Make God Your Financial Partner: Give Your Way Out of Trouble
Dr RJ Sing, 32 min, Part 3 of What Faith Is
Originally recorded as “What Faith Is, Part 3”
Sermon outline
God's plan has always been to prosper his people, and faith that acts on his Word, in giving as in everything else, is how you step into his supernatural provision.
Main text
- Mark 11:23-24
Opening
He welcomes viewers and says that in the earlier programmes 'we have been speaking about the subject or on the subject of faith' and will continue this morning. He reads Mark 11:23-24 as his foundational scripture, then says he wants to make a few introductory remarks first: he will explain some of the words he is going to use in the weeks to come, so that viewers understand the terms when they hear them.
Words to understand: prosperity, and giving and receiving
From cover to cover God's Word reveals his plan to prosper and bless his people, and you must understand that before you can experience a financial breakthrough. He says he is not offering his own opinion but taking viewers back to Scripture. God is a giving God whose giving is unlimited and unending, and he has established spiritual laws of the harvest that show how we should give.
“His purpose has always been to prosper his people.”
God's cycle of supernatural provision, and his provision in financial famine
God has a plan of supernatural provision for your life, and as the Word reveals it you stop depending on your own limited resources. In times of financial famine, when overdue bills pile up and debt brings fear, hopelessness and doubt, God's will is not just enough to get by but plenty, with more than enough to help someone else. That is the abundant life Jesus promised.
Illustration: Overdue bills piled up, finances low, and never enough income for the basic needs of your family.
“It's an overflow life, an overflowing life.”
- John 10:10
The transfer of wealth, and Jesus' power principles for giving
God never meant the wealth of the world to stay in the hands of the ungodly, and in this end-time hour he will transfer it into the hands of the people he has prepared. Jesus introduced an entirely new concept of money and demonstrated a new dimension of unlimited giving through his own life. He calls the key truths Jesus taught about giving power principles, because they unlock the power of giving.
“God never intended the wealth of the world to belong to the hands of the ungodly.”
- Proverbs 13:22
Your seed is your bridge out of trouble
When you are in trouble, start giving your way out of it. Most people in financial bondage try to get out by their own sweat and toil, but God's intention is for you to sow your way out of debt supernaturally. Whatever God has placed in your hand is enough, so do not neglect the gift that is in you.
Illustration: The widow of Zarephath used her seed to create a harvest in the middle of famine, and Joseph used his gift of interpreting dreams to go from the prison to the palace.
“Your seed is always your bridge out of trouble.”
- 1 Kings 17:8-16
- Genesis 41
- 1 Timothy 4:14
By faith we honour God with our tithes
Tithing is the biblical practice of returning ten per cent or more of your income to God. Abraham gave a tithe in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament Jesus took note of the Pharisees' tithing. Make God your financial partner and every payday a seed-sowing day, and expect it to come back multiplied.
Illustration: He quotes another man of God: when seed leaves your hand, it does not exit your life. It goes into your future, multiplies and comes back to you.
“If you make God your financial partner, you will always be on the winning side and never on the losing side.”
- Genesis 14:20
- Matthew 23:23
- Mark 4:20
The Bible is a book that helps you make decisions
See your Bible as more than a spiritual book and it becomes more interesting and interactive. From Genesis to Revelation it teaches what God likes and dislikes and how to relate to men and women. It is a relationship book, about doing business on earth first with God and then with man.
“The Bible is not a book to help you endure. The Bible is a book to help you to make decisions, to create changes.”
What faith is: now faith
Coming back to Mark 11:23-24, he teaches again that faith lays hold of what is hoped for and brings it into reality by acting on the Word, so be a doer and not a hearer only. We receive by faith, not by hoping, and whether it is little or great, faith grows when you put it into practice. God does not change and prayer does not change him. Believe is an action word, and faith says it is mine and I have it now.
“Faith changes things, not God.”
- Mark 11:23-24
- Matthew 21:21-22
- James 1:22
Acting on the Word of God
Faith without works is dead, so healed people should act healed and the redeemed should say so, because believers go by faith and not by feelings. Find scriptures that address your situation and meditate on them until your consciousness takes hold of them, because the problem is inside, in what we believe. There are different anointings, for finances, healing and deliverance, and once you experience them the Christian walk is an adventure of faith and no longer a drudgery.
Illustration: He preached at a church that had a section of deaf people, with an interpreter. The Spirit moved on him, he called them onto the stage, and one after another people began to say 'I can hear' and 'I can see'. He thinks fourteen or more were healed within minutes, and says it has been easy for him to pray for those conditions ever since.
“Act as if the word is true, because, ladies and gentlemen, the word is true.”
- James 2:26
- Psalm 107:2
- Luke 5:18-20
- Matthew 8:17
How does faith work?
Without faith it is impossible to please God, so a born-again Christian who loves God must make sure that whatever he says and does is in faith. He reads 2 Corinthians 5:5-10 and asks viewers to take hold of the words 'we live by faith and not by sight' and meditate on them until they become part of them.
“We do not live by sight, ladies and gentlemen, but we live and function and transact in this world by faith.”
- Hebrews 11:6
- 2 Corinthians 5:5-10
Putting it into practice
- Settle it from Scripture that it is God's will to prosper you.
- When you are in trouble, sow a seed instead of relying only on your own toil.
- Honour God with your tithe and make him your financial partner.
- Find the scriptures that speak to your situation and meditate on them until they change how you believe.
- Act as if the Word is true, and keep saying, 'we live by faith and not by sight'.
Closing
He says he will continue speaking about faith in the teachings to follow. He asks viewers with a physical, spiritual or financial need to touch the television screen or place a hand on their heart as a point of contact, and adds his agreement to theirs for a manifestation they can touch, feel and see. He declares that there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, blesses viewers and their families, and signs off with 'always remember that Jesus is Lord'.
Declarations he led
- I'm not moved by what I see. I'm moved only by what I believe.
In his words
- “Your seed is always your bridge out of trouble.”
- “Whatever God has placed in your hand is always enough to get you out of trouble.”
- “Make God your financial partner.”
- “The Bible is not a book to help you endure. The Bible is a book to help you to make decisions, to create changes.”
- “It now is not a drudgery, but it is an adventure of faith.”
Every scripture in this message
- Mark 11:23-24
- John 10:10
- Proverbs 13:22
- 1 Kings 17:8-16
- Genesis 41
- 1 Timothy 4:14
- Genesis 14:20
- Matthew 23:23
- Mark 4:20
- Matthew 21:21-22
- James 1:22
- James 2:26
- Psalm 107:2
- Luke 5:18-20
- Matthew 8:17
- Hebrews 11:6
- 2 Corinthians 5:5-10
- 1 Corinthians 8:5-6