The Prosperity Trap

Open your Bibles to 3 John 2, 3 John 2.

We're going to continue our prosperity series. And today's title is called The

Prosperity Trap, The Prosperity Trap. And I'll explain that as we continue today.

The Apostle John tells us, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things

and be in health just as your soul prospers.

So understand our prosperity in all things, relationally, financially, socially.

Economically, physically, is going to be in direct proportion to our prosperity

of our soul, which consists of our mind, how we think, our will, and our emotions.

So before you can prosper in all things and be

in health you have to see yourself prosperous on the

inside before you'll see yourself prosperous on the outside you have to see

yourself healthy on the inside before you'll be healthy on the outside you have

to see yourself debt-free on the inside before you're debt-free on the outside

and so there's prosperity that must take place on the inside first,

you must have a prosperous soul before you'll walk in divine prosperity.

Understand that it all starts on the inside first, and it really originates

and begins with giving your life to Jesus.

You're going to have to give your life to Jesus first.

That decision will change the inside of you from old things to a new creation in Christ Jesus,

and now you can begin to do what is said in John chapter 10,

John 10:10

verse 10. Let's pull that on the screen.

John chapter 10, verse 10, one of my favorite verses in scripture.

John 10:10

The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy.

Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

So prosperity is gonna start on the inside first, Jesus on the inside of you,

and then you're going to experience life and life more abundantly.

The Amplified Classic says it

this way, You're going to experience life to the full till it overflows.

Somebody say overflows.

This is the will of God to experience life to the full until it overflows.

In Psalms 35 and 27, Psalms 35 and 27, Scripture says, let them shout for joy.

So I'm going to let you shout for joy.

You got a little pause there. Let them shout for joy and be glad who favor my

righteous cause and let them say continually over and over and over.

Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Let God be magnified. He is pleased when his servants, and now in the New Testament,

his children are prospering.

And so let the Lord be magnified. He takes pleasure.

He delights in the prosperity of his children, just like I delight in the prosperity

of my children. I want my children to do more than I've ever done before.

I want them to go further than I've ever gone before. I take pleasure in their prosperity.

If we look at Psalms 118.25, I believe. Psalm 118.25.

Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, sin now prosperity.

Come on, I want you to say sin now prosperity. One, two, three,

say it. Sin now prosperity.

That is a godly prayer. That is a biblical prayer.

Lord, I pray, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

Prosperity simply means that you're going to advance and thrive and progress

in something desirable. What do you desire in this life?

Prosperity means you're going to advance, you're going to thrive,

you're going to succeed, you're going to go forward in something desirable.

Now, in my new book, The Hopes, which I talk a little bit about this,

I want to share this with you, and then we're going to, oh, before I share that

with you, I want to read this verse, Job 36, 11.

Let me read that verse, Job 36, 11.

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.

Notice, you have to obey to the highest level, not sometimes,

but to the highest level. What is the Lord saying?

Do obey and serve him, worship him, minister to him.

Look what the byproduct is. The byproduct is you shall spend your days in prosperity

and your years in pleasures.

So the goal is not prosperity.

Prosperity is the byproduct of obeying and serving him.

That's the byproduct. And just because you have a lot of money doesn't mean you're prosperous.

You can be, the Lord told me this when we first started the church,

I heard him very clearly and I've been thinking about it here more recently.

He said, I want you to reach the poor person with money.

I said, wow, I want you to reach the poor person with money because they are

lacking in their life and they just so happen to have a lot of money.

Money is not solving their problems. Money is not solving their issues.

Money is not making them experience true life. And so you can have a lot of

money and not be prosperous, but watch this.

Biblical prosperity does include financial advancement.

Joshua, he told Joshua, I want you to have success. And so biblical prosperity

does include increase in finances, but just because you have a lot of finances

doesn't mean you're prosperous. Are you listening to me today?

Okay, so in my book, The Hope Switch, I share a little bit about this,

but I want to start this way today.

In 2003, I was fired from a ministry, wrongly let go, okay?

I didn't do anything wrong. And I'm not just saying that because I'm the one with the microphone.

I didn't, okay? I didn't do anything wrong. I was let go.

I look back at it now. That was the divine, sovereign plan of God,

really, because look where I am today, right? But I was fired in 2003.

Young man fired. In 04, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. I didn't have a job.

So when I was fired from this ministry, I worked for like six months in temp

services. How many of you remember temp services?

Is that still around today? It is. Praise God. Because that was very helpful for me.

And I signed up for temp services and got a job and worked there for a little bit.

And then they hired me on full time at this company called Kaiser Permanente.

It's an insurance company.

And I worked there for a little bit. But then I felt this leading to move to

Charlotte, North Carolina. So I moved here in 2004.

I don't have a job. I don't know a lot of people. except I connected with a

pastor from Texas and he was starting a church here in Charlotte.

And he was a young man, young family. I said, man, I wanna get out of Fort Worth, Texas.

And I felt led by the spirit of God to go to Charlotte.

So I moved out of Charlotte, no money, no job. I don't have a degree.

I just have the favor of God on my life, amen.

And so I ended up working at Panera Bread, all right? I worked at Panera Bread. here I am.

My boss was 19 or something years old, okay?

And she was yelling at me, and I was working 5 a.m.

To 1 p.m., and I was making $8.50 an hour, and I still don't know how my apartment

was getting the rent paid.

I don't know. Matter of fact, I got secured an apartment before I even had a job.

I still don't know how that happened, okay? But they agreed to the apartment.

Then I got the Panera job. Like, okay.

And then I don't know how I was making the payment, but I was working at Panera

and I still, you know, honored the Lord.

I honored the Lord each and every time while working there.

Or a few months later, I got a call to work at Wycovia Bank.

Now I have no experience in banking up to this point. I just have the favor

of God. Somebody say the favor of God.

So I start working at Wycovia Bank. No experience. They paid me twenty eight

thousand five hundred dollars.

And I thought that was $2 million because it was way more than what I was making.

And I enjoyed it. And I got into an industry that was booming in retirement services.

And then I got promoted like nine months later. And you weren't supposed to

get a promotion unless you were there for at least a year.

But by God's grace and favor, they promoted me sooner than that.

Amen. And it doubled my salary.

And so here I am now working in this financial realm. My salary's doubled.

I'm making about $56,000 now.

Glory to God. That was $10 million, okay?

I was able to now, you know, go and buy me.

I was telling Stacey, I bought me, you know, at the time, we bought a nice TV,

you know? Praise God. Making a little more money.

And so then I work at this company there for a while in that position,

and they promoted me again.

Praise God. This time making over $120,000.

Somebody say amen. Amen. Progress.

Progress, progress, progress. Now over $120,000, I still don't have a degree.

I remember one particular time I was talking to my constituents,

and somehow they were talking about their degree, and I mentioned I had owed

the school some money, and one of them came up to me and was like,

now how did you get your degree if you owed that money?

I said, oh, I changed the subject pretty quick, because they didn't need to

know that I didn't have one.

Now, I never lied to nobody, okay? It was the favor of God. I never lied.

They didn't need to know the interviewing people knew, but Pookie and Ray Ray

don't need to know what's going on with me, right?

And them people ain't your friends. Listen to me now. Them co-workers are not

your friends. I know you think they are. They will tell on you in a heartbeat.

I said, change the subject. I never brought that up again. All right.

And so we went on. I'm making over $120,000 plus.

In 2008, I am the number one sales rep in this area for this institution.

Now, in 2004, I'm working at Panera.

In 2008, four years later, I'm making well over $100,000.

Come on, somebody say amen. Amen.

Progress, progress, progress. Well, then the Lord tells me at the end of 2009,

I want you to step away from this job and I want you to go in full-time ministry. What?

I'm the golden boy here, you know? My family, we love the money we're making

and we're honoring the Lord and things are going, well, you want me to step

away and go in the full-time ministry?

And then I had in my heart, let's do both. You know, I could just do both.

The Lord said, nope, I want you to step away, resign and go in the full-time

ministry. And so I was hoping and praying that Stacy was not in agreement with this.

Now, the Lord's telling me, and I'm praying, and she's not in agreement.

What kind of mess is going on there?

So I said, Stacy, the Lord's telling me that I need to step away from this job

and go into full-time ministry.

I want to get your thoughts on that as well. And she said, I think we need to

obey God. I said, oh, I thought you were going to say, you know.

She said, no, I think we ought to obey God. I said, we ought to obey God.

She said, I got one question. I said, what's that? She goes,

can I still get my hair done?

I said, yes, yes. Yes, we'll find a way.

So here we are. I announced to my employer that I am stepping away.

They thought I was lying. They put me in a room like, are you going to a competitor?

What's going on? Like, no, I'm going into the ministry. The ministry?

Now, at the time, I was doing a Bible study there, so they weren't unfamiliar.

There was guys coming to a Bible study that I was doing at the bank earlier

in the morning. So they kind of knew a little bit about it, but they couldn't

believe I was stepping away and going to the ministry.

That day, they walked me out. Security walked me out.

And certain type of jobs you have, you get walked out.

And so they walked me out that day and let me get my stuff, and I moved on,

and I stepped into full-time ministry.

Now, notice, 2004, I'm working at Panera.

Earlier that year, I'm unemployed.

2008, over $100,000. 2009, the Lord asked me to step away, and then now we're

starting, we're starting, no salary, we're starting believing God, trusting God.

And you look at me now, you can tell I've never missed a meal,

praise God. The Lord has been.

But there's a key that I want. Yeah, you can put your hands together for that.

Clap for that. That's because he's been faithful.

There's a key that I want you to see found in Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

And this will piggyback on the Joshua 36 11.

Joshua 36 11 says, if they obey and serve me, they will spend their years in

prosperities and their days in pleasure.

Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 8. We're going to start at verse 1.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

I want you to follow me here.

Every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe. That means to obey.

That you may live. Somebody say live.

And multiply. Say multiply.

And go in. Say go in. And possess. Say possess. That means seize.

Seize the land which the Lord your fathers swore to your fathers.

And you shall remember. Somebody shout, remember.

Now this is important that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years

in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart.

Notice they were in the wilderness because they were being humbled and tested

whether you would keep his commandments or not. Look at verse three.

So he humbled you. How did humbled you, allowed you to hunger.

I remember when I was working at Panera, I didn't make a lot of money. I couldn't cook.

I still can't cook. Thank God for Stacey.

And I was single at the time, and I couldn't cook, and I was eating them Hot

Pockets. You know what I'm talking about?

Them Totito dollar pizzas. You know what I'm saying? When I met Stacey,

she's like, what is this mess in this fridge?

That's what I was eating. I said, I was hungry a lot, and I didn't have money

to go get me no, you know, chilies or something.

I was hungry a lot. But he allowed you to be hungry, look at verse 3,

and fed you with manna, which you did not know, which is simply,

I don't know what that is.

That's what manna is. That's what manna is. What is it? Yeah.

Nobody know what it is.

It says there, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know,

that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone.

Watch this. but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the

Lord. Now, pause and listen to me.

He's saying here, I humbled you and I tested you, allowed you to be hungry.

And some of you in a place now that money is tight. Things are tight for you.

Things are really, really tight. This is a time that you're being humbled and

tested so that you can learn that man doesn't live by bread alone.

Bread, Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

You're learning if things are tight right now, listen to me,

financially tight and you're stifled and stuck and you feel just really,

really tight, you're learning to depend on God.

Oh, if I can get this over to you. You're learning.

He's testing you. He's allowing you. He's humbling you so that you can learn, I need to depend on God.

If this bill, if this money don't come in, God's going to have to bring the money in.

If this bill gets paid, it's going to be because God paid this bill.

Just like the testimony we had with Kendra. Because God paid it.

You're learning if things are tight you're learning to

depend on him because he's

the bread of life are you still with me today verse four he says your garments

did not wear out on you nor did your foot swell these 40 years so he took care

of them you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son so the

lord god chastens you that means he loves you he's going to correct you.

He's going to chasten you. He's testing you. Now watch this.

Therefore, verse 6, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God.

So you're going to have to do something. To walk in his ways and to fear him.

To respect and worship him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good

land. Let's pause there.

If it's tight right now, the Lord is going to bring you into a good land.

I thought I'd get a bit amen in that. Amen.

He is testing you now because he's preparing you to take you into a good land.

He's preparing to take you into a better position than you currently are in now.

You're being tested. It's tight. It hurts. You're hungry. You're crying.

It's the bills. I'm not getting paid. I'm not able to do this or that.

But God is going to bring me into a good land, a land of brooks of water,

verse 7, of fountains and springs that flow out. Somebody say flow out.

That means overflow. Glory to God. He's taken me into a land of overflow,

of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and

pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.

Look at verse 9. A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity.

Glory be to God. In which you will lack nothing.

God is taking you wherever you are right now into a land where you will eat

without scarcity and you will lack nothing.

In Luke chapter 22. You're getting it, Rose. I see you up here. Luke chapter 22, 35.

Luke 22 · chapter mention Luke 22 · chapter mention

Jesus says, the disciples, when I sent you out with nothing,

did you lack anything? And their response was nothing.

We didn't lack nothing. See, God is preparing you to depend on him all the time.

That even though it may be tight, even though you may not be where you want

to be, even though you feel like there's no progress, God is telling you that

he's going to take you into a land, watch this, that you will eat.

Remember, you were hungry, but you're going to eat without scarcity and you'll lack nothing.

Somebody say, I lack nothing.

Say it again. I lack nothing. Say it like you mean it. I lack nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Look at verse 10. When you have eaten and are full,

then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you.

When you're eaten and full then you're going to bless the Lord.

That word bless can also be translated to be a blessing, be a gift,

be a present to the Lord. Watch this in verse 11.

Verse 11, the first word says beware. somebody shout beware that means be alert

be cautious beware that you do not forget the Lord your God.

Now, you were broke, you were busted, you were disgusted, and God is taking you out.

Some of you that are already out, remember when you were broke, busted, and disgusted.

Remember. Maybe you didn't have that story, but I bet most of you did.

Most of you didn't get left a big inheritance or that sort of thing.

And you were broke, busted, and disgusted, and God took you out.

And then he says here in verse 11, the first word, beware.

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God. How do you do that?

By not keeping his commandments.

So no, you no longer obey his judgments and his statutes, which I command you today.

Look at verse 12.

Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them,

and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are

multiplied and all that you have is multiplied. Say multiplied.

When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you

out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.

Now notice when you begin to increase,

and I'm preaching this message and there's an anointing on my life.

I'm saying this not bragging but boldly because I've seen on my life,

there's an anointing in my life when I preach increase, people start to increase.

They do, they start to increase. That's on my life by association that increase happens.

If you've been with me long enough, you begin to increase.

And the Lord has given us a strong warning when you start increasing,

beware that you forget God.

A lot of the issues that I believe this next generation behind us is having,

and there's a lot of issues that our children are going through.

A lot of it is because we went through some tough things.

Our parents had it tough and rough, and we went through some tough things,

And we said, man, we don't want our kids to go through that.

And so we set them up to have a great life.

And now they've experienced not a lot of trouble, wonderful life.

And now they're forgetting God.

Because of first world benefits. And they forgot, well, maybe I did this in

my own strength. Maybe I don't need God.

Some go to college and they come out atheists. With believing,

now they don't even believe God anymore.

They forget God when things started to get better.

They started to forget God. And I don't want to just pick on them.

I'm going to show you. And so have we.

And that's why he said here in verse 14, go back to verse 14.

When your heart is lifted up, full of pride, because you live in a beautiful

house and you got money, it's been multiplied, increased and you got bank accounts.

I remember I didn't have bank accounts. Now I have multiple bank accounts.

Increase has taken place. When your heart is lifted up, you forget the Lord

your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Look at this.

Verse 15, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness in which were

fiery serpents and scorpions. How many of you remember those things attacking you?

And thirsty land where there was no water, but God did some miracles.

So he brought water for you out of a rock.

How many of you know have experienced some miracles That God came through for you,

Who fed you in the wilderness With manna which your fathers did not know That

he might humble you And that he might test you To do good in the end Look at

verse 17 Then you say in your heart Not out loud,

You say this in your heart My power And the might of my hand Have gained me this wealth.

This is the slippery slope. When we're tight, oh, I love the Lord.

I love the Lord. I love the Lord.

I love the Lord. Oh, and then we start increasing.

And now, well, it's my ability, my wisdom, my hard work, my sacrifice.

Don't forget, you forgot all the miracles God performed in your life.

You forgot all the challenges he helped you through.

You forgot all of the patience and kindness he had with you and the doors of

opportunity and the divine connections he presented to you.

You forgot all that and you said, it's by my might and my power.

And here's the weird thing. You don't say that with your mouth.

You say it in your heart. I did this.

I did this. I did this. This beautiful house you sit in. This was me.

I did this. See, you see the bank account. I did this. See the cars. I did this. I did this.

I got the new iPhone. I did this.

You say that in your heart. You'll forget the Lord your God. Watch this.

And verse 18. And you shall remember the Lord your God. So as you are increasing,

he says here, and you shall remember the Lord your God. Why?

For it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant,

which he swore to your fathers as it is this day.

He said, you're going to have to remember the Lord your God.

God's will for your life is increased. His plan for your life is more.

I can show you hundreds of scriptures About God wanting you to increase and

have more But the trap is When you begin to increase You also begin To forget God.

I did this thing. I don't need God. I got this. And that's what money says.

And the tendency, whether intentional or unintentional, is I got money in the bank.

And I, you know, I really don't have to pray like I like I used to pray.

I don't have to believe God like I used to.

I don't I don't have to give like I normally get because I got I got money in the bank.

And this is what I told a couple years ago.

I said, don't be afraid to let the bank account go to zero because now you're

back at the. I've been there before, praise God.

When I said it to them, I said, shoot, that's for me too, amen.

Because you know what? Because I remember when checking the ATM all the time

and trying to figure out how much money in there.

I remember calling, how much money I got, how much money. I remember,

I remember, how many of you remember that?

I remember that.

And I depended on God like I never depended on him before.

God's saying, take that same urgency as you increase and depend on him the same

exact way. Don't forget him.

I want to read a stat to you. You want to hear this stat?

I want to read this stat to you that I looked up the other day.

And it says this. I thought this was ironic.

Higher income individuals tend to give a smaller percentage of their income

than lower income individuals.

Let me read it again. Higher income individuals tend to give a smaller percentage

of their income than lower income individuals.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and studies like

these from the Chronicle of Lepitherapy,

households making less than $50,000 often give a higher percentage of their

income than those making over $200,000.

So in essence, the more you make The less you'll give So what happens?

The more I make, the less I depend on God.

The more I make, the less likely I'll give.

Now, on a dollar-to-dollar basis, it's going to be more because a multimillionaire

may give a million dollars here.

I remember one particular time, I won't say his name, but one of these billionaires,

he gave $100 million to an organization. Everybody was shouting up and down.

You do the percentage. That was like something like you giving $100.

It was the same amount. The $100 million, it didn't even touch what he was worth.

Because from a money standpoint, you'll give more money. But from a percentage

standpoint, the more money you make, you're less likely to give. Here's why.

Because your cost of living tends to increase.

And as your finances increase, so does, I got to have three Starbucks today.

I got to have the new Lexus. Ain't nothing wrong with having nice stuff,

but just make sure your giving percentage is in par with how much you're making.

Amen. I know I'm going to be quiet in here because I'm hitting you where you are.

The devil don't like talking about money, but if you make money,

you're going to have to give more money.

And you should want to. To whom much is given, much is required.

But the opposite happens. There's a man who used to go to our church and he

started getting, he started increasing salary.

And then all of a sudden he came to me and told me he don't need to tithe anymore.

I said, what do you mean? He said, he got talked out of tithing.

He's like, you know, tithing, you know, giving 10% to the Lord,

you know, that's not something we have to do.

Now, when you was broke, busted, and disgusted, you was tithing.

But then the Lord honored you and increased you. And now all of a sudden,

I don't need to tithe anymore.

And his giving went from at least 10% on down to 2% to 3% because he believed in a title.

Most people fall in that category when God begins to increase them.

And so it is not you as to why you're increasing. It is him.

He gave you the power. Somebody say power.

Say power again. Say it one more time.

That word power is also the word wisdom. He gave you the wisdom,

the ability to get wealth.

Now, biblical wealth, listen to me, biblical wealth is having more than you

need financially, using it wisely, and being a blessing to others.

Having more than you need financially, that's wealth. Wealth always is connected with finances.

Prosperity is not. Now, prosperity is not always connected with finances because

you can be a millionaire and have terrible relationships and have terrible health and terrible person.

But wealth is always connected with money. And biblical wealth means I'm going to have more than I need.

I'm going to use it wisely and I'm going to be a blessing to others.

But we have to beware because the more you get, the more likely you'll want to spend.

And you'll forget God. You'll forget the house of God. You'll forget the things of God.

You'll forget where you came from because your level of living has simply increased.

And I want to talk to you real quick about four ways that we have the power

or the wisdom to get wealth.

All right. Four ways we have the power and wisdom to get wealth.

Number one is work and labor.

Work and labor. A diligent man, a diligent man is going to work, amen?

And he's going to receive income from his work.

Listen to this. That's the number one way. Labor and work is the number one

way that you have the power, the ability to get wealth is through working and labor.

Listen to this stat I read. 93% of millionaires said they got their wealth because

they worked hard not because they had big salaries Very interesting 93% the

top five careers of millionaires,

engineers accountants teachers.

Managers, and attorneys. In fact, only 15% of millionaires held senior leadership

roles, like CEOs, CFOs, COOs, et cetera.

And so work, labor, labor and work is the power God's given you to get well.

Thank God that you're healthy, that you can work. Amen.

You have the right mind, praise God.

Thank God that he's given you breath in your lungs and a brain to retain and

to remember. And God wants you to work.

If I'm a business owner, I want all my employees healthy so that they can work, right?

And, you know, Jesus said, I'm about my father's business.

And so God wants all his children healthy so they can labor and work. Amen.

So that's the one way God gives you power to get well. Second way God gives

you power to get wealth is through a product or a service.

A product or you're selling a product or you have a service that you're providing.

A product or a service is a second way God gives you the ability and the power to get wealth.

What are you selling or what service are you providing?

You can generate wealth through a product and a service. The third way God gives

you the ability to get wealth is through wisdom and an idea.

Wisdom and an idea. God giving you an idea that you could sell.

A lot of these multimillionaires and even billionaires sold ideas. They really did.

Sold ideas about doing things and got very wealthy by wisdom and ideas.

And the fourth way that God gives you the power, the ability to get wealth is

how many have heard the term?

It takes money to make money, takes money, make money.

So investing, saving, saving, investing is the fourth way. the Lord gives you the power to get wealth.

I want to read this last verse in Deuteronomy 8.

Well, not the last one. I'm going to go to 18 and go through 20.

Deuteronomy 8, 18-20. And you shall remember the Lord your God,

for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant,

which he swore to your fathers as it is this day.

Then it shall be, look at verse 19, if you by any means forget the Lord,

your God, and follow other guards like mammon,

the God of money, and serve them and worship them,

I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.

Wow.

Wow. So I was broke and God tested and he humbled me and he said,

OK, you know what? You can receive more.

So he increased you and blessed you and gave you beautiful houses and and beautiful

stuff and and just gave you multiplied you.

And then you started serving dammit.

You started serving money. And then you forgot the Lord.

The Lord said there, you will surely die.

Read the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon, rich man, richest man that's ever lived.

He wrote the book Ecclesiastes because he increased, got more and more,

forgot God, and then he tells you he came back.

Now he's going to tell you this is what happens when you forget God.

Just read Ecclesiastes and the whole thing will tell you this is what happens when you forget God.

When you are prospering and increasing, remember the Lord your God.

That's the key today. Remember the Lord your God. Now watch this.

Guys, Job 36, 11. And I'm also going to do verse 12 too. I don't think I gave

you that, but I'm going to do verse 12 as well.

Watch this. If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity

and their years in pleasures.

Look at verse 12. But if you do not obey, they shall perish by the sword,

and they shall die without knowledge.

Wow. If you obey and serve, the byproduct, prosperity.

If you forget the Lord your God, death.

I wish I could give it to you a lot simpler than that, Darren,

but that's what it is. Separation.

Death. So in order to experience true life, I'm believing that you increase.

I want you to have so much more than when I get up here and say,

we're going to buy a new church building and it's 200,000.

You say, I got 20,000 on that. And then you don't even bow the eye to that. Amen.

That's how you recognize. And if you're not at that level of 20,

I got 2,000 on it, wherever level you're on, this is how you remember the Lord.

God has prospered me, so I'm not going to forget him.

I'm going to continue to seek first the kingdom. I'm going to continue to give more.

I'm going to continue to do more.

I'm going to continue to be a blessing because God has prospered me and increased me.

This is how you experience true life.