No One Gave Him Anything: God's Principle for Prosperity

Sermon outline

Prosperity flows to believers who stay in the will of God and trust His system of giving, not to those who chase things on their own terms.

1. Success in the kingdom is not success in the world

   The world measures success by houses, jobs, clothes and cars. A child of God may have all of these, but as the result of a relationship and walk with God, not as something to lust after. Your only goal is to please God by presenting your whole self, will, emotions, body, mind and spirit, to His Word, and then all these things are added.

   “Success in the world is not success in the kingdom of God.”

   • Proverbs 23:7
   • Matthew 6:33
   • Romans 12:1

2. Many Christians lack because they walk out of God's will

   Walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, and understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not make rash choices out of emotion, and remember that when God speaks the devil also speaks: a decision driven by strife, fear or unbelief is not God, because only faith pleases Him. Circumstances are not the test of whether you are in God's will, and restless people who change direction every week show that their inner furniture is out of order.

   Illustration: Joseph could have rebuked the devil and climbed out of the pit, but he understood the pit was 'a temporary station' on the way to ruling Egypt. And Peter stepped out of the boat with no point of reference, purely by faith.

   “Many Christians suffer lack today. It's not because God doesn't want to get things to them. It's just that you walk clean out the will of God.”

   • Ephesians 5:15-17
   • Matthew 3:16-17
   • Matthew 4:1
   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Matthew 14:29
   • Genesis 37:24

3. The prodigal son: the wrong place dries up your provision

   The younger son took his share, went to a far country and wasted it, and when famine came no one gave him anything. A Christian should relocate only because God sends him, because where God does not send you there is no grace to sustain you; Isaac stayed and sowed in a land of famine because God told him to. The prodigal did not give, he squandered, and he ended up joining the wrong people and feeding pigs.

   Illustration: The believer who moves to Johannesburg for a better job, promising to sow millions into the church, and then disappears from church altogether.

   “Where God does not send you as a Christian, there is no grace to sustain you.”

   • Luke 15:11-16
   • Genesis 26:1-3
   • Genesis 26:12

4. Give, and it shall be given to you

   Jesus' principle starts with giving. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over is more than enough to share and still have plenty, and the Spirit of God moves on people to give to you. The prodigal drove himself into famine because he did not give, so no man gave to him.

   Illustration: Oliver Twist's tablespoon of soup was a bad measure; a good measure is five ladles with the plate dripping. Running over is a bunny chow that five people can share and all be full.

   “When you give, God's Spirit will cause men. Move on the hearts of men to give to you.”

   • Luke 6:38

5. Prosperity is God's will: get a prosperous soul

   John wishes above all things that we prosper and are in health as our soul prospers, so how you think matters. Hoarding old containers, clothes and broken cars, or measuring your future by your pay cheque, shows a soul that is not prosperous. To prosper means to do extremely well, to show a profit, to make progress, to excel, to outshine and to stand out.

   Illustration: Ice cream containers saved in the cupboard, old clothes nobody wears, and a 1966 Hillman or a 1952 Morris Minor rusting in the yard.

   “Your paycheck doesn't determine where you're going to.”

   • 3 John 2
   • Proverbs 23:7

6. Trust God's system, not the world's

   Lotto, casinos and betting express faith in a worldly system, so confessing God's supply while trusting those does not work. Back the white horse of Revelation, Jesus Christ, who wants to get wealth to you; God fed His prophet in the wilderness and He can raise up your business. To the natural mind, giving money away seems crazy, but the renewed mind sees that God wants you to sow so He can get money back to you.

   Illustration: An aunt you have not spoken to in ten years phones to give you her house, and an uncle gives you the car you always liked rather than trade it in.

   “Back the right horse. Back the white horse spoken about in Revelation.”

   • Revelation 19:11
   • Proverbs 13:22
   • 1 Kings 17:6
   • Romans 12:2

7. Sow a seed instead of praying about money

   He tried praying and confessing for finances until his throat was dry, until God told him to start sowing. Since then, before every big purchase or project for the ministry he sows a seed with an assignment and waters it with confessions, and he never prays about money. Give seed that costs you something, refuse to let money become your god, and learn the principle for yourself, because poverty and sickness are curses.

   Illustration: The believer who spent last week's money on a new TV instead of sowing it: now he has a TV and no money, but if he had sown he would have had both.

   “If I hoard money, then that means it's my God. Money is not my God. God's my God.”

   • Galatians 3:13

8. Meditate on the Word and frame your finances

   Study, but do not trust your qualifications to make you wealthy; if university made people rich, every professor would drive a Ferrari. Meditating on the Word day and night is how you make your own way prosperous. Agree with your spouse over the bills instead of fighting, and speak your finances into being, just as Jesus' words put the coin in the fish's mouth.

   Illustration: The professor of economics who has taught first, second and third year for decades and is still poor.

   “Don't put your trust in your qualification to produce wealth for you. Put your trust in God's word.”

   • Joshua 1:8
   • Matthew 18:19
   • Hebrews 11:3
   • Matthew 17:27