No Drive-Through Breakthroughs: Practical Wisdom for Kingdom Wealth

Sermon outline

Kingdom prosperity is not a quick fix: God's wisdom works together with tithing, hard work, good money management, information, meditation and a mindset set free from fear.

1. God's wisdom is the principal thing

   Happy is the one who finds wisdom: length of days is in her right hand and riches and honour in her left. Wisdom says to tithe, not as a thirty-day trial but as a lifelong commitment, because a tither earning less than you will have more than you, and if you do not tithe the devil finds a loophole. Wisdom also says walk in love and peace, guard your heart, rest when you are tired, look after your health, and check any get-rich scheme and anyone who wants to lay hands on you or prophesy over your family.

   Illustration: If someone brings a scheme that needs your 50,000 or 100,000, ask why he is not rich himself, check what car he drives and do a credit check. Do not slip into a midnight 'prophetic service' and let a stranger lay hands on you.

   “Don't try the tithing thing. You've got to commit to something.”

   • Proverbs 3:13-16
   • Malachi 3:10-11
   • Proverbs 4:23

2. Wealth is found where wisdom dwells

   God still gives His people knowledge and skill as He did Daniel. Money is the biggest problem believers face after sickness, and his answer is simple: tithe, give offerings, walk in love and stay in church, because prosperity ruins a fool who disappears as soon as money comes. There are no drive-through breakthroughs: take the Word daily like medicine until revelation drops into your spirit, and get on God's wavelength so He can give you ideas and direct your steps.

   Illustration: As soon as some people get a big amount of money, you find them at the fast-food outlets and the coast, not in church.

   “For kingdom prosperity, there's no drive-through breakthroughs.”

   • Daniel 1:17

3. Reasoning makes you rich

   Through wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established and by knowledge its rooms are filled with riches. Do not envy a rich man who was working while you were sleeping. Work faithfully, keep your job, do not curse it and speak blessing over it, because promotion comes to those who look after what they already have. Despise not small beginnings. Manage money wisely like the ant: save, avoid credit, and let whichever spouse handles money better manage it.

   Illustration: A young woman's first test for a would-be husband is whether he works, not whether he is handsome. Keep your one suit pressed and your old shoes polished, clean last year's hamburger juice off your dashboard, and keep your one room as neat as a mansion, and God says, 'This one is ready for promotion.'

   “Wisdom says look after what you got now.”

   • Proverbs 24:3-4
   • Job 8:7
   • Proverbs 6:6-8

4. Three ways to exercise your senses: 1. Take time

   Time is the greatest asset in the school of creativity. Hide yourself somewhere quiet so the Holy Spirit can speak to you and give you ideas. Daniel asked the king for time, gathered his companions to seek God's mercy, and the secret was revealed to him in a night vision.

   “When you take time out, God speaks to you.”

   • Daniel 2:16-19

5. 2. Seek information

   Decisions based on quality information lead to distinction. Get the facts about your situation, find ways to save and cut spending, and build a library with a good Bible, study aids and books and magazines on wealth creation or your business. Daniel understood by the books that the desolation would last seventy years.

   Illustration: He read in a magazine that splitting a monthly bond payment into two halves on the 15th and at month end can shorten the bond by six to eight years, and has written it in his diary to instruct his bank. Even keeping an eight-rand loaf in the fridge so it does not go mouldy is wisdom.

   “Decisions based on quality information actually leads to distinction.”

   • Daniel 9:2

6. 3. Meditate: be a thinker, then a worker

   Meditation is processing the information you have acquired to make quality decisions, and every success is tied to it. The man who meditates on God's law day and night is like a tree planted by rivers of water, and whatever he does prospers. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, so think success, think bigger, and grow from a street stall to a shop to a megastore in your thinking.

   Illustration: He used to say he had a bad memory; he changed his confession to 'my mind is like a computer', and now the Holy Spirit reminds him of things even while he sleeps. He has learnt to buy a car slowly, comparing options on the internet first.

   “Meditation is processing acquired information to make quality decisions.”

   • Psalm 1:1-3
   • Proverbs 23:7

7. Shift your mindset and deliver yourself from fear

   You can know the Word and pray, but if your mindset does not shift you stay in trouble, because God cannot bless you while you walk in fear. Boldness is not arrogance; the righteous are bold as a lion. Make the decision and speak wisdom and blessing over your situation instead of saying life is a struggle, and if you have no bank account, open one as a step of faith.

   Illustration: Years ago he struck through the balance on an ATM slip, wrote what he wanted to see, and said, 'One day is one day.' He used to perspire at the bank, afraid the teller knew how little he had, until he told a teller he was 'getting ready to make some big investments'. He dreaded car salesmen asking about a deposit, until the day he walked in and announced his 10,000 deposit before they asked.

   “God cannot bless you if you're walking in fear.”

   • Proverbs 28:1