Take Heed How You Hear: Sow in That Land and Wax Great

Sermon outline

Everything God does for you he has already done and he delivers it by words, so how you hear and receive those words, and whether you sow in the land God showed you, decides whether you go forward and wax great as Isaac did.

1. It is not something God is doing, it is something he has already done

   The miracles people receive are not new acts of God. He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings, and the scripture says "ye were healed", past tense. So the question is not whether God will do it but how you receive what is finished, and you find that out by studying his Word.

   “His Word reveals to us his will.”

   • Ephesians 1:3
   • 1 Peter 2:24

2. How you receive your pastor determines how you will prosper

   He says this is God's Word, not his own idea: whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet receives a prophet's reward, and believing God's prophets is linked to prospering. Praying, fasting, reading the Bible and coming to church are all good, but there is a step further for those who do not want to stay at a baby level. Not all pastors are the same, and you need to know an anointed, commissioned man or woman of God from one who is not.

   Illustration: All bus drivers are not the same: there are good ones and bad ones, and it is the same with pastors.

   “Your prosperity is linked to how you receive a man of God.”

   • Matthew 10:41
   • 2 Chronicles 20:20

3. It is all by words

   Healing does not come by begging, crying or waiting for a feeling. Jesus healed people by words, and his words are spirit and life, so when a man of God says "be healed" power has gone out. Promotion, financial change and the move from one level to the next come the same way. Preaching is not a lecture like a school teacher's lesson: it is inspired by the Holy Ghost, so hang on every word and let nobody distract you.

   Illustration: A noise behind him breaks his flow, and he uses it to show the difference: the interruption took him back to his "normal self", and under the inspiration of the Spirit he is "another man".

   “How is there a manifestation of healing? It's by the words.”

   • John 6:63
   • 1 Samuel 10:6

4. Take heed how you hear

   What separates the person who overcomes from the one who collapses under the same pressure is how each receives the Word. A man can be faithful in church for twenty, thirty or forty years and still be "same old, same old", because the words bounced off him. To hide God's Word in your heart your spirit must first grab hold of it. If you are dealing in thousands you should be moving on to tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions.

   Illustration: "I saw you in 1970. You were driving a Chev. I see you in 2007. You're still driving a Chev Constantia. Brother, there's something wrong."

   “Every anointed word that comes to you is spiritual DNA. It is building blocks for your faith life.”

   • Luke 8:18
   • Mark 4:24
   • Psalm 119:11

5. God's presence in your life should be prospering you

   The anointing is for prosperity. When the Ark of the Covenant, which stands for God's presence, rested in Obed-Edom's house, the man simply prospered. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give life to the overflow. God has also appointed men and women in the fivefold ministry to build his church and speak words of prophecy over it.

   “God's presence in your life should be taking you up and over.”

   • 2 Samuel 6:11
   • John 10:10
   • Ephesians 4:11-12

6. Naaman: the healing was in the words

   How you treat a man of God is for your benefit, not his. Naaman came for healing and the prophet did not even see him: he sent a servant to say, go and dip seven times in the Jordan. Naaman was angry at being treated that way and at the choice of river, but once he obeyed he was healed. In the same way the patriarchs blessed generations by laying on hands and speaking words. There is a way to receive from God, and religious people struggle with it.

   Illustration: The prophet "completed the transaction with words", carried by a courier. He did not touch Naaman or pray for him.

   “Where was the healing? In the words. Where's your promotion? In the words. Where's your blessing? In the words.”

   • 2 Kings 5:9-14
   • 2 Timothy 2:15

7. Isaac sowed in that land

   There was a famine, but God was not concerned about the famine. He told Isaac not to go down to Egypt but to stay in the land he would show him, and that land was commanded to yield an increase for him. The Bible is specific that Isaac sowed in that land, and he received a hundredfold in the same year. All lands are not the same. "That land" for his hearers is the church God led them to, and for himself it is the ministry God showed him. A job or a business is good, and you should work hard, but it is not your source.

   Illustration: A church member told him that from the day he touched her wallet she was promoted three times in twelve months and has never been out of money, and his wife has the same testimony from a day he did a demonstration with her wallet.

   “If you are sowing in a land that's fruitful, it must yield to you an increase.”

   • Genesis 26:1-4
   • Genesis 26:12
   • Mark 4:20
   • 2 Thessalonians 3:10

8. The Lord blessed him: empowered to prosper

   People play the horses and the lotto hoping to answer their needs, and that is the spirit of the world. In the kingdom we work kingdom principles. When God blesses someone he puts an anointing of prosperity on them, so that doors open and things that did not come their way begin to gravitate to them. Hard work alone will not make you rich. What brings substance is the level at which you respond to the Word.

   “The word blessed means you are empowered to prosper, expand, outgrow, outshine.”

   • Genesis 26:12

9. He waxed great, went forward and grew until he became very great

   Isaac did not go sideways like a crab or backwards. His possessions kept accumulating until the Philistines envied him and Abimelech asked him to leave. Going forward and waxing great is the portion of every born-again child of God, whether you are a student or in business, and suffering and lack are not. When people start to envy you, you know you are arriving.

   Illustration: He once believed that to be poor was the will of God and thought it was humility, and he got very angry when preachers spoke about prosperity, until he studied the Bible for himself, rooted the poverty mindset out of his spirit and began to speak differently. He also pictures the neighbour who saw you thumbing a lift in a suit shiny from ironing and shoes held together with super glue, and now sees you with a new car and ten pairs of shoes.

   “When they start to envy you, then you must know you're arriving.”

   • Genesis 26:13-16
   • Psalm 35:27

10. Rich to have a generous heart, not to be a miser

    Jesus promised houses and lands in this life to those who give up all to follow him. The purpose of wealth is to help other people: if a poor man says he has no food, you can only bless him if you are not in trouble yourself. He answers the charge that preachers are after money with examples of preachers giving, and says the church is heading for a day when he can hand car keys to a student who arrives by public transport.

    Illustration: A preacher lent someone a brand new Audi, and when the borrower's own car was fixed he told him to keep it.

    “It's not to be wealthy to hoard, it's to be blessed to be a blessing.”

    • Mark 10:29-30

11. Make room for the new, tithe, and sow a radical seed

    He blesses the people with the words of his mouth and gives a prophecy: give away the old furniture and the clothes you are keeping for "one day" to someone worse off, because new things are coming. There is a grace on the ministry and they are partakers of it, so they should not disconnect from it. He adds a word of caution, that anyone who is not a tither needs to change it, and urges radical seed. God blessed Rahab and Jacob because they had faith, so move from faithfulness to faith.

    Illustration: Pastor Johannes felt the Holy Spirit tell him to sow his watch, hesitated because it was expensive, and put it in the offering. That same week someone gave him a suit, a shirt, a tie and a watch.

    “If you would do supernatural things, God will give you supernatural provisions.”

    • Isaiah 30:21
    • Philippians 1:7
    • 1 Kings 17:4-13
    • Hebrews 11:31