Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship:
As previously discussed, the Bible-word PROSPERITY in its various forms is mentioned in Scripture more than 90 times almost always in a positive context. The fact is most of those mentions are in the Old Testament and quite often the Hebrew word translated to the English as PROSPERITY is the well known word shalom. Most of the time shalom is translated as PEACE but the second most frequent translation is PROSPERITY. Indeed the Hebrew perspective is that it isn't possible to have PEACE without PROSPERITY in all its forms including financial PROSPERITY. In other words, they might say: how can you have PEACE without financial PROSPERITY!
Now many teachers in this day and age would have us believe that this Old Testament perspective did not continue over into the New Testament. Suddenly in the New Testament with NO scriptures to back it up God's desire for His people to be PROSPEROUS ended and insufficiency became the virtuous way to live. Never mind that the New Covenant is a better Covenant with better promises (Hebrews 8:6) and never mind that insufficiency was and still is a preeminent part of the CURSE of the Law (Deuteronomy 28:48), yes that very same CURSE we were REDEEMED (rescued) from when Jesus hung on the Cross at Calvary (Galatians 3:13). The TRUTH is we've been rescued from insufficiency but many of our teachers refuse to come out of man made TRADITION and are determined for some reason to keep us there under the CURSE.
Examining the "Prosperity Message"
To be fair, part of the present aversion to this great Bible-word stems from some corrupted teaching in the Body of Christ commonly referred to now as THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE. I've already mentioned it in a couple of previous articles so I decided for this week to go into a little more detail since it's been such a strong influence on this subject over the last 30 years or more. In doing this I want to clarify that THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE is what people call it. There's a real and correct PROSPERITY message that we have called biblical PROSPERITY that can be found in our Bibles that's there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And there's THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE that we're looking at separately tonight.
What THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE did was put too much emphasis on the giving of one's money as the principal means for obtaining financial PROSPERITY. It's true that the principle of sowing and reaping is clearly revealed in Scripture and it's okay to expect that directionally our giving/sowing will produce something to reap, a future harvest. But there's much more to acquiring financial PROSPERITY than simply giving away our money to some ministry which is why we've been discussing this complex subject for some 30 weeks now.
Another problem with THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE was that in essence it was a get-rich-quick scheme for Christians that was self-oriented instead of Kingdom-oriented on both ends of the MESSAGE. Believers were giving their money away to ministries expecting to get rich in return because they had been told by respected ministers that's what would happen, and the ministers were soliciting funds for their ministries by distorting the Word and manipulating Believers who didn't have enough Word-knowledge to know that they were hearing a distorted MESSAGE. Indeed, the enticement of getting rich quick was/is directly opposed by the Word of God that CLEARLY teaches against get-rich-quick schemes (Proverbs 13:11, 21:5, 28:20 and 28:22) and encourages us instead to use our giving to benefit the Kingdom of God and to bless others as our chief priorities. PROSPERITY is not about getting rich so we can consume it on ourselves and finance our own priorities; and unless that point is also emphasized, the resulting MESSAGE is out of balance.
Now it's certainly true that 2 Corinthians 9:6 re-confirms the principle of sowing and reaping for the New Testament by saying in part that he/she who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, but it's NOT saying that we can consume our abundance (aka PROSPERITY) on ourselves. A couple of verses later the Word makes it clear that the purpose of that abundance is for good works, for the supply of future seed for sowing and in order to increase our harvest of righteousness (9:10). In that process we will ourselves come to be enriched in all things (9:11) including our finances as long as we have sowed our funds CHEERFULLY (9:7) into good ground seeking first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). The word CHEERFULLY in that verse doesn't just mean we were "happy" when we gave our money. No, according to the scripture it means specifically that we didn't give "grudgingly" or under "compulsion." It would be "grudgingly" if we gave our money while in our hearts for some reason we didn't want to or we regretted it after we gave. And "compulsion" would be if we had chased after an objective that's self-and-flesh-oriented instead of Kingdom-oriented or because somebody made us feel like we had to sow something in order to avoid some kind of undesirable outcome.
The Role of Balanced Giving
In sum, THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE was out of balance and even today if you listen in the right places you can still hear it being taught in one form or another despite the fact that it's been largely discredited. People are still being deceived into thinking their money gifts are going to be multiplied back to them right away and make them rich. God could certainly make any of us rich if He wants to; it's up to Him isn't it? But, how about just making a generous gift to a ministry because we love God and we're THANKFUL for what He's done or because we want to bless that particular ministry or minister or because we just want to bless the Kingdom of God? What if we gave from any of those heart motivations instead of BECAUSE some minister was promising a multiplied payout? What if we gave our gifts in FAITH trusting and believing that God's GRACE would see to it that we'll be well taken care of financially in His time and in His way and IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS WORD, and not just based on one isolated biblical principle but on all the stewardship and character principles that bear on His PROSPERITY?
That original unbalanced PROSPERITY MESSAGE should have been thrown out but to also throw out the Bible-word PROSPERITY is like throwing the baby out with the dirty bathwater! That special word PROSPERITY was given to us in Scripture by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit came up with it, which He did, then there's an anointing on that word that's unique in its purpose for the Church. Therefore, we should continue to use it in the proper context without always having to defend its use. Biblical PROSPERITY is not the same as THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE and it's not the same as MATERIALISM and it doesn't involve the love of money in any way. God wants us to have and enjoy His PROSPERITY and one of the ways to connect to the GRACE that brings it to us is through well-intentioned and motivated OFFERINGS of the money God has given us to people and places in the Kingdom of God that we're led to by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14). If the Holy Spirit isn't confirming your OFFERING to you, you can rest assured it won't be making you rich.
Now in addition to making OFFERINGS, there's the question of TITHING to deal with when we talk about the relationship between balanced giving and God's PROSPERITY. Many Believers want to get out of TITHING by calling it an Old Testament practice or by attaching it to the Law. The Truth is many people including Abraham faithfully TITHED well before the Law went into effect. The reason for mentioning Abraham is that because Jesus went to the Cross, Believers have been among other things connected specifically to the Blessing of Abraham (Galatians 3:14). Indeed Abraham was a practicing TITHER (Genesis 14:20) and he trusted God and God only for His provision (Genesis 14:21-22). His TITHING was a voluntary act. He did it willingly and lovingly because He wanted to put God first in his life and give Him the credit for his victories and provision.
TITHING done correctly represents a unique opportunity to put God first with a particularly sensitive commodity, our money that occupies a very high propriety in our lives. TITHING was a legal requirement only for the 1500 or so years under the Law and the rest of the time before and after the Law it was and should be now a VOLUNTARY practice. Honoring God has to be VOLUNTARY or it doesn't really honor Him. Putting God first has to be VOLUNTARY or it's being done out of compulsion which is specifically referred to in the negative in 2 Corinthians 9:7. Therefore, a smart, God-loving and well informed Believer will TITHE and they will want to TITHE voluntarily so they can glorify God and help Him establish His Kingdom. So if you hear some teacher tell you one day that if you don't TITHE you're going to come under the Curse and lose your health and all your possessions, get up from there and go someplace where they're teaching the Word. Believers have been REDEEMED from the Curse, and the Law that forced people to TITHE in the past before Christ has been set aside (Hebrews 7:18).
Because of limited space this is all we can get into tonight about balanced giving and it's really a way more complex subject than we can adequately deal with in just one Newsletter. But here's a ruling principle to leave you with straight out of your Bible: "The generous man will be prosperous" (Proverbs 11:25). A loving person is generous and LOVE will always connect you to the GRACE that contains your PROSPERITY. If you're hoping for PROSPERITY in your life let ALL your giving be done out of a generous heart and then release your FAITH that your PROSPERITY will soon manifest. Believe for it today but if it doesn't happen by the end of today, then start believing it will come tomorrow. Be generous, love God and His Kingdom and other people, and stand in expectant FAITH for the fulfillment of ALL His promises.
Thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday evening, May 5 and we hope you'll join us each week as we continue studying the subject of bible-based PROSPERITY. Until then may God bless you and your family with the total PROSPERITY of Christ!
Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Savior and Lord. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx
Donations
If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1
© Make A Way Ministries, Inc.
204 Turner Circle
Granbury, Texas 76048
