Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
During the summer months while so many folks are away on vacation, we'll be repeating some of the earlier articles from this special series on PROSPERITY. Use them to establish a firm foundation for releasing your FAITH for God's abundance in every area of life: spirit, soul and body. These articles are repeated as they were originally written and may not contain certain minor last minute changes that were made at the time they were first published.
November 25, 2012:
This series of messages is about reconsidering some of the wrong things we've come to believe in the Body of Christ about PROSPERITY. As we've already pointed out in previous articles, the word PROSPERITY in one form or another is mentioned directly more than 90 times in our Bibles and countless other times through the use of similar words such as abundance, wealth and success. If you'll study this out objectively you'll find that the great majority of those mentions put PROSPERITY in an obvious POSITIVE light, as something that our loving Father wants us to connect to as a CURRENT benefit in His Kingdom, a benefit that outside folks aren't eligible for. And the truth is it's not ever mentioned anywhere in the Bible as something negative if we'll just read about it in His intended context.
So why then is there so much negativity in the Church about this word? One time just a few years ago I was being interviewed in the studio of one of the main Christian radio stations in a major metropolitan area. Things were going along great until I mentioned on the air the word PROSPERITY in a positive context and you would've thought I'd cursed. The Christian interviewer cut me off immediately and made a kind of qualifying remark to his audience about how PROSPERITY can be easily misinterpreted as he went to a break with a grimace on his face that let me know we wouldn't be discussing that subject when we came back on the air. And for the rest of the interview, which he proceeded to cut short, I could see the fear in his eyes that I might say that dreaded word PROSPERITY again before he could get rid of me.
This little anecdote illustrates a PREVALENT point of view these days in much of the Body of Christ that I believe is seriously unscriptural and hinders what the Lord wants to do through the Church to teach and preach the gospel to the entire world (Matthew 28:18-19 with Mark 16:15). Consequently, I'm asking another question tonight in the hope of challenging us to RECONSIDER what we believe about PROSPERITY: why are we so AFRAID of this little word that's mentioned POSITIVELY in the Bible more than 90 times as a BLESSING that God Almighty WANTS us to possess and use to accomplish His purposes?
The Importance of a Right Definition
In order to answer this question, the first thing we need to do is clarify what bible-based PROSPERITY really is because it's not what most Christians think. In other words, while MOST Christians DO have a negative reaction to the Bible-word PROSPERITY, they're resisting something without having accurate knowledge about what they're resisting. We hear a lot of people portraying THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE as something generically bad so we just endorse that point of view WITHOUT going into the Word and finding out for ourselves what and why we're resisting. We're lazy about finding out what the Word actually says about it and we're AFRAID of coming to a conclusion that's different from what our church peers and teachers say.
The truth is the ACCURATE bible-based PROSPERITY MESSAGE is not MATERIALISM, but it's also not PRIMARILY concerned with just spiritual things. It's not about wealth accumulation so we can create a nest egg for ourselves to depend on or feel more secure about, and it's not to provide funds to consume on our own lusts and creature comforts, and it's not for the purpose of feeling better about ourselves compared to our neighbors. It's certainly NOT something to LOVE because the love of money is the root of ALL evil (1 Timothy 6:10). And it's also not some financial gain we can attract to ourselves simply by going around everywhere confessing over and over again with wrong motives what we want God to give us.
No, the true bible-based PROSPERITY MESSAGE supported by more than 90 direct mentions in the Bible in both Old and New Testaments is really something special that God wants to BLESS us with in order to accomplish His plans and purposes. True Bible PROSPERITY is NOT about you and me; it's about God and His Kingdom, and it IS about what He wants to accomplish on the ENTIRE earth through His people and the Church and the Head of the Church. It's way higher and bigger and more important than most Christians have any idea of and it's vital that we learn about it so that the work of the Kingdom can be facilitated and go forward.
To be PROSPEROUS in a true bible-based-New-Testament-sense means that God through His GRACE has provided a SURPLUS of financial increase over and above what you require to meet your FINANCIAL needs and the needs of your family. In other words you have ALL sufficiency in everything plus an ABUNDANCE (2 Corinthians 9:8). You connect to His GRACE through FAITH which usually requires that you have a good understanding of the principles of STEWARDSHIP the Bible teaches so that God can depend on you to use your ABUNDANCE correctly. Why do you think two-thirds of the Parables of Christ are about money, property and/or stewardship? You're supposed to be learning this stuff so you'll know what to do with His PROSPERITY! And one of the things you're supposed to do with it is ABOUND TO EVERY GOOD WORK (2 Corinthians 9:8).
2 Corinthians 9:8 = "...God is (willing) to make ALL GRACE abound to you, so that ALWAYS having ALL sufficiency in EVERYTHING, you may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY good (work)."
Matthew 5:16 = "Let your light shine before men... that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father..."
1 Timothy 6:18 = "...be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share..."
Colossians 1:9-10 = "...be filled with the knowledge of Him...so that you will please Him...bearing every good work..."
Ephesians 2:10 = "...we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works..."
Not only has the PROSPERITY AND ABUNDANCE of God been made available for abounding in good works but it's also for the purpose of establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth (Deuteronomy 8:18). How is the Great Commission ever going to be completed unless with financial resources we send out Evangelical Missionaries over the ENTIRE earth with the Gospel Message? Who is supposed to provide those resources if not you and I? How is the local church ever going to thrive unless Christians give liberally out of a financial SURPLUS that God has provided for that exact purpose?
In essence then, one of the main reasons we're AFRAID of the word PROSPERITY is that we haven't known what it really means. We haven't understood that God has a purpose for it and that it's been misrepresented since almost the beginning of the Church two thousand years ago. None other than the enemy himself has bamboozled us and caused us to FEAR the PROSPERITY that Jesus died for us to have:
2 Corinthians 8:9 = "...though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that YOU through His poverty might become rich."
Reconsidering Our Thinking
I've said this before but it's worth repeating: the Greek word translated "rich" in that last verse is talking about FINANCES. The Apostle Paul was taking up an offering when he wrote it. Certainly he could have meant more than just FINANCES as he was writing it down but it's patently inaccurate to try to exclude FINANCES from the meaning because that's the context. So the accurate meaning of the verse is this: Jesus died so that you could have an opportunity to receive an ABUNDANCE that will permit you to do the work of the Kingdom. That opportunity is the GRACE of God and it's already been made available. But not everyone will take advantage of the opportunity for a variety of reasons including the misdirected fear of PROSPERITY and an unwillingness to grow and revise our thinking.
It's interesting that the Old Testament folks never had a problem understanding PROSPERITY. Those old people of FAITH submitted to and followed after God and they ALL became PROSPEROUS. They expected to become PROSPEROUS because they understood it was a benefit of their relationship by FAITH with Jehovah God. And the Lord used them to accomplish great things on the earth as they helped prepare for the arrival of Messiah. But after Messiah came and we arrived at the New Testament, many teachers would have us believe that God suddenly changed for some reason and became stingy. Now people are supposed to be poor or at the least subject to frequent insufficiency and they should be happy about it. Friend, this is just NOT a scriptural perspective and God's PROSPERITY is waiting for those who'll reach out in FAITH to take it and use it with righteous priorities.
Most folks in the Body of Christ today are resigned to living with restricted income believing that PROSPERITY is either inappropriate or impossible and they've stopped releasing their FAITH for INCREASE. A number of them are out of debt so they consider themselves good stewards. And indeed, debt freedom is a GOOD thing. But the restrictions on income have NOT been imposed by God. They're self imposed and to be satisfied with an economic level that's below our potential is limiting what God wants to do in our lives and in His Kingdom and that's NOT good stewardship.
It's not a passive thing to be PROSPEROUS because it takes work and study to discover and connect to the ABUNDANCE of Christ. In other words PROSPERITY has to be pursued with FAITH just as say PEACE does. But it's relatively easy if you're willing to make the effort and the more you work at it the easier it becomes. Friend, we're not supposed to give up on the opportunity for financial increase that Christ has made available. All you have to do is RECONSIDER your thinking and start believing again for the real bible-based kind of PROSPERITY. God will bless you for trying.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on July 28. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing and cause you to PROSPER in every area of life.
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 Lord and Savior. 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
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