Don't Just Quote It, Do It: Your Part in Receiving Prosperity

Sermon outline

Prosperity is in your hands: God has already willed your success, and your part in receiving it is simply to do His Word, standing strong on it through every challenge, because it will never fail you.

1. Remember God's command to Joshua: do the Word

   God's will is for you to be successful; it is the devil who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Christians are not exempt from retrenchments or problems at work, at home and with the children, but unlike the world they have a God who hears them and has their name tattooed on His palm. God told Joshua to do all of the law without turning to the right or the left, and as He was with Moses He will be with you, because in the new covenant we are sons and daughters, not servants. God is not as interested in how many scriptures you can quote as in how many you do.

   Illustration: Be like Joshua and Caleb, who came back with a good report while the other spies saw only giants: there may be 200 in the queue, but say 'it's me that's going to get the favour'. He adds that God has saved our bacon many times when people discussed firing us or taking away our contracts and someone suddenly spoke up for us.

   “He's not so interested in how many scriptures you can quote, he's interested in how many scriptures you do.”

   • Joshua 1:7
   • John 10:10
   • Isaiah 49:16
   • James 1:22
   • Joshua 1:5
   • Numbers 14:8
   • Hebrews 13:5

2. Be strong and courageous

   God told Joshua again and again in one chapter to be strong, because Joshua was young, facing a daunting task and feeling butterflies in his stomach. God is saying the same to you: be strong, I'm with you, I've got your back. Don't ask whether you are too young or qualified enough; you are a child of the Most High God and you are valuable.

   Illustration: At Jericho Joshua's captains expected a great battle plan, but the plan was to march around the walls for seven days and then shout; the walls were so thick that chariot races were run on them, yet when they did the word, the walls came down.

   “There's something in your mouth. If you shout, the enemy trembles.”

   • Joshua 1:6-9
   • Joshua 1:18
   • Joshua 6:1-20
   • James 4:7

3. Don't be distracted from standing on the Word

   Today there are so many good ideas, strategies and things Google suggests, but good plans pass away while God's Word lives and abides forever. Stand on the Word of God and do it.

   “Good strategies may pass and good plans may pass, but not that.”

   • 1 Peter 1:23-25

4. Don't abandon the Word because of persecution and temptation

   The enemy will throw sickness, bills and trouble with the children at you, and people may write you off, but if God has decided to lift you up, nothing can push you down. He cannot explain why God chose him, any more than Gideon, who thought himself the least, could explain being called a mighty man of valour; God chose us before the foundation of the world and made us trophies of His grace. Many wealthy, highly educated people are still searching for God, and the only way is through Christ.

   Illustration: A strict business economics teacher would say 'when I walk in the class, you walk out', so for a whole year he walked out whenever she came in, yet he passed. Decades later, at a 30-year matric reunion, she told him she had heard he had done very well for himself, and he replied, 'You heard well.'

   “If God has decided to pop you up, nothing's going to pop you down.”

   • Ephesians 1:4
   • Judges 6:12-15
   • Psalm 40:2

5. Remember God's covenant

   Deuteronomy 28 promises that if you fully obey the Lord, He will set you on high above the nations and His blessings will come on you. Listen to His voice and obey without stopping to argue, as Jesus' mother told the servants at Cana to do whatever He said. Train yourself to recognise when God is speaking, whether He prompts you to sow a seed or drops a name into your spirit to pray for.

   Illustration: When God drops a name into his spirit while he is driving, he simply prays for that person: Lord, be with them, protect them, give them grace.

   “The devil's not going to ask you to sow seed.”

   • Deuteronomy 28:1-2
   • John 2:5

6. God's blessing will overtake you

   For a blessing to overtake you, it must have been behind you, so God's favour is behind you as well as in front of you. Understanding this changed his life: God is his rear guard who watches his back. Keep your eyes on Him and feed on His Word, and the blessings will overtake you.

   “Ladies and gentlemen, God watches your back.”

   • Deuteronomy 28:2

7. You are redeemed from the curse

   Christ became a curse for us, so you are redeemed from the curse of the law and attached, even chained, to the promises of God. He has more challenges than people imagine, but each time he reminds himself that God's Word will not fail him, even when people and institutions do. The devil wants to separate you from your faith, but God, who is committed to your character, will not withdraw His blessing, because His name is on the line.

   “I'm chained to the promises of God.”

   • Galatians 3:13-14
   • 1 Timothy 6:12

8. Establish the image of the Word in your spirit

   You are Abraham's seed and Jesus came to give life more abundantly, so let your thoughts, words and actions be Word-based, keeping God's Word in front of you like a mirror. The Lord delights in the well-being of His children, so celebrate when someone else gets a new car or house. Whatever you lost, whether through your own fault or someone else's, write it down and ask God to give it back seven times. Speak to your circumstances, your one-bedroom house, your old car, your lack of a job, and believe the report of the Lord.

   “Stand strong on God's Word. It will never fail you.”

   • Galatians 3:29
   • John 10:10
   • Psalm 35:27
   • Isaiah 53:1
   • Genesis 17:4