changes and they must be maintained in tension.

You have to imagine walking a tightrope when it comes to money.

When you have for a stick that helps you balance, you've got the scriptures and you've got to

keep balancing.

Any questions on that before we go on?

So you can't take scriptures in the Bible and say, this is how we are going to be.

We'll be absolutely poor or we'll be absolutely rich because that's been the downfall of Christian

thinking for a while.

And I've deliberately titled this prosperity gospel because what does it look like when

the gospel says things about money?

So here's a premise we can start with that God who owns everything, God who owns everything

wants to manifest or show off or express his presence and his generosity through you, through

you and therefore he will discipline you, discipline you into a mentality, into a mentality

about God, wealth, self, others and the nature and relationship between them.

God who owns everything wants to, this is one of his desires, I want to manifest my

presence and my generosity.

Most of the things that God does is with presence.

It's not devoid of presence.

So one can be generous without the presence of God or one can be generous with the presence

of God.

When one is generous without the presence of God, people notice your generosity.

When one is present with the presence of God, then people notice both God and your generosity.

So God who owns everything, which is to say that he has all the resources in the world,

he's not miserly, God who owns everything wants to manifest his presence and his generosity

through you.

And therefore one of the things he wants to do if people are willing is he wants to discipline

you into a mentality.

He wants to discipline you not into prosperity, he wants to discipline you into a mentality,

a mindset, a way of thinking.

He wants to discipline you.

Discipline means instruction, discipline means training, discipline means trying you out,

discipline means practice, discipline means increase.

That's the thing with discipline.

Instruction is always towards increase because when we think of the word discipline, we often

think some kind of punishment.

That's not what God is talking about here.

He wants to therefore discipline you into a mentality.

Why?

Because prosperity in a village in India is very different from prosperity in Kelowna.

So he wants to discipline you into a mentality.

What's that mentality about?

The mentality about God as provider and father.

God as provider and father.

A God who is profitable.

A God who is a provider, a father, and a God who is profitable.

God is very profitable.

Everything he does profits.

So God who is a provider, a father, and profitable.

Then he wants to discipline you into a mentality of wealth.

How does one think of wealth?

When one has it, when one doesn't have it.

How does one think of wealth?

Then he wants to discipline me into a mentality of, Jacob, how are you going to deal with

money in your own life?

And then he wants me to discipline myself into a mentality of, how are you going to

take the money in your life for the benefit of others?

So this is something the Holy Spirit loves teaching because the Holy Spirit is the most

amazing businessman in the world, or money handler in the world.

And he then will show you the nature of God, the nature of these four things, and he'll

show you the relationship between them.

These are related.

None of them can exist in isolation.

If they exist in isolation, they will wither.

If it's only God and money, it will wither.

If it is only wealth and you, it will wither.

If it's only you, it will wither.

If it's only others, it will wither.

All four are tremendously connected.

Separate those four and it's like a chair with one leg missing.

Any questions?

Take away any one of those and you're done.

And this is what happens in the prosperity gospel or the poverty gospel or whatever you

want to call it.

One of them is missing.

Any questions?

I'm hoping that when this teaching is heard that I will actually not say, good teaching,

I'll keep it in mind, but that I'll try and change.

That's my fear with this teaching that is it enough for me to say, good teaching, I'll

keep these principles in mind or will I change?

Because God really desires to work out his presence and his generosity through me.

Okay, so then the first place we go to, and this might take about two or two and a half

weeks to finish.

The first place we go to is no one can serve two masters.

No one can serve two masters.

No one can serve two masters.

That's the first point.

That's from Matthew 6 24 where basically what Jesus is saying is you cannot be a slave of

God and a slave of mammon.

You cannot.

Mammon is just a word for money plus security dipped in greed and self.

It's like a Tim Hortons donut.

Money and security dipped in self-serving and greed.

That's what mammon or money or wealth, whatever you want to call it.

So Jesus makes a statement in Matthew 6 24 saying, hey Jacob, you cannot be a slave of

mammon and a slave of God.

You cannot be both.

You cannot be a slave of money and a slave of God.

And our immediate reaction is people who believe in Jesus Christ says, but I'm not a slave

to money.

I don't need to write that.

But I'm not a slave to money with three exclamation points.

If that is the case, then here are the questions I need to ask.

Why are my decisions determined?

Why are my decisions still determined by money?

Why are my decisions still determined by money?

Why does money tell me what I can do?

Why does money tell me where I can go?

Why does money affect me when I get up in the morning?

Why does money disturb my sleep when I go to bed at night?

Why are my decisions?

Why is my day still determined, affected, tormented by money?

It is.

Why?

If I'm not a slave to it, why does it still do that?

Another question and we can talk about this.

Why is my life full of careful worry?

Because Christians have cultivated this thing called careful worry.

It's not fully sinful, it's only half sinful.

Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes, and shelter and life after

65?

Immediately the common sense screams.

Then I won't have a job and who will take care of me?

These are valid arguments.

But we are trying to live at an extreme because Jesus is the model.

We are trying to live an extreme life because Jesus is the model.

You think Jesus couldn't have lived the same way when he was 65?

Because sometimes people may say, but he was 33, he didn't know what retirement looked

like.

Trust me, he'd have aced it by the time he was 65 because he'd have had more years of

practice.

Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes, shelter, life after 65?

Third one, what are these questions meant to do?

These questions are meant to just highlight the struggles I still have with money.

Here's a third question.

Why is it that I still desire money?

Why is it that I still, and you can choose which word you want, desire, want, crave,

seek money.

Why is it that I give it such importance in my life?

Why is it that I give it such importance?

And pay attention to it.

Here's another question.

This is a very difficult question, some unfair thing, but it's so fair.

When are all my possessions and money going to belong to Christ and the church?

If you're hearing a loud voice in your head saying, never, just deal with it later.

When will all my possessions and my money belong to Christ and the church?

When will I place it, or in other words, when will I place them in the hands of the invisible

Christ and the feet of the visible body?

When will I place it in the hands of the invisible Christ and the feet of the visible body?

For the sake of the gospel.

So God can distribute it, so that people can access it, so that God can distribute it,

and so that people can access it.

When?

Okay, now if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

This is an extreme viewpoint, eh?

There's nothing moderate about this.

It is a Jesus viewpoint.

He lived like this.

This is why it becomes difficult after teaching this to talk about tithing.

Tithing is nice, but after you talk about this, it's like, yeah.

If you teach this, then you don't need to teach tithing.

Yeah.

Okay, feel free guys to say stuff, or if you don't have anything to say stuff and just

are feeling terribly convicted, join the club.

The problem with training up a child the way he should go, even when he's holding them

apart from it, comes to mind because we have been trained and steeped in the opposite of

that all our lives.

All our lives, yeah.

Yeah, doubly messed up.

This is when I think to myself, Joseph and Mary did a decent job with Jesus, because

they must have advantaged him.

It was not, the Holy Spirit always uses people.

The Holy Spirit must have used Joseph and Mary to help Jesus have a mind that was different.

Hardly anything is said about Jesus' parents.

I think the fear of trying both systems until you're 65 and having one foot in either of

these operation systems is a big struggle.

Yeah.

And not launching it to either one.

Yeah.

And I think that fear would keep people in the world system.

Yeah.

Because we don't have any proof at 65.

Yeah.

We Christians are at a disadvantage, because we have to live in the world and yet we are

not off the world.

So we put, like he said, a feet in both boats and the boats keep spreading further apart

the more teaching you get.

Yeah.

If you aren't taught this, you can handle it.

But at the end of this teaching, you'll be like this, just so you know.

Yeah.

Sorry, you were going to ask something.

Yeah.

How does this tie to Paul's words 1322 where it says, a good man leaves an inheritance

to his children and his family?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Which brings up another question.

Why do we save?

Why do we save?

Do we save because we are scared?

Do we save for a rainy day?

Do we save so that our children won't suffer?

Or do we save because creating an inheritance to pass it on as a secondary thing after teaching

Sam that God will provide for you like I can never provide for you?

Which one is it?

And what is meant by the inheritance?

Yeah.

It doesn't necessarily mean money.

Yeah.

It is not the primary thing.

But are we able to do that?

As an Indian, I come from a culture where saving money is the first thing parents do.

And they save money for their children.

I mean, when I decided to take up a job, my dad said, no.

When I bought my own soap and shampoo, he was infuriated.

He said, either buy all the groceries for the entire house, but you ain't buying no

soap or shampoo.

Why?

Because it was this mentality that we are saving up for you.

But my dad also was afraid of the fact that what if things don't work out?

At least there's money to take care of my children, take care of me.

So the question when it comes to inheritance and savings is this.

Are you saving because you're scared of a rainy day?

Are you saving because you want to make sure that you have enough when you finish working?

Are you saving because it's laced with degrees of fear and doubt and distrust?

Or are you saving because you love gathering money to give it away?

Sometimes to your biological children, sometimes to your spiritual children,

and sometimes to people who are neither.

That kind of inheritance, if we could collect and give away, that would be awesome.

So yes, one should gather up an inheritance to give away.

Every month one should put away towards an inheritance that can be given away to your

biological children, to your spiritual children, and to ones that are neither.

An inheritance is something that happens because of a relationship that the one who has gathered initiates.

I can adopt someone and now that person becomes a partaker in my inheritance.

And it happens through relationship.

When I ask myself these questions, I realize that I'm still struggling with this idea of being free of the mastery of mammon.

The question is, how badly do I want to be free from it?

And the answer, surprisingly, even in this church would be not fully.

I don't want to go this extreme because this could really mess things up.

I've got to have some kind of a backup plan.

And if you want a backup plan, then you can never be like Jesus in this area.

And I want to be like Jesus in this area.

That's one instance, but otherwise he worked hard.

Because the scary part is where everything has to come from a fish's mouth or a raven's beak.

Paul could have then gone fishing or catching birds, but instead the guy had to work with canvas and leather.

Jesus had to work with splinters and wood.

So there is that idea of work, but it is not the only way, which we've spoken about many times.

When your work becomes the means of your livelihood, you're finished.

Because you will only get what you deserve.

But it depends on ravens and fish.

In the end, they may come and you'll have to eat the raven and the fish because there's nothing left.

And for me, it's not money, but there's all the systems around that are scary.

It's like that, but Jesus Christ is not the money.

And mammon actually is not money. Mammon is the system and the security that the system brings.

That's what mammon really is. It's not just money.

It feels more complicated now than what I heard in the Bible.

I don't just have a little towel in my hand.

It's a system. It's a system that tries to make you secure.

It's a system that offers you protection.

It's a system that promises you security.

It's a system that gives you status.

It's a system that gives you comfort.

It's a system that lets you sleep well at night.

Can you believe that?

At the same time enslaving you.

At the same time enslaving you, yeah.

You sleep in shackles, but you sleep well.

So when I see these questions, why are my decisions still determined by money?

Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes and shelter and life after 65?

And I'm getting there in 80 years.

Why is it that I still desire, crave, seek money?

Why is it that I give it more importance and pay attention to it?

When are all my... this is a backbreaker.

When are all my possessions and money going to belong to Christ and you?

Sometimes there are occasionally people who don't have a problem and who master this.

Their problem is not a lack of generosity.

But another thing that happens when it says you cannot serve two masters,

another thing that happens with money is arrogance.

And I think that's a very important point.

I think that's a very important point.

I think that's a very important point.

I think that's a very important point.

Arrogance.

And I've seen this.

Arrogance.

And two, when people have money, decision making is theirs.

They do what they will.

Decision making.

I can, therefore I will.

I can, therefore I will.

And both are scary places to live in where people have learned generosity.

But it begins to take... the beast has a different nature now.

They've mastered generosity.

But now they step into arrogance and they step into I can, therefore I will.

And when that happens, that's another way that mammon masters people.

I can, therefore I will.

But that's on the side.

But that's on the side.

That I don't think is the usual problem.

Any questions or thoughts on this?

My ultimate aim then should be the fourth question.

My ultimate aim should be the fourth question.

When will all my possessions and money belong to Christ and to you?

When will I place them in the hands of the invisible Christ and the feet of the visible church?

When can God distribute it and when can people have access to it?

What does that look like in today's world?

It looks like...

It looks like not being concerned about whether I have or whether it will become less

when I am prompted to meet a need, prompted to give the undeserving, prompted to give the deserving,

prompted to spend it for the sake of the kingdom, prompted to give it away for the gospel,

prompted to go sometimes 100% of all that I have, prompted to sometimes go 90%.

It is basically being like the tap in your kitchen which God can open at will

and you will not stop it till he turns the tap off.

It's a scary place to live in.

That's how Jesus Christ lived.

The problem is if one person in the church does that, it doesn't work.

It has to be 10 people in the church and then the church begins to learn.

If today, besides me, and I have to say, I have to do it too because you can't ask people to do what you cannot.

I remember Paul's dad saying this once to me, that, Jacob, before you ask the church for anything, make sure you do it.

And so, if I had nine others who begin to practice an extreme way of living,

then this church will completely change in terms of wealth, in terms of poverty,

in terms of plenty, in terms of everyone who didn't have having and everyone who have not having less.

Nine people.

This will change.

It doesn't matter what you earn.

Nine people who live like this can change a church.

But to get nine people, super difficult.

And the older you get, the harder it gets.

Sue's saying no. Good for Sue.

Praise God.

But if you have 10 people like this in the church, then poverty gets banished from the church.

He who had much will not lack and he who had little.

He who had much will not have little and he who had little will not lack.

I think the big challenge here is knowing and believing that you can trust and learning how to hear God really good.

Because if we're not convinced that we're hearing God, we will never ever be able to live.

Yeah.

But the reason I start with a but is I really think this church hears well enough to take risks on this.

We don't need any more teaching on hearing.

When it comes to generosity, be okay if you hear wrong.

You'll still end up on the right side of your father.

When it comes to generosity, it's okay if you hear wrong.

Because you still end up on the correct side of the father.

Another problem that we'll have to deal with is the love for money.

The love for or love of money.

There's a dirty word for love for money.

It's called greed.

Christians aren't greedy.

But if you have a love for money, you are greedy.

The Bible says so.

If you have a love for money, you are greedy.

Love for money is greed.

And it's a wicked thing in the kingdom and in the church because it makes me self-centered.

It makes me self-centered.

It opposes love.

Filio, agape, whatever love you want to call it, it opposes it.

Because greed will always make me self-centered.

And so if you have a love for money, then it's greed.

Please don't sweat off because this is getting uncomfortable.

You're trying to justify, you're trying to argue in your head, don't.

The love for money also in our society, the love for things.

Yeah.

So greed is fueled by discontentment.

Greed is fueled by discontentment.

When you read 1 Timothy 6, say 7 to 15, all this is presented there.

Greed is fueled by discontentment.

Discontentment with present circumstances, present status.

And greed always leads to another sin called covetousness.

Or wanting what someone else has.

And that leads to another thing called resentment against the person

and resentment against God.

Because everybody's making it rich but me.

Yeah.

Everybody's making it rich but me.

Everybody's making it rich but me.

So it just develops into one after the other.

Greed is when I love money.

And how do you define the love of money?

Wanting more of it.

Crazy, eh?

It all throws us suddenly into one basket.

There's a commonality suddenly.

Greed is wanting more.

Love for money is wanting more of it.

What?

So I'm not supposed to be ambitious, I'm not supposed to want more money.

Sorry, I didn't say that, Jesus said it.

You've got a problem, take it up with him.

So greed is fueled by discontentment.

Discontentment leads to wanting something that others have

which is what the definition of covetousness is.

This applies not just to money, it applies to everything.

Israel had a problem with greed or discontentment.

What was the discontentment?

We want a king.

Like every other nation.

It spills into every area, guys.

Covetousness, wanting what someone else has.

When you don't get what someone else has, then that leads to resentment.

Which James speaks about in James chapter 4.

James 4 · chapter mention

Why are you so upset?

Is it because your prayers are not being answered?

But your prayers are not being answered because you pray amiss.

It leads to resentment against the person and against God.

Any questions?

1 Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10 puts it this way.

1 Timothy 6:9

Having money, wanting money, craving for money or the security it brings

is the first step towards error, towards misery, towards pain, towards straying from the faith.

1 Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10.

1 Timothy 6:9

If I were to take the passion translation, the message, the NIRV, the NLT,

and the NIV and the ESV and the KJV and put it together,

then here's what it says.

That loving money, wanting money, or craving money and the security it brings

is the first step towards error, towards misery, towards pain, towards mistakes,

towards straying from the faith.

It ensnares you and it gives you a desire for worldly pleasures

and it distorts your simplicity and plunges you into destruction.

What?

This is crazy.

It plunges me into ruin and destruction because I want more money?

That's what it says.

That anyone who has a desire for money pierces himself and sets himself up for ruin and destruction,

sets himself up for an indulgence in worldly pleasures,

sets himself up for error and strays from the faith.

Anyone who desires money.

Crazy.

You see how convoluted, distorted, depraved the prosperity gospel suddenly is.

Depraved the prosperity gospel suddenly is.

Gehazi ruined his life.

Aiken ruined his life and the life of his family.

Ananias ruined his life and the life of his family.

Judas ruined his life and the life of his family.

Destruction.

There's nothing short of destruction.

So Jacob's question is, hey Jacob, do you have a desire for more money?

If you're waiting for an answer, it ain't coming.

It's a question.

And the only way out of this is if I really grasp the faithfulness of God,

where he says, I'll be with you, I will not leave you, I will not forsake you,

I will take care of you, I will be there.

I'm your father.

Before a word comes to your mouth, I already know it.

Look at the birds of the air.

I will take care of you.

Till I grapple, wrestle and actually believe that, contentment is impossible.

Contentment is impossible.

And as long as contentment is not possible, I will not destroy the love of money.

Hear me.

Without contentment, you cannot destroy the love of money.

Contentment is not eating one slice of bread.

This is the other side of the prosperity gospel, where people have reacted so hard against it,

that now it is, if I get a bit of roti and dal, sorry,

if I get a slice of bread and marmite, have you tasted marmite?

Oh my God, even Australians don't like it.

Sorry Ruth.

Yeah.

Sheldon, do you remember?

We went to a Bible study.

I hope the person is not watching.

This is in Sydney.

And so, the person gave us gift bags.

And the gift bags had like bottles of marmite.

Veggie-mite.

Veggie-mite.

And I gave mine to, selflessly I gave mine to Sheldon.

Like Sheldon had enough to start a business here.

Yeah, so the flip side of the equation is when we think that contentment is being really happy with a slice of bread and veggie-marmite.

That's not contentment.

That's fake it till you make it.

Or fake it till you marmite it.

That's not contentment.

Because never forget the words that Jesus also said that, hey, I am a God who loves giving you things so that you can enjoy them.

That's why this has to be held in tension.

We can't go one scripture, can go.

So contentment is different.

Any questions guys?

Can you say again, I got distracted by your illustration about contentment.

Yeah, so if I am not confident of the fact that God will never leave me, abandon me, will always be a provider to me,

will always be there to take care.

If I don't remember that, I will never be able to enter into contentment.

And as long as I'm not content, I will always have a love for money.

I'll always have a love for money.

It's a terrible thing to say, but the love for money is what makes us stick to tight, 10%.

I know that sounds so unbiblical.

But I can tell you, as I temperature my heart, I could feel that Bible healing will leave me.

sounds so unbiblical, but the love for money is what makes you stick to 10%.

And I'm not saying to the church, eh? Give! Not just to the church, there are plenty.

But we're not going into giving. We're not talking about giving, we're just talking about

mentality right now. Yeah.

Any other questions? Okay.

Here's another one that we need to deal with.

These are mentalities God wants to discipline us into. Fear of money. Fear of money.

Fear of money. Most of us are afraid of money. Most of us are afraid of money.

The world is less afraid of money. Christians are more afraid of money.

Most of us are afraid of money. The world handles it better.

Christians don't.

We are driven by a fear of lack.

We are driven by a fear of lack.

We are afraid of losing it.

We are afraid of not having the security that we need.

We are afraid of not having the security of money tomorrow.

But the world takes bigger risks with money than Christians do.

Pardon? Which part? All this?

Fear of lack. Fear of lack is a fear of money. There's lack.

Yeah. So you can... Yeah, yeah.

Fear of lack. Afraid of losing the money. These are things that we are afraid of.

The other way to deal with this is to just say, I'm going to survive on a hundred bucks.

Regardless, you won't take risks. The fear of money paralyzes you from taking any risks in the kingdom.

And the kingdom is a kingdom full of guaranteed risks.

Because that's the other way of dealing with it. You know what? I'm not going to play this game of fear of money.

I'm just going to survive on a hundred bucks from now on. And I'm free of... That's not free of...

That's just making sure that you plan for the worst case scenario and stay there and don't take any risks.

So God will not be able to do much there. But that's for another day.

Fear of money. We are driven by a fear of money. Fear of lack.

And whenever there's fear, someone else is master. Whenever there is fear, someone else is master.

Whenever there is fear, someone else is master.

I know I've said this before and the old timers probably have heard it a few times.

But in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, the guy goes and buries his talent because he's afraid of two things.

One, he's afraid of losing it or it being stolen. Two, he's afraid of his master. That's why he buries it.

And he's the only guy who gets chucked out. The guy who gives back what he was given is the guy who gets chucked out.

Because fear will never allow money to multiply.

Fear will never allow money to multiply. In the area of your life that you have the fear of money, in that area, money will not multiply.

I've rarely met anyone who's not afraid of money. In fact, I know only one guy who's not afraid of money.

And no, I'm not talking about me. There's not some Paul saying, I met a man once.

It's definitely not me. It's a rarity to meet a believer who's not afraid of money.

Believers are scary cats when it comes to money.

It's true. I did home parties with two different companies.

We would quickly learn that it was better for us to get outside of the church and get to know each other.

We would quickly learn that it was better for us to get outside of the church community for having successful business.

We need to change this.

These topics are not so that your offering will increase.

That's very easy. I can just tell you, increase your offering.

This is not for that. This is so that we live a very different life and it will begin to let God's presence and generosity begin to affect others.

The fear of losing money is what plunges me into stockpiling, into protecting, into prolonging it.

How I prolong, eh?

I mean, you can go into homes today and you will find gifts that you gave them three years ago, still on the top shelf.

Because it was supposed to be used three years ago, but let's use it next year.

Because we've got to finish this. The soap is down to a sliver and the toothpaste, like even torture won't bring out any more toothpaste.

But, my God, to throw away that toothpaste or to not use that last sliver of soap as you're using it, it's breaking up in your head.

You think it's dandruff. No, it's just soap.

It's crazy, man. Doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor. This is not a rich or poor thing. It's a human thing.

And we call it, this is the worst, after we do all that we still call it good stewardship.

Embarrassing, man. I remember once taking a toothpaste and then putting it and then running something over it this way so that the remaining of it would come out.

And I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing? And then part of me is saying, good stewardship.

This is not good stewardship. This is like torment.

Torment.

Jesus made a high... So we have a tendency to prolong things into the future. And it's because of our fear.

There is another side to it where one can be reckless and lose everything. What was supposed to be meant for tomorrow gets squandered today.

So one teaching cannot cover both ends. So we'll deal with that another day. But I'm talking about some of our common problems.

The other thing is, guys, Jesus made a highly irresponsible statement in Matthew 6 where he says,

do not worry about these practical details of life because they and not the devil will choke the life of God out of you.

Do not worry about these practical details of life. What you eat, how you shelter, what clothes you wear.

Meaning the practical things of life that we are investing and saving up for.

Jesus said, do not be worried about them. Do not spend time thinking about the practical things of life.

Because these cares are what chokes the life of God out of you. It's not the devil, but the cares of life that choke God out of you.

That goes so against the grain of kingdom stewardship that is taught in seminars all over the world.

Your common sense begins to shout inside your head saying, that's absurd. I must consider how I'm going to live.

I must consider what I'm going to eat and drink. And Jesus summed up common sense carefulness in the life of a disciple

as careful unbelief. Careful unbelief. I love this line. When I take the pressure of provision,

when I take the pressure of provision upon myself, when I take the pressure of provision upon myself,

I place mammon or money or wealth or security at the center of my life.

Once anything is in the center of my life, it orders my life.

This is what Adam did. Adam took the pressure of provision on himself.

When I take the pressure of provision upon myself, he decided that he would gain knowledge on his own.

He decided that he would begin to become like God. It was going to be taught to him.

Instead he took it into his own hands and then he was abandoned to toil the ground by the sweat of his brow.

We still toil the ground with the sweat of our brow. So when I take the pressure of provision upon myself,

I place mammon at the center of my life. Any questions?

So amassing treasures for the kingdom becomes something that I can only do when I get old or when I get rich.

Amassing treasures for the kingdom is not something I can do now.

Right now my main concern is can I amass treasures of the world that can be eaten by moth and rust?

That's my focus right now. Once I have enough, I'll amass the treasures of the kingdom.

So think about taking care of my parents. Think about taking care of everyday needs.

Go back to what Jesus said. Very irresponsible statement. Why are you concerned about that?

Do you not know that I can take care of it? That is so impractical. Go back to what Jesus said. I will take care of it.

Either he is saying the truth or there is some hidden meaning in Aramaic that nobody has found out yet.

Extreme positions. Extreme son of God.

That aside, it's very hard to scale spiritually in terms of expectations. Let me write it down. It's too long a sentence.

It is very hard. It's very hard to scale spiritually.

It's very hard to scale spiritually in terms of expectations, adventures, and fierce generosity.

If I am averse to taking risks, taking God-directed risks with mammon, which is just another Greek word for money and security.

It's very hard to scale spiritually. Any church that does not take risks with its money will not scale spiritually in expectations, in adventures, and in fierce generosity.

That's why I always suggest to any church leader to appoint non-accountants to run the church finances.

Have an accountant to do the books, but do not appoint an accountant to manage the money because they will be careful.

That's not something against accountants.

Nurse. That's nothing against accountants. We've got Aaron, we've got Dilna, we've got a few others. Nothing against them.

Any questions, guys?

Maybe we'll have to stop at this next one.

The prosperity gospel at the end of the day feeds into all this. The prosperity gospel basically says, hey, sow some money and you'll reap some money.

The prosperity gospel feeds into the love of money. It is perverse.

It is this idea of sow some and you'll get some. The children of God are blessed.

It feeds into lack. It feeds into fear. It feeds into love of money. That's what it does. And it is exploitative.

And it is so popular because everybody has this problem. Therefore, this is the biblical solution.

We'll talk about the prosperity gospel from Jesus' perspective later, but to sum it up, it's very simple.

And you've heard me say this many times and it's brilliant. As a son, I lack nothing.

This is the true prosperity gospel. As a servant, I own nothing.

The day you hit this, two things will happen. You will prosper and you will be the happiest person on earth.

There are moments that I've hit this, but they're so fleeting that I couldn't capture and put it in a bottle because otherwise I'd have sold it to you and would have done a TV ad.

Please send me the opening. I mean, can you imagine the stuff that is sold to make you rich?

Take this towel and put it on your head and tomorrow your debts will be solved.

Take this oil. Take this shadow. Take this photograph.

It is feeding into the love of money, the fear of money and the third one.

Love of money, fear of money and serving mammon. This is the prosperity gospel, but we won't go there today.

So let me end with this one. Money orphans you. Money orphans you.

Money orphans you. And so we've got to fight this because it orphans you.

It is one of the worst things that money does to us. It orphans us. Money orphans you.

Money has the power to turn you into an orphan. Money has the power to turn you into an orphan.

Money has the power to turn you into an orphan because it cultivates in you a fear of abandonment.

And it cultivates in you a fear of abandoning yourself to the father's nature and commands to the father's nature.

Money has the power to make you an orphan and it does it in two ways.

One, it cultivates in you a fear of abandonment. If I don't have money, who will take care of me?

If I don't have money, who will take care of my future? If I don't have money, how am I going to do this?

So the father is completely left out. It renders your father distant. It renders your father sometimes not faithful.

It renders your father incapable of taking care of practical needs. It renders your father as some kind of spiritual father and not a real father.

It renders your father's love measured by how much you have or how much you don't have.

It renders your father's words as words that are some kind of contract that he has to oblige. It orphans you.

And then the second thing it does is it makes you an orphan in the sense that you have a fear now of abandoning yourself to the father's nature and commands.

When he gives a command, it is not possible to follow through because you're scared that if you abandon yourself to that command, what's going to happen to your finances?

One of the tactics the enemy uses when it comes to money is he begins to delay what is supposed to happen in your life.

And as the delay begins to happen, you begin to question everything that you stood for.

God is saying, I'll do this this year. And you begin the year with all kinds of faith.

And then as the delay happens, as you don't see the results that you thought would happen, it begins to create fear.

And as it begins to create fear, you begin to tell yourself, never again. Or you begin to question the decision you made.

Or you begin to make plans that you were never supposed to make so that God could fully have full charge of whatever he wants to do.

Plan B, screw up. Plan A.

It's a mindset that is afraid. An orphan is someone who's afraid. An orphan is afraid. An orphan is afraid.

An orphan remembers lack.

Pawan came up and said he had a $20,000 debt. I had a $60,000 debt.

It took me seven years to get rid of it. And I remember this couple who called me to their home and I paid off the last $5,000.

And they said, Jacob, we want you to come home because we want to burn this paper on which the outstandings were.

And we went and it was a bonfire of sorts because the paper was long.

So what would happen is for years after that, I would talk about the lack, talk about the lack until one lady I remember coming and telling me,

Jacob, it's time to let go of it. You keep talking about it. It's like you've got to run this flashback in your head for everyone who talks to you.

Get rid of it. Sometimes it's okay to talk about it for a while.

But one of the things an orphan does is, my God, he remembers his lack and it frightens him for the future.

Doesn't matter that he has a father now. He'll go into elaborate 16 chapters of how I was an orphan and two chapters of now I have a father.

An orphan tries to secure tomorrow.

And the only way you can secure tomorrow is by controlling it.

And control is an illusion.

An orphan is afraid. An orphan remembers lack. An orphan tries to secure tomorrow.

The only way you can secure tomorrow is by controlling tomorrow.

And just when you thought you controlled it, you realized, oh, shucks, it's an illusion. You've got to control more.

An orphan is careful with generosity.

An orphan covets what others have from their fathers.

An orphan is careful with generosity.

And an orphan is careful with faith.

An orphan is exposed to the unrelenting demand of the soul.

Is at the mercy of the unrelenting demand of the soul.

And one of the demands of the soul is provision.

An orphan is at the mercy of the unrelenting demand of the soul.

And one of the demands of the soul is provision.

And one of the demands of the soul is provision.

Do you understand now why we started with that sentence saying God needs to discipline us into a mentality?

Ah, here's another highly disguised form of orphanhood.

Choosing, there are people in this church who think like this.

And I'm not looking at you.

Choosing self-sufficiency and not the sufficiency of the Father.

A highly disguised form of orphanhood is this idea that has been cultivated in the Western world in particular.

That one needs to be self-sufficient. It brings glory to the Lord.

And once we are self-sufficient, we can help others.

Self-sufficiency is a method of avoiding dependence on the all-sufficiency of God.

Choosing self-sufficiency and not the all-sufficiency of the Father.

Self-sufficiency will never let you get into the place of prospering for King and Kingdom. Never.

Never.

When you look at the rich man who came to Jesus, now you see the full picture of all this at work as the man stands before the Son of the Living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of the universe.

And he walks away because of the love of money, because of the fear of money.

Every so often, just be aware that God, because he loves you and finds me getting into a place of self-sufficiency, God and not the devil will rock my boat.

He doesn't do it to destroy me. The devil does things to destroy me.

God does it so that he can bring me from self-sufficiency again back to all-sufficiency.

Every so often, he'll just shake it saying, Son, you're getting too self-sufficient. You'll run after me for too long to mess up towards the last half of your life.

Come on. Let me just rock your boat a little.

There's a way to avoid it. Just don't go down that route.

Do you have an example of what that may look like?

Oh, yes. How many examples do you need?

As many as you want.

Nicely, nicely put. Touché.

I'm not going to mention you.

Thank you. Thank you for giving me freedom.

I remember getting very dependent on a charge card that I used to use.

It's not a credit card. It's a charge card. You can spend as much as you want.

At the end of 45 days, you just paid off.

I remember getting dependent on that.

In my mind, God's new name was Yahweh who pays off my charge card in 45 days.

I wasn't any more dependent on God. I was absolutely confident that this card,

you can spend as much as you want, and then 45 days from now, somehow you'll have to provide.

So dependency shifted.

I remember one day the company just called and said,

We just realized we gave you this card without checking your credit,

and so we're taking the card back.

They said, Oh, by the way, all the money that's on the card right now,

you can use it to pay off your debt.

And they said, Oh, by the way, all the money that's on the card right now,

you've got to pay it in 10 days.

Freaked me out, man.

It worked out.

But I remember repenting before God, saying, Father, I'm sorry I began to call you Yahweh

who provides every 45 days.

And I'm sorry that I became dependent on this card as a means to everything.

Every so often God does that, eh?

Or I love what he does with Elijah. He really didn't need to do it.

What's wrong if a brook keeps flowing, man?

What's wrong if ravens bring you meat from different fast food joints?

Like KFC one day, Burger King another day,

Patty from White Spot.

He could have kept that going, but he deliberately dries up the brook.

Why? Because he loves changing the source

so that you don't get dependent on the source, but stay dependent on him.

That has happened too, where I expect that this is the source that the money is going to come from.

And you get a call from the source saying, Oops, sorry.

And you think to yourself, Oh, shucks, you made so many commitments.

What's going to happen now?

And then, you know, you're going to have to make a call from the source,

and God says, Well, now you'll have to depend on me.

And then the whole thing begins again.

That he does because he loves you.

It'll never destroy you, don't worry.

It'll make you feel a little less dignified,

and you'll be upset with him for a couple of days.

He can handle that.

My thinking, I'll end with this.

My thinking when my guard is down is like a fingerprint that can identify my mindset about money.

My thinking when my guard is down is like a fingerprint that can help identify

the mentality or the mindset I have about money.

What or how am I thinking in those moments when my guard is down,

as in when I'm not quoting scriptures, when I'm not in the worship zone,

when I'm not sitting in a church, when things happen with regard to money,

what is the first reaction?

That usually is a fingerprint, as in is the identity of your mentality.

How do you react?

What is the first gut reaction?

What do you say in your mind?

That usually is a betrayal of true condition.

And be ashamed sometimes at your reaction,

because it shows you how distant you are from the Father.

That's not a good way to end.

Be ashamed of your reaction.

Let's end on a happier note.

I said be ashamed of your reaction because it's fascinating how after all these years,

after knowing the Father so well, how ashamed I am of my responses to God and money.

I don't know if I've shared this.

The camera is on, right?

Don't turn it off because they'll think I've got some deep secret hidden.

I remember going to a certain place and I was like,

I remember going to a certain place and a church giving me a certain amount of money.

And I go and exchange that money to Canadian dollars.

And I'm walking happily in the airport.

Then I come to another exchange where the rate was better.

I regretted it for two hours.

And I'm even saying stuff like, Father, why couldn't you have sent me to that exchange first?

You could have easily directed me there.

You know how much more I'd have gotten?

About $76 more.

Two hours I'm regretting it.

And then I'm sitting in the plane and God is saying, two hours ago you didn't have that money.

Two hours ago I provided you through someone else's generosity.

I provided you money.

And do you realize, son, that you have spent the last two hours lamenting about $76 you didn't get

because you went to the wrong exchange?

What's wrong with you?

It's kind of like the gas stations.

Yeah, the gas stations.

I don't understand it.

I know guys who will travel from here to Coquitlam to get two cents off gas.

I don't understand it.

Yeah.

And then worse, after they do that they say, I just wanted to be a good steward.

That!

This, we sometimes need to face our true conditions.

I think when the Lord said, you spent two hours, you wasted two hours of your life lamenting over a bad exchange rate

when you didn't have that money two hours ago.

It is pathetic thinking.

It is poverty mentality.

This is what feeds and fuels the prosperity gospel preached on TV.

The only guy who does not have a choice to preach the prosperity gospel is Creflo Dollar

because with a name like that what can you do?

He didn't have a choice, but most others have a choice.

I mean, if I had a name like Creflo Dollar, what else can you preach on, man?

I mean, I like some of the stuff he does, but moving on.

That's not how I wanted to end either.

So, the only way, the only way to break this is to grapple, grasp and come back to God as a father and you as a child.

The only way to break all the things we've said is to grasp, is to grapple as in wrestle,

grasp as in catch hold of and come back to God as a father and you as a child.

If that doesn't happen, we will struggle with this.

Next week we'll continue with what's the false prosperity gospel and what is the true prosperity gospel looks like.

Then the week after that we'll see.

Cool. This week house churches start.

Strange, there are no worship songs about money.

It's much easier to lay down your life than lay down your money.

Good morning.