5 Prosperity Myths Exposed

Last week, we started a series that we are going to talk about prosperity over the next several weeks.

Last week, we titled the message, Living Without Financial Fear,

and we dived into if we serve the Lord, we don't have to worry about our life.

But if we're worried about our life, then we're serving mammon.

And that's how you tell who you're serving. If you're serving the Lord,

God, you're going to take care of me.

If you're serving mammon, you're going to worry about it. And I want to continue

today in our prosperity series.

Today, we're going to expose five prosperity myths.

We're going to expose five prosperity myths.

And the first question I want to ask you today is, is it God's will for you to prosper?

Is it God's will for you to prosper? If we look at 3 John 1,

3 John 1:2

verse 2, 3 John 1, verse 2.

3 John 1:2

The apostle John tells us here, beloved or beloved, I pray that you may prosper

in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.

So notice his prayer, his hope, his desire, his earnest expectation is for you

to prosper in all things and everything.

And he wants you to be in health, but it's going to be in direct correlation

to your soul prospering.

And your soul consists of your mind, your will, your emotions.

The way you decide, how you think, how you mutter and meditate things on the

inside of you is what comprises your soul.

You have to understand that you are a three-part being. You are a spirit.

You have a soul and you live in a body. And so you are a spirit created in the image of God.

You have a soul, which is your mind, will, and your emotions.

And you live in this body. All of us have, we're different colors,

different shapes, different sizes.

None of that matters. But we live in this body. This body is not who we really are.

Our spirit is who we really are. and our soul, how we think is how we're going

to manifest things in this natural society.

And so John tells us through the word of God that I wish, I pray,

I expect above all things that you prosper.

That word prosper means to advance, to go forward, to thrive,

to succeed. Now watch this, especially in the financial arena.

Prosperity is not just money, but it includes money.

You can prosper physically, you can prosper emotionally, you can prosper socially,

you can prosper spiritually, and you better believe you can prosper financially.

And so John tells us here, I wish above all things that you prosper in every

area of life, and I'm glad he said this too, and be in health. Amen.

There are two areas the devil attacks you greatly in. It's in your health and in your pocketbook.

Those two areas are what he greatly attacks you in.

And so we understand the will of God is for us to prosper above all things and be in health.

And if you know what the will of God is, then you'll fight for it.

You'll stand on his word and you'll fight when you know what his will is.

Psalms 35, 27. Psalms 35, 27 says, let them shout for joy and be glad. Somebody shout for joy.

Hallelujah, who favor my righteous cause and let them say, watch this,

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

God is magnified in your prosperity.

Job 36, 11, Job 36, 11,

if they obey and serve him, they shall

spend their days in prosperity glory

to God and their years in pleasure

it is God's will for you to prosper if you

obey and serve you can expect to spend your days

in prosperity and your years in pleasure somebody say amen Psalms 118 25 Psalm

118 25 save now I beseech thee oh Lord oh Lord I beseech thee sin now prosperity

somebody say sin now prosperity amen.

Say it one more time. Sin now, prosperity. That is a godly prayer. Sin now, prosperity.

Joshua 1.8 says this, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate in it day and night,

that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it,

for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Notice, if God did not want us to prosper, he would have never told us how to prosper.

He tells us here, this is how you prosper. So obviously he wants us to prosper.

And this word prosperity has been beat up, especially by the world.

It's been abused by a lot of ministers.

And it's a word that I believe the enemy has greatly attacked.

And if I was a politician and I was running for mayor of Charlotte,

one of the things that I would probably say is I want the citizens of Charlotte to prosper.

And one of my campaign slogans would probably be

prosperity for all health for all right

I want everyone to have a job I want everyone to thrive

I want health care for everyone I want everyone to be able to pay their bills

and enjoy their life that would probably be a campaign slogan I have and we

would say yes matter of fact all politicians have that sort of slogan now we

differ in how we're going to get there but they all have that sort of slogan we want prosperity

But I'm a minister, a man of God.

I believe in prosperity. And I get up in front of my church and I say,

I want you all to prosper. And you have people say, ooh, all he wants is.

No, I want you to prosper. I want you to have health and succeed and thrive

and to advance and to grow financially and to have more to give and to be a blessing.

And I also want you to pay for your vacation with cash. Amen, somebody.

And then I want you to get the point you pay for somebody else's vacation.

And so this is what prosperity is all about. But it's a word that's been beat up.

You know, it's a word that's been abused. But God wants us to prosper.

And here's why. What is the purpose of biblical prosperity?

What is the purpose of biblical prosperity? And the purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission.

Mark 16, 15. Mark 16, 15. Jesus said to them, go. Somebody shout, go.

Say it one more time. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

The purpose of biblical prosperity is to fulfill the Great Commission.

And how many of you have ever planned to go somewhere?

Just yesterday, I got back from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I spent a couple days in the DFW area. I got a phone call from one of my friends,

partner of this ministry, good friend of mine, early 40s, that said he broke his back.

Literally had a freak accident, broke his back. I called, we talked to his wife.

I said, listen, my goodness, I got to get out there and see him.

And then I get a call a few days later, partner of this ministry in the DFW area.

This particular guy, I've known him over 25 years.

And he told me that his wife unexpectedly passed.

And so I was like, at the stage, he's like, you got to get out there now. We got it. You got to go.

And so, you know, he got one good friend, broken back, another friend,

his wife unexpectedly passed. I was asked to do the eulogy.

And so we flew out there. Now, I didn't walk out there. I didn't crawl.

I flew. Do you think that was free?

No, because go costs money. So in order to go, it took money.

Don't be afraid of money because money is what is used to get us to fulfill the Great Commission.

Jesus said, go. That wasn't free. Now, the gospel is free.

You can receive the gospel free, but it costs money to get out there.

Somebody say amen to that.

We are in this building now. By God's grace, we're here, and the AC is on,

and the light's on, and you're here, and we're going out live stream right now,

we are getting the gospel out. These cameras were not free.

The technology wasn't free.

These keyboards wasn't free. Nothing is free. It costs money to get the gospel out.

So if God knows it costs money to get the gospel out, then he's going to have

to give you money in order to fund the gospel so we can get the gospel out.

So the purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission.

Go requires money.

It requires money to go. And so when I went, particularly my friend that broke

his back, when I showed up, he had a big old back brace on and he had a walker and he had a cane too.

And I showed up and he was, you know, moving slow and that sort of thing.

And I just went just to encourage him.

I stayed with him and spent all day with him and then stayed the night and woke

up, went to the funeral the next day.

I'll tell you about that in a second. came back, stayed the rest of the day

with him, just encouraging him and talking to him and just being a friend and

praying and blessing him.

And next thing I know before I leave, he don't have the walker and the cane anymore.

He's walking around without the walker and the cane. So I said to him,

I said, where's your cane?

He said, oh man, I don't know where my cane is. Hallelujah.

Glory to God. Come on, shout for that.

It took money for me to go now it's not about me but your presence brings encouragement,

brings strength but it took money to go and so I went and now he don't know

where the wall or where the cane is he look around the house I don't know where

the cane is I said now you better keep that back brace on because at one point

he had taken it off I said where's your back brace he said oh I forgot to put

I said no no go ahead and put it back on praise God amen but and then I go to the funeral,

and my friend, his wife passed, and a lot of people are there,

and I'm up doing a eulogy, and I'm sharing, and he's breaking down.

Obviously, he's breaking down. He's sad. He's breaking down,

and I got a chance to hug his neck and encourage him and strengthen him,

and by the end, he's laughing. Glory to God.

Go means we're going to have to get up and hop up and go somewhere,

but if you can't physically get up and hop up and go, your money can send people.

Amen. Your money can send people. Several years ago, I got asked to preach at

a church on a Wednesday night, and they called me at 4 p.m. Service started at 7.

He's like, can you come right now?

I've got something came up. I can't make it. Please come preach at my church.

I had just sat down to just get ready for the kids to come home,

and I told Stacey, and she's like, you got to go.

And I say, yes, I'll be there. And the Lord, and when I get there,

Somebody gave their life to the Lord that night. It was just an amazing service.

I get home and the Lord says, you couldn't have done that unless you had money

to be full time to say yes.

And the people support it.

Without your gift and giving, I couldn't even went that night.

Because I probably just got out of work at 7.30 p.m. by the time.

It's too late now to go do the thing. I'm tired. I'm grumpy.

I've probably been to kick somebody upside the head at the church.

Right? No, but because of your prosperity and your giving of funding the gospel,

God's grace, and your giving, I was able to go.

Amen. So you actually sent me.

And I was able to go because the Great Commission requires that we have funds

to go and preach this gospel. Somebody shout amen.

God prospers us so we can do his work and assignment on the earth.

His plan is for us to share the gospel with the world and help people in need.

That's the purpose. Prosperity isn't just about having more.

It's about using what you have to make a difference. Somebody say prosperity.

Now, there are five prosperity myths I want to expose today that will allow

us to go deeper in our series as the Sundays continue.

There are five I want to expose today and then we can go deeper in the next

few Sundays. Number one I want to expose is prosperity is automatic.

Prosperity is automatic. Salvation alone does not guarantee financial blessing.

Listen to me. Just because you say gave your life to the Lord doesn't mean and

guarantee that you are going to be financially blessed.

There are biblical principles to follow and practical solutions that should not be ignored.

All right. So, yes, you're in the kingdom. And yes, God wants us all to prosper.

But it's not a guarantee because there are some things that we do need to follow.

The scriptures are filled with principles where prosperity is concerned,

such as diligent work. Say amen to that.

Put your hand to the plow and work. Tithe. Invest wisely.

Create business plans. This is all throughout scripture.

Be shrewd in your business dealings. And that word shrewd means to be forward

thinking, to be forward thinking in your business dealings, to save money,

to deal honestly with others,

to be overwhelmingly generous.

Amen. And scripture tells you this. Do not co-sign.

God, we got quiet in here. I was 18, 19, 20, 21, somewhere around there.

I had no credit to get a car, I wanted a car.

I had paid for my first car cash, but this time, you know, I needed to upgrade.

You know, I'm 21, right? I'm single, I mean, listen, I want that Lexus.

You know what I'm saying?

And so, so I fully thought my parents were gonna co-sign.

I went to a car lot, they said, you need to co-sign. I said,

yeah, mama and dad are co-signing. Mama and dad said, we are not co-signing.

And I was upset. And I figured out later on that if the creditors don't trust you to pay it back.

Then I, listen, somebody come to you, you better co-sign. Now, did you get approved?

No, but if they don't trust you to pay the money back, I ain't going to pay it back for you.

And so at the time I was upset at my parents. I started reading the Bible and

I started figuring out they made the right decision. Amen.

But here's what it forced me to do. Save more money. The next car I bought was cash.

And the next car after that was cash. Come on, somebody say,

Amen. Do not cosign. So prosperity is not automatic.

There are some biblical principles and solutions that you must apply in order

to prosper financially. Okay.

So that is a miss. I'm saved and I'm, and I'm prosperous.

In theory you are, but in reality, you need to apply some principles of the

scripture in order to see increase take place in your life.

How many you're interested in increase in your life. Well, there are some biblical

principles that must be applied in order to see that accomplished.

Number two, five prosperity myths exposed. Number two, all I have to do is tithe.

If I just tithe, then I'm going to be financially prosperous. That's all I have to do.

Now, we know the windows of heaven are open above you when you tithe,

and the blessing of God is being poured out upon you.

But when you made Jesus the Lord of your life, you also made him.

Let me say it again. When you made him the Lord of your life,

you made him the Lord of your money. And if he's not the Lord of your money,

he's not the Lord of your life.

Now, you better get what I'm saying here today, because if he's not the Lord

of your money, he is not the Lord of your life.

And the tithe is 10 percent of your gross income that should go directly to

your local church to help spread the gospel.

But you cannot do whatever you want to do with the remaining 90 percent.

It's going to get quiet in here today, but I ain't scared of y'all.

Not one of y'all scare me, okay?

I tied the 10 and I'm going to do whatever I want with the 9.

You ain't going to be financially prosperous that way.

Listen to me now. If he ain't Lord of all your money, then he's not your Lord.

Lord, what do you want me to do with the rest of the 90%?

Somebody say amen to that. Say this out to me. The Lord has authority.

No, say it like you mean it. The Lord has authority over all my money.

Now, that should be your mission statement.

The Lord has authority over all of the money he's entrusted to me.

How you steward 100% of your money will determine how wealthy you will become,

not just how you steward 10% of your money.

Let me say it again. How you steward 100% of your money will determine how wealthy

you will become, not just how you steward 10%. Now, most Christians are not

even stewarding the 10% well.

But if you can steward the 10% well, I believe you can be a candidate to steward

the rest of the 90% well as well. Somebody say amen to that.

So the first myth, prosperity is automatic myth. The second myth,

only tithe. That's a myth. You're going to have to steward the rest well.

Number three, here's a myth. All Christians are called to be very wealthy.

All Christians are called to be very wealthy. And while God has called the body

of Christ to steward great wealth, not all individual Christians can manage large sums of money.

Can I just talk to you today? I want to be a millionaire. You don't want to

be a millionaire. You want to spend a million dollars.

We don't all have the capacity to manage very large sums of money.

Not everyone, hear me, not everyone is called to be a millionaire.

Not everyone's called to be a multimillionaire. Not everyone's called to be a billionaire.

And when you hear these terms, millionaire and billionaire, let me just take

a moment. Y'all heard me say it before, but I got to say it again.

We are not even in the same ballpark when you hear millionaire and billionaire.

And when you hear million, you know how many seconds a millionaire, a million is?

Twelve days. 12 days is a million seconds You know what I mean?

A second's a billion is 32 years Right.

There is a huge difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire.

And then there are some people that are multi-billionaires.

Think about that. Not everyone is called to become a multi-millionaire.

So we're going to have to learn ways to increase our capacity to steward that sort and size of money.

You're going to have to start small.

You're going to have to steward something small well.

And as you steward something small well, the principle says that you can steward something big well.

So if you're not handling the little bit of money that you do have well,

just know you're not going to be able to handle a whole lot more money well.

So I can tell, can you handle a lot of money well?

What are you handling with right now? I'm not doing very well with it right now.

You're going to be completely, you're going to probably commit suicide if you

have much more money. There are millionaires that commit suicide.

They can't handle it. The pressure that comes with it, the voice that rests

on money, the power, the drive, the confusion.

Y'all know what I'm talking about. The love of money, not money itself, is through all evil.

The love of money is, and the love of money will kill you.

And so not everyone is called to be a multimillionaire. Now we're all,

as a body of Christ, called to steward great wealth.

But not all individuals can manage that size of money But everyone is called,

listen to me But everyone is called to prosper and fund the gospel.

Everyone is called to prosper, and it is relative to your skill set and talent.

The Lord, in the parable of the talents, he gave one 10, one 5, and one 1, right?

And the one that had 10 produced 10 more, and God said, well done.

The one that had 5 produced 5 more, and God said, well done.

The exact same reward. He may not have had the same talent, but he received the same reward.

And the one that said once that I'm afraid, so I did nothing.

And I hid it. And he got judgment on him.

And so don't worry about what Pookie and Ray Ray doing.

Why Pookie got so much money? That's none of your business. Are you doing well with what you've got?

Are you handling your resources well? Are you stewarding what God has given you well?

And at the end of the day, I can't compare myself to Ray Ray.

Ray Ray may have started at a different place than I have.

Ray Ray may have had received a large inheritance that maybe I didn't receive to get started.

Ray Ray may have had a mom and dad and maybe I didn't grow up with a mom and dad.

Come on, there's differences in our start. So you can't compare because we all

started a different place.

Just handle what God gives you well, increase in what God gives you,

do with what God says to do with it, and you are a prosperous man and woman. Somebody shout amen.

Number four, are y'all tracking with me today? Number four, myth.

God wants you to prosper solely for your enjoyment.

God wants you to prosper so you can flaunt, so you can show up,

so you can brag, so you can just get to the place where everybody's envious of you.

No, no, that's not true. Biblical prosperity is more about pleasing the Lord

and funding the spread of the gospel than it is about acquiring wealth for personal happiness.

If you seek his kingdom first with your finances, then he will add things to your life.

But the sole purpose of prosperity is not for personal gain.

Now, there are many people in scriptures that were wealthy and they were chasing

after God like we sung earlier and they were obedient and God made them rich.

The riches is the byproduct.

Of funding the gospel. The riches is the byproduct of obedience to him,

God knowing and can trust you to do with the money what he says to do with it.

But the riches is not the goal, okay?

And it's not solely so you can be and fulfill enjoyment.

Now, if you seek his kingdom, he's going to add, and he has no problem with your enjoying life.

He has no problem with you going on vacation and resting and buying nice things.

He's got no problem with it. Matter of fact, 1 Timothy 6, 17 says it this way.

1 Timothy 6, 17, teach those who are rich in this world. Somebody say, that's me.

Let me say it again. Teach those who are rich in this world. Say, that's me.

Not to be proud, not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable.

Their trust should be in God.

Why? Who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

God wants you to enjoy this life. Jesus said, John 10, 10, he came to give you

life and life more abundantly.

He wants you to enjoy life. But the purpose of your prosperity is not solely

for your enjoyment of this life.

You have to have a bigger plan and purpose.

Deuteronomy 8.18 tells us, right, that he has given us the power to get wealth,

to fulfill his covenant on the earth.

Will we have more than enough to have some fun with? Yes, and we should.

But the purpose is to fulfill his covenant, to spread his gospel,

to be a blessing to someone else.

I went and spoke at a church a few years ago, and this particular church gave

me an unexpected honorarium. Now, I was just going.

It was just something that the Lord told me to do to go, and I'm not into all

that. The Lord wants to bless.

That's between them and God, but it gave me unexpectedly, and I spoke for like,

it was something like seven minutes. It wasn't even long or something.

They asked me to speak a little bit, and they gave me $1,000.

I said, praise God. And I said, Stacy, what do we want to do with this?

And she said, I know what we can do with it. And the Lord said, no, I got plans for it.

I said, oh, Lord, what do you want to do with it? He said, I want you to give 500 to your mom and dad.

And I want you to get the other 500 to Stacy's mom and dad.

And just say, thank y'all. We want to honor y'all. Thank y'all.

And I said, okay. The Lord said, I gave that to you, not for you.

I gave it to you to bless them with. Amen.

So you need to this is a question I ask all the time when extra comes in. Somebody say extra.

Come on, say it again. Extra.

Say it one more time. Extra. We're so busy lacking we need to start thinking about extra come in.

I'm trying to snatch you out of being in lack and get into extra.

Some extra money came in and now the first thing you should do is say,

Lord, what do you want me to do with the extra?

Come on. And there are times he'll say, I want you to bless,

get, you know, sew it in the church or give it to this person.

And then there are times they say, go on vacation with it.

You know what I'm saying? Go, go buy that nice watch you've been,

you've been wanting. Amen.

I wanted some, back, I wanted some Vapor Max.

These were the shoes that came out. They were Nikes and I wanted them.

They looked good until I saw the price. I was like, oh Lord, they're $250.

I was like, oh gosh. I don't know if I want VaporMax anymore.

And the state's like, stop that! You want VaporMax, get you some VaporMax.

And I was like, you know what, I want to believe God for the extra money.

I could have ran with my Capital One credit card.

That's a plug for them. Somebody send me a check for that. I could have,

what's in your wallet? Okay, yeah.

I'm ready for my residual check to come from that.

I could have went with my capital one and bought it and put it on the credit card.

And I said, no, I said, I'm going to believe God. I want and I believe for extra. Somebody say extra.

You know, it's OK to believe for extra. I said, I'm going to believe God for some extra money.

And lo and behold, I was blessed with some extra money. So the Vapor Max were

250. Someone gave me 500.

I said, praise God. And the Lord said, go get your two pair. I said, hallelujah.

No, I did tithe off of that sort of thing, but get you two pairs of vapor masks.

The Lord is a God of more than enough.

It's religion that wants you to keep. Well, that's just enough, and that's too much.

It's okay to have more than enough as long as you know what to do with the extra.

Lord say, give it away, you give it away.

Lord say, get rid of it, you get rid of it. What do I do with the extra?

So it's okay to enjoy life.

It's okay to have money to enjoy life. In the next few Sundays,

we're going to talk about saving and spending and those kind of things so that

you can enjoy. It's better to enjoy life paying cash for something.

I enjoyed those shoes a whole lot better than making a payment on it. Come on, somebody.

We just came off vacation, and we had a good time, and it's paid for.

I ain't making no payments on that. Amen, right?

Right, that's the best. That's a better vacation, you know, to come back knowing

it's paid for. Amen. Somebody say extra.

That's a word from the Lord right there. Number five. Number five,

we're exposing prosperity myths. Number five, money is the key to breaking the spirit of poverty.

People will tell you money. If you're in poverty, you just need more money.

Jesus ain't never said, I know they ain't good English, but he ain't ever said,

your answer is you need more money.

He has never said that because that is not the solution. Money does not break the spirit of poverty.

I believe that I saw an article about 15 years ago.

Please don't quote me on this, but sometimes you think back and maybe you misremember,

but I know I saw this article 15 years ago that a person was following a homeless

man for nine months, and they were just watching his routine, that sort of thing,

found out, okay, he's homeless, this is his routine, this is that and the third,

and they left $100,000 cash in a garbage can knowing he would go there.

They had tracked him, he would go there. He got the 100,000 cash,

found it, was surprised.

You would think the first thing he would do is to go get an apartment or something, right?

No, first thing he went was getting to the liquor store, right?

And he bought a bunch of liquor. He got a hotel for one or two nights.

And then nine months or a year later, they watched him.

Less than a year later, he's worse off on the street.

Never put a down. He probably could have put a nice down payment on a house

or whatever the case may be.

He never even tried to get out of his condition.

You know why? Because money is not the solution to poverty.

Money is not. And so you have this situation where true prosperity is never only about money.

Prosperity, I'm sorry, poverty is a mindset and a way of thinking,

one that can be passed down through generations.

That mindset can be passed on and it's hard to break that mindset.

It takes anointed preaching like this to break that mindset and shift that.

It's OK for you to have more than enough. It's okay for you to,

like we said last week, throw the toothpaste away, even though you might have

two or three more in there. It's okay to throw it away and get you a new toothpaste.

I grew up that way. I'm telling y'all what I know.

My dad taught me, get the back of that toothbrush, and you push,

and then you cut the bottom.

How many of you know what I'm talking about? I was taught that.

And you better get all of it out. All of it out.

And if you've got just a little bit to come out, that's enough to brush your...

You better just do what it is. You were taught that way.

I was taught that. I still do it. You still do it.

I rebuke that poverty mindset. You poverty demon, get up out of here.

No, that's a mindset, a way of thinking that's been passed down.

And the only way to break a poverty mindset is you have to be a believer.

I mean, you've got to believe in Jesus to finish works, and you have to renew your mind.

And we'll read this again. 3 John 1, verse 2, 3 John 2 says,

3 John 1:2

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, watch this,

even as or just as your soul prospers.

Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. You're going to have to

prosper from the inside first.

Before you begin to prosper on the outside. You're going to have to get prosperous

thoughts on the inside of you. You're going to have to think that, you know what?

Everything is going to be all right. God's going to come through for me.

He shall supply all my need according to his riches.

Whatever the Lord says is for my enjoyment belongs to me. And you have to change the inside.

It doesn't happen on accident because we live in this world and it's nothing

but sewage that we here all week long.

Sewage. And then I get one 50,

45 minute sermon with you once a week to tell you all of that is a lie.

You're going to prosper even if tariffs are applied.

You're going to prosper even if inflation is going up.

You're going to prosper even if they say you're going to lose your job.

You're still going to prosper and you're still going to advance and thrive and

succeed and go forward even in the miss.

Of negativity, you're going to prosper. I don't care what they say. I'm going to prosper.

I'm going to prosper. Stacey brought some groceries home the other day,

and she was talking about, look, that shrinkflation, the bag of chips used to

be like, and now it's like this. I said, we're going to prosper.

We're going to prosper. Don't talk because I'm going to get mad,

but you know what? We're going to prosper anyway.

Somebody say amen to that. But you're going to have to get your soul to agree.

You're going to have to get your mind to agree with the word and the spirit

that whatever they say, whatever they do, I'm going to prosper.

I am going to advance and I'm going to succeed and I'm going to thrive and I'm

going to go forward. I'm going to prosper.

I'm going to go and I'm going to get ahead.

I remember the first time, you know my story, when I worked at Fortune 500 company,

started out making $28,500.

Before then, I was working that Panera Bread, making $8.50, living in an apartment by myself.

I still don't know how the bills were getting paid. I literally,

the calculator, I don't even know how they were getting paid, but it was.

And then I got the first job, $28,500.

That was $2 million to me because I could get Wi-Fi, Adrian.

I got Wi-Fi in my apartment. Glory to God, I was so happy to put some Wi-Fi in.

And I said, you know what? But this is not it. I'm a prosper.

I'm a prosper. and I don't have a degree because I was told,

you know, you can't advance without a degree. Well, I don't have a degree, but guess what?

I went for the next job and they doubled my salary with no degree. Glory to God, right?

And then I went for the next one and they doubled that one. Glory to God.

Now we're over $120,000.

Amen. I'm a prosper. They were like, well, it must be somebody you know.

You know somebody upper management.

No, I don't know nobody upper management. Oh, you know somebody,

because why do you keep prospering? I said, it's the Lord.

And I believe that I'm going to prosper in every area of my life that I'm just

it's just a phone call away.

And I'm just it's not about if it's just about when.

I said, I believe it. I believe you're going to prosper. And they kept saying,

no, no, no, you know, somebody, you know, somebody. I said, I know Jesus.

No, it ain't Jesus. It's Jesus.

Today is my day for promotion. Say that. Today is my day for promotion. Say it one more time.

Today is my day for promotion. I said that every day for years.

I still say it today. Today.

I wake up and I'm going, today is my day for promotion. Today.

Today. That unexpected check is coming in today.

That phone call is coming in today.

That divine appointment is going to happen today. And what if it didn't happen today?

I wake up the next morning and say, guess what? I'm another day closer to what happened in today.

And I'm telling you, that's the mindset you got to have. You got to have a prosperous

mindset that at any moment, at any time, it can happen. God says it.

God, I'm handling what you gave me responsibly. I'm ready for the increase. I'm ready for more.

I'm ready for promotion. I'm ready for divine appointments.

I'm ready for my influence to increase. I'm ready.

And you got to get ready too. You got to get your mind ready.

Hey, today's the day I meet my husband. Come on, somebody. You're looking for

a husband. Today's the day.

Now make sure your teeth is brushed, praise the Lord, and smelling good so when

you meet him, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Amen.

I said that before I met Stacy. I said, today's the day I meet my wife.

Today's the day I meet my wife. Then I met her, didn't even know it was my wife.

She was a friend for a while. I thought, oh, that's my wife,

praise God. Hallelujah.

When you have this mindset, you will be expecting. This is our year of hopes fulfilled.

This is our year that we're expecting great things from God,

dreams and visions to be picked up.

We're expecting from God to do the exceedingly abundantly above all that we

can ask, think, or watch this, or even imagine.

That's deep right there. You can't even imagine the things.

You're thinking on a level and you ain't even crossed over into the imagination

of what the Lord would do.

I heard this old foul celebrity worldly dude.

They asked him one time, did you ever see yourself doing this?

He goes, I never even imagined that what I had believed for has grown into this.

Now, that's an old sinner, secular guy. What about the people of God?

Amen. We should be imagining, and Lord, I don't even know what else to imagine next.

I know you can do it for me in Jesus' name. Come on, somebody say amen.

This is how you experience true life.