Nothing Leaves Heaven Until Something Leaves Your Hand

Sermon outline

Seedtime and harvest is God's fixed law, so open your hand, refuse to tolerate lack, take the limits off God, build your budget by faith and give your seed time to grow.

1. Open your hand and God will open His hand

   Whatever you have in your hand is a seed, and whatever God has in His hand is your harvest. Under the old covenant only priests received sacrifices; today earthly men receive the tithe, but in heaven Jesus receives it, and that gives you an open heaven. When you give God the tenth, He blesses the ninety per cent, which is why he will never stop teaching the tithe.

   Illustration: Jesus watching at the treasury as the widow gave her all.

   “Nothing leaves heaven to get to you until it leaves your hand.”

   • Mark 12:41-44
   • Hebrews 7:8
   • Malachi 3:10-11

2. Release the Holy Spirit to bring your harvest

   Like the man who scatters seed and sleeps and rises while it grows, you do not know how your seed works, but it is working in supernatural soil. The Holy Spirit can go where you cannot go and speak to someone two thousand kilometres away, so honour Him and do not quench Him. We are God's offspring and He does everything by faith, so start with mustard-seed faith and let it grow; God never asks you to do what you cannot do.

   Illustration: He gives as his own opinion that there are 'money angels' who go and get your money and contracts once you have done your part.

   “He is the movement of the seed faith principle.”

   • Mark 4:26-28
   • Acts 17:27-28
   • Matthew 17:20
   • Matthew 18:18

3. Don't tolerate lack

   The world's Babylonian system is failing, but those who trust in Jehovah will have light like Israel in Goshen while Egypt sat in darkness. Poverty is tormenting and strips you of the ability to give, so learn to despise lack, because you will never conquer what you cannot hate. Your seed is the enemy of lack: name your harvest, sow a battle seed in a crisis, and aim your seed like an arrow by writing on your envelope exactly what you need.

   Illustration: Pastor David Yonggi Cho told a woman who wanted a husband to write down exactly what kind of man she wanted; on his next visit she introduced him to a husband who matched all ten points.

   “You will never conquer what you cannot hate.”

   • Exodus 10:23
   • Jeremiah 17:5-7
   • John 14:14
   • 2 Corinthians 9:8

4. Take the limits off God

   Your pastor will be your ceiling, so do not choose a church just because it is convenient; you will only rise to what he believes. People travel long distances and even fly for a salary, and the Queen of Sheba travelled from another country to hear wisdom, so make the effort for the Word. Attempting the impossible creates a crisis that lets God reveal His power, so make big plans and do not shortchange yourself.

   Illustration: In Johannesburg he drove 50 kilometres each way every Sunday to Rhema Randburg, where he was exposed to bigger things and his eyes were opened. He contrasts a man who stopped coming to church when it was 15 kilometres away, even after God had given him a new car.

   “You serve a big God, so make big plans.”

   • 1 Kings 10:1
   • Daniel 11:32

5. Build your budget with faith

   A budget is a written plan for spending, but build it with faith: putting God first in tithes and offerings lays a foundation of faith for the rest of your needs. Your financial world is decided by what you sow, what you save and what you spend. Trust God for extra income and bigger ideas, and when a prophetic word is spoken over you, trap it with a seed.

   Illustration: Years ago he and his wife bought a house their budget said they could not afford, and God provided month after month. A big freeway bridge shows that people who think big build big. When the Holy Spirit told him to start confessing he was a millionaire, the words would hardly come out, but he kept saying it. At a ministers' conference he obeyed the Spirit, walked up and laid a seed at the preacher's feet, and afterwards the preacher gave him a prophetic word that he held in his heart.

   “Whenever you have a prophetic word on you, trap it with the seed.”

   • Mark 11:23-24
   • Matthew 6:33

6. Explore new income possibilities

   You are not locked into your present job; you chose to be where you are and you can choose to be somewhere else. Seasons change and most assignments are seasonal, so enjoy your God-given right to explore new jobs, business opportunities and entrepreneurship, and let God walk you into the next chapter.

   “Permit God to walk into the next chapter of success in your life.”

   • Isaiah 43:19

7. Give your seed time to grow

   There is always a distance between your sowing season and your reaping season, so do not grow weary in waiting. Asking 'when is it coming?' is like uprooting your seed and replanting it; instead water it by faith with your confessions. Champions endure.

   Illustration: In school high jump they keep raising the bar until only one jumper is left; he urges the church to raise the bar and believe God for great things.

   “There's always a distance between your sowing season and your reaping season.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:7
   • Galatians 6:9