Don't Let Blessing Become an Idol - Prosperity With a Purpose, Bill Johnson Sermon | Bethel Church

0:00 I don't think in terms of building Bethel as a big church. I think about building big people. I don't care if there's a hundred here or there's twenty thousand, and I mean that sincerely. What really matters to me is that people become everything God intended them to be. They step into destiny fully, and I want to serve that assignment. That's what moves me. That's what wakes me up in the morning, is to see people come into fullness. Thanks, thanks, thanks. Oh, nice to see you. I want to get started.

0:40 And tragically, I have no jokes to tell you. I know it's why you came. I know I've created this addiction for funny stories, but I just, I don't have any today except the fact that I don't have any. That's the only thing that comes close. Anyway, I... Let's have to do without. All right. I want to get going today. Something I'm going to do today, I've only done one other time in my life. And that was almost 19 years ago when I came here to Bethel. When Benny and I and our family came down to pastor here, I took the first four weeks to teach on finances. And I took the first two weeks to teach on the tithe, which I had never done before back to back like that. But I'm going to do it again today. I'm basically going to tell you what I told you last week.

1:34 And the reason I've got, I feel very strongly provoked in a sense. I left last week enjoying the fact that we got together and loving the privilege to be with so many people that have said yes, the big yes to God and will do anything that he says to do. And it's, it's such a joy in life. But I also left with this kind of this leftover feeling that there are many who have, uh, have come for what they can get and not for what they can receive, give come for, it's almost like going to a smorgasbord. You get to choose what you want instead of entering into the very flow of what God a saying doing in a congregation. We always welcome people to come observe, to see what's happening here. That's a huge part of our life. But for those of you that are family, here's a big deal. I never want it to not cost us something to be a part of this family and to be together.

2:40 And I never apologize for that. If I didn't pay the price myself, then I would never require it of anybody else. But for me, as tender a subject as this is, it's a very enjoyable subject as well because I see it as a message for breakthrough. And here's where I want to start. There's this unusual connection in the scripture between the visible world and the invisible world. And what I want to do is I want to show you something that's actually circular. I don't know another way to say it. Circular in scripture. And we'll start with this. In Luke 16, Jesus makes this statement. He says, if we don't know how to handle unrighteous mammon, which is money, who will entrust true riches to us? If I don't know how to handle unrighteous mammon finances, who will entrust to me true riches? So what is he saying? He's saying the way that I steward this is what qualifies me for the real reason we're all here. We're all here for true spiritual riches. We're here for things much greater than money. There's not a person here in the room that is here to make money. We are all here because we're hungry for more of God. We're hungry for the authentic lifestyle of triumph and victory that Jesus led. We're hungry to see greater breakthrough and destroying of cancer and saving of souls and all those things, the breaking of poverty, that whole deal. That's why we're here. That's what brings us together week after week is we have a common heartbeat that says, I want the genuine. I want the authentic.

4:21 But Jesus made something very clear that we don't always get. And that is there is a connection between what I do with resources. I'm going to refer to specifically money in this situation. That's how Jesus used it. But I do think it applies in a much broader way. It includes favor. It includes anointing. It includes insight that God gives you. It includes family, relationships, job, all these realms of influence. But let's just deal with money because today we are dealing again with the subject of purpose for prosperity or prosperity with a purpose. So Jesus says, the way I handle this realm, mammon, finances, money, is how I have access to the unseen realm, which is true spiritual riches. I grew up thinking that true riches was more money. And in other words, if you give, you get more of this.

5:18 There's a principle there that we can prove in Scripture, but that's not the point today. The point today is that obedience in this realm actually qualifies me at a level where I can be trusted with an unseen realm. And so Jesus teaches this throughout Scripture. We have it in the Luke passage, handling unrighteous mammon, I can be entrusted with true riches. So what's visible, what's invisible. In Malachi 3, which we'll turn to in a moment, Malachi 3 is a great passage on the tithe. And I'll try to clarify at least perhaps some questions that there might be on the concept of the tithe. In this passage, he says, you've robbed God because you've withheld tithe and offerings. And then he says, test me now. We are forbidden to test God in every way throughout our whole life. We don't have the right to test or to tempt God. except in one area. He invites us. It's almost like he welcomes us into a duel. And he says, try to outgive me. And it's this whole thing of we challenge God in this one area. It's the only area I can find in Scripture where we're not only allowed, but we're actually encouraged to test God in a realm, and it has to do with money. I believe one of the reasons he allows us to test him there is because the outcome is measurable. Too often we try to live with concepts that are not measurable. As valuable as that may be, it's helpful for us to learn the nature of the king and the nature of the kingdom by measuring things that are visible.

6:50 All right. So here he says, unrighteous mammon, true riches. Well, in the Malachi passage, he says in response to being faithful with a tithe and offering, he says, see if I will not open for you windows of heaven and pour out a blessing until there's no more need. So what does he do there? He links what I do with the dollars in my pocket, what's given to me in my earnings, what I do with that actually helps, if I move in tithes and offerings, I actually help to open open heavens to where there's literally an outpouring of blessing, an outpouring of the Spirit, until there's literally no more need. There is a connection between what I do with the money in my pocket, the money in my account, and that which I really hunger for. And that is a full expression of heaven on earth. They are linked.

7:42 Yes, they are. Here's the interesting thing to me. not only does something in the natural obedience in the natural brings spiritual release physical obedience brings spiritual release not only does this trigger something in the unseen there's something that happens in the unseen that triggers something in the natural so this concept is circular so I've already tried to establish at least in concept what we do in the natural has an effect on the unseen world. Are you with me? 3 John verse 2 says, Beloved, I pray that you would prosper and be in good health. Those are two measurable external things. Physical health, financial prosperity. Beloved, I pray that you would prosper in all things and health just as your soul prospers.

8:43 Your soul prospering is that unseen realm. It's what's happening in your internal world. Is that a reality, can I say it this way? You experiencing the true riches of God here now has an effect on your external world. not only does my tithe and offering affect the unseen now it's circular where the unseen world as I steward this realm it has an effect on health and our resources this concept goes on in scripture where he says seek first the kingdom of God, that's the unseen, and all these things will be added to you. Proverbs puts it this way. He says, I'm fascinated by reading Proverbs a lot.

9:42 He says, don't pursue money. Pursue wisdom. And when you pursue wisdom, you'll get money. The problem comes when I'm pursuing wisdom, and I see him providing for me, and I start turning my focus to, I really like being provided for, this is awesome, and we start pursuing this. Then what happens? Not only do I lose the resources, I lose the wisdom. it's this it's a test it's a challenge to receive the blessing and not abuse it what happened to Israel? Israel left Egypt before they left they were given all of Egypt's gold that's a fascinating story so here's Israel they leave Egypt they've got all the gold they've got all the blessing the mark of God's blessing what do they do with it. They make a golden calf out of it. The blessing of the Lord in every one of our lives always has the potential to shape the course of history or become a golden calf.

10:52 And that's the challenge. Here is the thing we set our hearts on. And the moment we deviate from the priority, we have to be people of principle, people of absolute divine values. The moment this think wisdom or the kingdom or proper stewardship of what God's put under my charge, the moment I shift from my focus on what's valuable according to him and I turn it to the reward, I end up losing both. It's not an issue of punishment. He's protecting me because if he increases the reward when I have violated the nature of the kingdom, then I actually attract to myself a devourer that I won't be able to handle. This cycle is to position people to come into destiny. And I'll tell you what, it is impossible to disciple nations without prosperity.

11:55 Now I understand the subject of prosperity is horribly abused. It nauseates me too, but it's in the Bible. It's in the Bible. So we've got to find out how to do it correctly because it's impossible. to do what God has called us to do, disciple nations, without there being a sense of abundance about our life. It's how we position ourselves. Jesus said, I've run this by you before, so forgive me for repeat, but we love it when people seek first the kingdom. We're not always as happy with them when all things are added to them, right? We love it when they give in secret, and we're not as happy with them when God rewards them openly, which is what he promised. And that's the cycle of the kingdom, is we tend to embrace one half of the message without knowing how to celebrate the other half. And the other half is prosperity with a purpose, because that which God puts in your hands, I don't care if it's $1,000 or $100 million.

12:51 When God puts something in your hands, there is the opportunity to shape the course of history, to use prosperity for divine purpose, to express the nature of the king in his kingdom, or there's the possibility of building the golden calf. And it doesn't matter if it's anointing in your life for healing. It doesn't matter if it's insight and revelation. It doesn't matter if it's millions of dollars. It doesn't matter what it is. Every blessing that God puts in our life can be used for self-promotion, can be used to build a golden calf. Take your Bibles and open to the book of Malachi again.

13:37 Malachi chapter 3. It's the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi for those of you that are Italian. Italian prophet. Let's just read these scriptures and then I want to talk to you for a few minutes specifically about the time. Verse 8, will a man rob God? Yet you've robbed me. But you say, in what way have we robbed you in tithes and offerings? You're cursed with a curse. You've robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, pour out for you such a blessing, there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts. I love this portion of scripture. There are many who I believe have made a huge mistake in assuming that because this verse is in the Old Testament, that the tithe is from the law. The tithe was actually instituted 400 years before Moses.

14:54 And interestingly, it was instituted through a man named Abraham, who is called the father of faith. The entire fourth chapter of Romans gives honor to this father of faith. So profound was his effect on the course of history that God himself said, if you're born again, you're a descendant of Abraham. Romans chapter 9 likens every descendant of Abraham as being born again. He says, Abraham's son, Isaac, was a child of promise. It's used figuratively to represent those who put their faith in Christ and become born again. I'm not suggesting replacement theology where we have no concern for Israel. I don't buy into that either. But there is this reality that those who are born again, biblically, are considered descendants of Abraham. Why is that important? Jesus, in John chapter 8, got into a dialogue with some scribes and Pharisees, religious leaders. And they were saying, you're of the devil, we are descendants of Abraham. And Jesus makes this statement that I think is profound. He says, if you're descendants of Abraham do the deeds of Abraham. Interesting implications. Those who are from Abraham should live as Abraham lived. He was an extremely blessed man. He lived according to the core value of faith and trust in God. And that core value of trust was expressed in the tithe. Now, who did he give to? Abraham gave to a man named Melchizedek. Melchizedek is an Old Testament figure, very unusual figure because there's no genealogy for him. We don't know when he was born. We don't know when he died. Hebrews picks up the subject of Melchizedek and says, Melchizedek is actually a type of Christ. No beginning, no end. So in Hebrews, it honors this Melchizedek as a physical

16:59 representation of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Who did Abraham, our father of faith, tithe to? He tithed to Abraham, to Melchizedek, to express the lordship of Jesus Christ. 400 years later, we have Moses who brings the law. I'm going to use my terminology. This is now found in scripture, but it appears to me as though the law says, Abraham, that's a great idea. We say amen to that. We affirm it's a good idea. So now the tithe is a part of the law. Yes, it was in the law, but it didn't start there. It started with the father of faith. when some religious leaders in Matthew 22 were boasting in kind of their spirituality and they were having this debate with Jesus and they were kind of flaunting the fact that they tithed even down to herbs dill and cumin and Jesus said this you should have done so there is his affirmation of the tithe He says, this you should have done without neglecting the rest.

18:08 What is he saying? He's saying, listen, the tithe is important, but it's not graduate material. It's not doctorate level economics. This is where you start. You start economically by acknowledging you have a Lord. One of the concepts about the tithe in Scripture is that in Leviticus it says the tithe is holy. It is sanctified. It is set apart. This is interesting because when you compare the subject of tithes and offerings, offerings you put where your love is. Tithe you put into the storehouse. It's predetermined. Why is that important? It's important not just for the health of local church. It's important that we respond to a value that God has and not introduce our will into reinterpreting that value. I don't know if that made sense.

19:01 Many people like to take the tithe and then give it wherever they want. Well, listen, I'm just glad that people are giving. So if that's where you're at, you know, that's fine. I don't think it's appropriate. I don't think it's valuable. I don't think it's kingdom. You'd never eat in one restaurant and pay the bill in another. I was in honor of the giants who won this last week. I'm thankful.

19:35 I'm among friends here. It's beautiful. Thank you, Lord. You would never eat in one restaurant and pay the bill in another. What's the concept? The concept is, it's not just, it's where your local church is. The concept is, it's been predetermined, and I have been acknowledging his right to rule in my life to put it where he says. What about the offerings? Do you remember when Ananias and Sapphira died? The scripture says, for those of you who don't remember, there's this bizarre story where this husband and wife team, they sell some property, they give a part of the money as an offering, but they tell everybody they gave the whole thing. The response of Peter in this is, listen, while it was yours, it was yours. You can give it however much you want. You can give it to wherever you want. That's the point of the offering is you give the offering where your love is, where your affection is, where you have vision, where you want to make a mark in this world. That's where you put your offering.

20:30 And he rebuked Ananias and Sapphira because they were not because they didn't give all that they sold their land for. he rebuked them and they ended up dying because they lied about it to the Holy Spirit they claimed one standard and lived another the issue was never that they were supposed to give the entire amount. That was not the, that was not the correction.

20:54 So here we live with this. We live in this almost like a paradoxical kingdom where I steward money. Well, it gives me access to true riches. I steward true riches. Well, it increases finances and all along the journey. I have the challenge to keep my values correct, to keep them established on kingdom, so that I can use whatever God gives me for advancement to the kingdom. There's an interesting part of this journey in the miraculous. I hope to do a better job on this part at a later date.

21:37 I'm fascinated by Israel's story of going through the wilderness. all the miracles that Israel experienced in the wilderness. You remember they left Egypt. They've got to trust God now for manna on the ground every day. Uh, if there's no water, they get the water out of a rock. You know, God just releases water. There's all these extraordinary miracles that they experienced, but all of the miracles in the wilderness were to sustain them. they were then brought into the promised land where they would be sustained by their own labor that God would breathe upon and add a supernatural effect to their labor what were the miracles for the miracles were no longer to sustain them the miracles were to advance them and there are levels of development in our walk with this Lord what does he want he wants first of all, he doesn't care how much money I make. He doesn't, we can't say we have this amount of money, therefore I'm more spiritual. Absolutely not. I don't buy into that. I don't believe that you can buy spiritual things from God. I don't like when I hear people, you know, write the thousand dollar check and you'll get a prophetic word or this miracle. That's nauseating because you cannot prostitute the gospel. This gospel is free. However, maturity is expensive. And when we say we want to grow in the things of God, we don't just waltz our way in. It actually requires adjustment of values and deliberate acts of obedience. And so here we are in this pursuit, not of that God will love us more. He loves us as much as he'll ever love us right now.

23:14 It doesn't matter. We don't adjust that at all. But the realm of favor is usually determined by what we do with what we've been given. And I don't like the concept of the prosperity message that measures our spirituality by how much money or material goods we have. That you can't find at all in scripture. And to me, it actually opposes much of what Jesus taught. But is prosperity a biblical principle? It is. It is. You cannot escape the fact that God's blessing on people, Old and New Testament was measured by increase. The point is, is we position our heart to always advance the kingdom through the miracles of provision that God gives for us. We advance the kingdom. We send our dollars out to war. We have impact on the course of history because of the favor that God's increased in our life, the promotion at work, the favor that we have with friends. We now are invited to circles of influence that we never had before, the increase of income, whatever it might be. It's the fact that all these things are interrelated. How so?

24:18 Because when you prosper inside, it affects your outside. My favorite illustration of that concept is Jesus when he's facing a storm where he was sleeping and the disciples woke him up. They woke him up, said, don't you care that we're perishing? Strange question to ask the savior of the world. He gets up, he rebukes the wind and he releases peace. What did he do in that context? He rebuked the wind. He bound on earth what didn't exist in heaven. There's no storms there. And he bound the life-threatening storm that was on earth that didn't exist in his world. Then what did he do? He released peace. He released, he loosed on earth what was already loosed in heaven. Does that make sense? It's that binding and loose command that the Lord gives us. And we see it brilliantly modeled. So here's Jesus. He sleeps. He wakes up. He rebukes the wind, the waves. He releases peace. And what happens? The storm stops. It's a brilliant illustration of an internal reality redefining the world that these disciples and Jesus lived in.

25:24 This is the concept of unseen breakthrough here starts redefining the impact of our life out here. It starts affecting health. It starts affecting emotional, mental health, physical health. It starts affecting economy. The economy not only of our personal lives, but I'm anticipating an increased breakthrough for our entire city. A city of breakthrough in this area. This is what I'm believing for. I've been carrying this thing in my heart for months and months and months. I actually, this is the only time this has happened in my life. This spring, I actually woke up twice, and I think it might have been the third time, but at least two times I remember. I woke up in the middle of the night teaching. I mean, I was just going for it, just teaching. I don't mean I was thinking, teaching thoughts. I was going for it. And I was going for it so good that I woke myself up. And I was talking about this, this exact subject right here.

26:22 and twice I woke up teaching this and I realized, oh, wow, that was good. I'm ready to get saved again, you know, and impacted, but also realizing it wasn't the time. I didn't have the opportunity in the spring to do it right, to do it well. And so I look forward to this moment right now when I'd be able to talk to you about this, because I believe this is what's coming. I had the Lord speak to me a number of years ago. I will give the story at a later date. It'll be in the next two weeks. I'm not sure when I will have the liberty to do it. But I had an experience with the Lord where he audibly spoke to me and released something, an anointing for the breaking, the destroying of debt. And I know what he told me to do. And this series is unto that. But listen, I'm not just interested in getting out of the red. I want to see an entire congregation that gets into the black. What does that look like to me? It means that you all own homes.

27:23 It means that there's no debt. It means that you think in terms of investment, of advancement, that the miracle, a provision in your life is not just to sustain you. It's actually for the advancement of the kingdom. We think in terms of promoting, extending the boundaries of the kingdom, breaking systemic poverty, helping families that have been locked into cycles of loss for decades and breaking that cycle. I just spent a number of days this last week with some friends of mine and new acquaintances that are world leaders in the economy. And they have given themselves, oh my goodness, they have given themselves to break systemic poverty. And they are actually changing entire nations. The economic status of entire nations is changing because these billionaires are saying, we want to break this cycle, but it's not by throwing money at a problem. It's by getting in culturally retraining, re-educating and empowering people until this thing breaks. It's happening right now. And one of the prophetic words that is over this house is that there would be a new benevolence movement.

28:33 And it involves California, it involves Norway, it involves Hong Kong, there are certain places. I think it involves anybody who wants in, but I believe very specifically the Lord has identified that there would be sources of great economic strength released into shaping the course of history. I want this so bad. I want to see not just people that struggle to meet the bills. I mean, if that's where you're at, believe me, I understand that one. But Benny and I have never given as low as 20% of our income. When we have been dirt poor and hurting to the max, I would sell a car to get rid of a car payment to make sure I'd have enough to sow into missions. I would make sure that I maintain the standards and the values for how we chose to do life. I remember, I shared it for a service.

29:29 It's kind of a silly story. It's embarrassing in a way, but it'll at least help you to understand where my heart's at. I remember, have you ever felt kind of guilty or kind of down and you don't know why and you kind of back up through the day, you know, you go, all right, did somebody say something to me? Did I say something to somebody? Did I read an email that was depressing or what was it? Have you ever done that? You just back up to try to find, when did this start? And I remember on a Sunday, I was just feeling kind of less than. I thought, man. Specifically, I felt kind of about finances. And I thought, man, what have I done? Have I sinned against the Lord? So I, no, I tithe. My offerings. For decades, we support every month into world missions, into taking care of the poor. We always do that as well as local church.

30:21 and then we add other stuff on top of that. So I kind of backed up through my day and through my week and what I realized, I had changed a value. This is what I used to do. Pastors get paid oftentimes to do weddings, funerals, those sort of things. So for taxes, we have to record, you know, well, we did this wedding, we got $50 here, $100 here, whatever it might be. And so at the end of the year, not only do we have our W-2 form that we hand in that shows our income, we also show additional income. And what I would always do is I'd always come to the end, I'd add it all up, and then I would just add more money on the end of income. I would say, oh, I probably made another however much money, and I just added on to the end. The reason was, my reasoning was, you know, I might have forgot. I might have done a wedding that I didn't record. It could have happened. I could have done a funeral and I forgot about it. And I don't want to remember later and have to repent. I hate repenting. I hate confessing. I hate making things right. I don't like restitution. I don't like any of that stuff. So I would look at my taxes and I would just make up, oh yeah, I made this much money. And I would add to my income so that in case I remembered any, you know, in the months that followed, I wouldn't feel guilty. Keeping that conscience clean to me is worth everything in the world. And so I would just add money. And so I was feeling just kind of one day and I started backing up. It took me a while to figure out. I got all the way back to, oh, this year I didn't add any money. Now, did I do anything wrong? No. But what I had done is I had violated a personal standard. I won't say it was the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

32:11 I think our conscience is sometimes shaped by not just the work of God and the word of God. It's shaped by our history, etc. So I felt this kind of this twinge. And when I realized, I realized I've got to walk carefully here. Because if I laid this value down, I've got to be very careful that I don't. keep going in that direction. I don't know, does that make any sense to you? the apostle Paul made this statement in Philippians it's such a great verse Philippians 4 is just this wild chapter on thought life, on joy and on money and it's kind of an oddball combination.

33:10 But I want to read you these verses right here. He says, You yourselves also know, it's Philippians 4.15 if you're writing notes. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving or receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, I seek for the profit which increases to your account. I can say with absolute purity of heart, that is where my heart is burning at this moment. I don't think, you've got to understand how, I want you to understand how I think, what I value. I don't think in terms of building Bethel as a big ministry, as a big church. This is what I think. I think about building big people. I don't care if there's a hundred here or there's 20,000. And I mean that sincerely. What really matters to me is that people become everything God intended them to be.

34:10 They step into destiny fully. And I want to serve that assignment. That's what moves me. That's what wakes me up in the morning. That's what drives me is to see people come into fullness. And I'm looking at people here that I believe the Lord in these next few weeks is going to initiate a shift and a change that will affect the economy of our lives and of this city for decades to come. I look historically where there has been reformation, and you've heard me talk to you in the past about Geneva and what God has done there. Even though it's not a godly city today, they still live under the momentum of righteous decisions that were made 500 years ago. What is the impact of kingdom principle? It affects everything. It affects life all the way around the realm of excellence, the realm of abundance, the realm of significance, all these things that God has called us together for. Some of you, you left house, home, career, family, everything just to come and to be a part of this. Why are you here? I'm here to tell you, you're here to change the world and it's through true riches, but it comes through this faithfully sowing in to what God has given us to do with what he's put in our hands.

35:27 It's been almost 19 years ago that Benny and I moved here. And we took the first two weeks to talk about the tithes I mentioned. and at the end of the second week I did something I'd never done before again I keep running into those things I've never done and it was to receive a repentance offering I made a covenant with the church then I said listen I'll never talk to you about money for my sake it'll always be for yours so I have to really watch my heart because I can shift my focus from wisdom to the benefits and in a moment create the occasion for a golden calf.

36:31 All blessing carries that potential. so I made a covenant to never talk here about money for my sake for our sake as a ministry but instead for your sake personally we received an offering and I told the church then which I'm going to repeat now I said we're not even going to keep this money I want you to understand I'm going to keep my hands off of this I feel like it's an offering to the Lord we're going to sew into another ministry in town. Very fascinating thing took place. I called a pastor friend of mine. We took a pretty large offering that day, a repentance offering, which I like good repentance. I like good evidence of repentance. Don't just tell me you repent, show me you repent. Show me the money. That's what I want to see. And the whole church family, they said, yes, we're in.

37:24 And we made a covenant with the Lord. How many know you make a covenant with the Lord through sacrifice? I mean it's a lost art it's supposed to cost me something and so we thank you I needed one person to agree with me now I feel better so we took that gift I called a pastor friend in town I said we need to meet for lunch we met I said hey I told him about what we had done that week and I said here's a check we want to give to your church and he looked at it and he was stunned. He said, I don't know if it's exact, but it's pretty close to exact what we are behind in our bills. And it released something to them. He went to his eldership. They felt they should do the same thing. So they took their Easter offering, which was three times their normal offering.

38:17 And as a pastor, you're going, oh. Oh. he upped it. He did more than we did. He took the entire offering and he said, we're going to do the same thing, Bill. And so he met with his elders. They presented it on that Easter. They raised three times the amount of an average offering and they sewed it into other ministries. Another church in town gave away their best bus to another church that had a bus ministry. It started having a domino effect around the city that actually was the beginning of an economic shift in our city. Those of you, how many of you were here back then, almost 19 years ago? You remember that. There was something that took place in our city then. I don't in any way want to suggest that we take credit for economic improvement, but we contribute.

39:08 We get to be a part of this. And here's my heart. I believe that the Lord is going to release a new benevolence movement, and you and I have the opportunity to be a part of it. I do not want anyone being hungry in my city. To me, that is one of the most nauseating thoughts that I could live this close to somebody and not know it and they can be without food. I don't want that. I want everyone who wants a job to work. I want them to do something they enjoy doing. In Ephesians, Paul made this statement. And he says, let those of you who steal, steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his own hands that he might have something to give to those who have need. So what do we have? We have the person that is not doing right with God, put into the workforce, getting income so they can now help the people that they came out from.

40:06 There's this circular effect of the abundance and the blessing and the provision of the Lord. I want to shape history through abundant resource. I live for this. I've practiced this my whole life. I just met with a bunch of people. They're in the 51% club. In other words, they give to God more than they keep for themselves. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm almost there. That's what I want to do with my life is I want to break into greater realms of breakthrough. I want to take an entire church family, according to your faith, according to the grace on your life, an entire church family that says, you know what? It's time that we rise up, make a covenant with God with sacrifice and watch him enable us to impact the course of history in our own city.

40:53 So we're going to do that today. If you're from another church or in any way you feel pressured for an offering, please don't give. I would rather you give to the March of Dimes. I don't care. Just do something. If this isn't where you have trust or you have love, then don't do anything here. But I feel like we have an opportunity in the Lord to make a covenant with God. I've prepared my gift. I give way over tithes. I don't have anything that I know of to repent for, but I'm going to join in this because I believe we're going to take this to another level as a church family. And there are those of you that just need to make things right. You need to get things set right in your own life economically. And we're going to pray for that abundance and that breakthrough.

41:47 And within the next couple weeks, we're going to do that one prayer that the Lord spoke to me. an audible encounter with the Lord where I'm going to pray for that release of all debt, and we'll watch what happens. If you need an envelope and you want to join with us in this, put a hand up. We've got ushers. I stay so far away from preaching on money and then taking an offering, and the only way I could have a free end of conscience to do this today is to promise to you we're giving it all away. I'm going to give half to a ministry in town, and the other half is going to go out to help the poor. We're going to help the poor in our city again, and which we do every week, every week of our life. But we're going to go after this thing, because I believe the Lord is releasing an authority for breakthrough. If you have nothing to give, please don't feel any guilt at all. You're here. It caused you to be here. We're just glad you're here. And I believe the Lord looks at that as a gift. But if you want to join us, it's in your heart to do it.

42:44 it's actually what you love, then join with us and this will be a cheerful gift. I know of a man who was for two years, could not get work. he ate from the church pantry. That's how he fed his family. The church just provided food. He just didn't have enough.

43:15 And the Lord gave him an idea one day. This is what I believe the Lord is releasing to us. The Lord actually released a creative idea to him one day. He developed it. He took it to a major company. A major company bought it, paid him $30 million for his idea. Needless to say, he doesn't eat out of the church pantry anymore. I think he probably funds that church pantry. But the point I'm trying to make is I believe that radical obedience in this realm releases us into things that we could never even identify prophetically. We don't even have the intelligence to ask for. These are things that God is releasing to his people. I've watched it in Chris' life as he left everything really to come and to be a part of this staff, leaving, I don't know how many businesses you had when you came, but a whole bunch of businesses, shut them down as an offering to the Lord and watch as the Lord has just added increased, increased blessing on him and Kathy and his entire family. It's a family line that is blessed.

44:20 And part of that reason is the faithfulness of service, but it's also radical generosity. I look right down the line. I can tell you in my life, I can take you through my journey, and I can tell you this is what he does. He causes us to prosper. And so I just want it with purpose. So ushers, why don't you come? We're going to receive this offering.

44:45 But I want you to hold your gift in front of you because we're just going to pray over this thing right now. And those of you that are able to participate with us in this, I just really pray for increase on you. It is so rare that we take two offerings. We'll do it occasionally for a missionary or helping Tracy in Africa or something. Never our tithe. But we're going to do it today as a prophetic act that I believe will not only release blessing into your life, but also affect our city. I want to see my city rocked with economic blessing and increase. How many of you knew that Reading used to be called poverty flats? Say this with me. that ends today that ends today we just cancel that description that definition and we say this is a city that will discover prosperity with a purpose Father I ask that you cause every household, those who are giving those who can't, every household to prosper for the honor of the name Jesus and that it would be with purpose, you'd give us dreams in the night, you'd awaken desires for generosity in us that we've had our entire lifetime that we've been afraid to express and that you would awaken these things in us.

45:58 I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. Wow. I plan to have a whole bunch of fun the next couple of weeks. We've got two more weeks of this series. The hardest two are the first two. The recreational two are the next two. And let me just tell you something. the Lord will do economic miracles to bring you into a place where your labor is supernaturally productive. He will sustain you through an economic miracle, not because you're going to need man on the ground every day the rest of your life, but it's going to introduce you to a realm of trust where now you see Him working through your labor and the next degree is enable you to advance because now it's not about your survival.

46:52 It's about the advancement of the kingdom on the earth. And I believe the Lord is releasing that grace over this house. Anybody open, ready for that one? I'm ready. Why don't you stand? Why don't you stand and who's taking this last part for me? Who is? Oh, you are, Eric. Okay. If you could help us out by just holding your place for a quick moment here. What I started to tell you is we've had a couple occasions now where in Southampton, in England, in the UK, prayed over abundance and increase. And when the church took their offering, they counted the money. When they left the church office, after we had prayed for this increase, they left with this offering.

47:48 By the time they got that money to the bank, it had increased by 900 pounds. We've seen these kinds of miracles over and over again. I just feel like God is about to introduce something new.