Your Trouble Is My Trouble: 7 Principles of the Power of Partnership
Dr RJ Sing, 2 February 2020, 31 min
This is the whole service. The video opens where he begins, at 42:06.
Originally preached as “The Power of Partnership”
Sermon outline
When you partner with God and His house with your tithes, offerings, time and talents, you connect to the anointing and grace on that ministry, and your seed speaks for you.
Main text
- 2 Kings 4:8-10
Opening
He leads communion, teaching that it proclaims the love of God and is done in remembrance, in anticipation of Christ's coming, in recognition of what He has done and in participation in the body of Christ, sharing His blessings and telling principalities and powers that we are in the world but not of it. After praying over the church he notes that the month's Faith Chronicles theme is the Holy Spirit our Governor, then turns to the power of partnership, reading in the King James Version how the Shunammite woman perceived that Elisha was a holy man of God and made a room for him.
She had perception
As a child of God you must perceive what is holy and unholy and when there is an anointing in a place. The Shunammite endorsed her perception with her talents and her money, and your seed is what promotes and speaks for you. Tithe a tenth of all your increase, including the sale of a house or a car or a gift someone gives you, because you are in covenant with God.
Illustration: There were many times in his working life when the enemy should have taken him out, but God protected him because He planned to use him, and his generations after him, as a vessel: God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
“Your seed is what speaks and promotes you.”
- 2 Kings 4:8-10
There's power in partnership
When you partner with God and with the church in its vision, with your tithes, offerings and talents, God starts to enrich you and lift you up. What he teaches is not just knowledge gleaned from the Bible but principles he has practised, which took him from having absolutely nothing; even when people closest to you hope you will fail, the Lord has your back.
“Christ always had your back.”
Partner with the ministry and you hook up with the anointing and grace of God
When you say you are a partner, your finances must endorse your commitment; tithes and offerings belong to God and are elementary doctrine, and Christ in heaven receives them. Partnership goes beyond the tithe to projects, pledges, time and talent, and once you have deposited into your heavenly account you can boldly make withdrawals. Grace is God's unmerited favour, His willingness to use His power on your behalf.
“Once you deposit into your heavenly account you can boldly make withdrawals from it.”
- Hebrews 7:8
God will never leave you and is with you at all times
Whatever pressure or circumstances come upon you, God has promised never to leave you nor forsake you, and He is with you at all times; you can stand on that promise.
“You can stand on that promise.”
- Hebrews 13:5
Your instructions are my instructions; your dream is my dream
That is how a partner transacts with God: whatever He tells you becomes your instruction, and you have no other dream than to please Him, gaining understanding and wisdom from His Word in all you do.
“Your instructions are my instructions.”
Your job is my job
A true partner says to the visionary of the church: your trouble is my trouble, your crisis is my crisis, your difficulty is my difficulty, and the needs of the church are my needs. Many go to church uncommitted and don't even know their pastor's name, a sign of disconnection; living by these principles will stretch you and catapult you to the next level.
“Your trouble is my trouble, your crisis is my crisis.”
- Numbers 18:8
Know where you are planted
God does not want servants but sons and daughters, and as you share in partnership you grow in the anointing and prosper. Some of you drive past many churches to get to yours because God planted you here. You are all called as priests and ministers in your workplaces, so don't run from them; connect yourself to the anointing in the appropriate manner.
Illustration: Living in Johannesburg, he drove 50 kilometres to church every Sunday with young children and a packed lunch, passing other churches, because that was where they were planted. The ministry of Pastor Ray McCauley and other men of God at Rhema Church, and the conferences he took leave to attend, changed his life; even as a new believer in Durban he travelled up by combi with his pastor to those conferences.
“Learn to connect yourself to the anointing in the appropriate manner, and you will be amazed with the results.”
- Revelation 1:6
- Luke 19:13
Putting it into practice
- Perceive and honour the anointing on the house of God.
- Let your finances endorse your commitment by tithing on all your increase.
- Partner beyond the tithe with pledges, time and talent.
- Know your pastor and be vitally connected to your church.
- Bring your priestly offering.
Closing
He reminds the church that a communion service includes the priestly offering, and says he too sows a priestly offering to a man of God he honours as his father in the faith. The church stands to read declarations from the screen: that God's love never leaves them, that unexpected blessings are coming, that God will accelerate His plan, that they are surrounded by favour, and that they will speak blessing over their families.
Declarations he led
- I declare unexpected blessings are coming my way.
- I will move forward from barely making it to having more than enough.
- God will open up supernatural doors for me.
- I declare that God will accelerate His plan for my life.
- I am surrounded by God's favour.
- I declare I am special and extraordinary. I am not average.
In his words
- “You are empty without Christ, but you are full with Christ.”
- “Your seed is what speaks and promotes you.”
- “Your finances must endorse your commitment.”
- “Your trouble is my trouble, your crisis is my crisis.”
- “You must always hunger for God.”
Every scripture in this message
- Acts 2:42
- 1 Corinthians 11:26
- John 17:14-16
- Matthew 4:8-10
- Matthew 26:26-28
- Romans 5:5
- 2 Kings 4:8-10
- Exodus 3:6
- Hebrews 7:8
- Hebrews 13:5
- Numbers 18:8
- Revelation 1:6
- Luke 19:13
- Psalm 103:12-17
- Ephesians 3:20