The Path to Prosperity | Pastor Sam Lee

Come on, get some fires right now. Come on, are you grateful today? Are you grateful to be in the house of God today? Give him all the fires. Give him all the others. ♪♪♪ Oh, man. That just turned someone's morning around right there. I just believe in the room. Someone came into the room heavy. Someone came into the room with depression. Someone came into the room anxious and thinking about things. But the moment that you set your eyes on Jesus, you begin to get grateful. It seems like some things began to disappear. There's power and gratitude. Do you believe that? Oh, man. Well, I hope you're grateful. Hey, as you're being seated, lean over to your neighbor's say, "I'm grateful." ♪♪♪ Lean over to the other neighbor to say, "I'm grateful." Well, I am grateful for those of you guys who don't know me. My name is Sam Lee, and I'm the young adult pastor here at Christian Life, and I have the incredible honor of getting to preach to you on this Sunday morning, this incredible, incredible Sunday morning. I know that Pastor J hit on it a second ago, but this past weekend was powerful. I mean, there were hundreds of students who filled up the rooms

and you probably saw it on the video. Hundreds of students who were crying out to Jesus. Hundreds of students that were set free. Hundreds of students that received salvation. Hundreds of students who saw a glimpse into their future that they couldn't see before. Hundreds of students who are carrying a life into this dark world. I don't know about you, but that gets me a little bit fired up. So it was a powerful, powerful weekend. And so I know we got a couple of students in the house. Come on, where are my students at? Oh, wow, they're a little sleepy. They're a little sleepy this morning. They stayed up all night last night. We, my wife and I, we got the privilege of getting to host five students in our house. And so last night, we were up at 12, and they were doing impersonations of my preaching. [ Laughter ] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm just giving them source material right now. I told them I'm preaching to them, I'm going to call you out. That's what I said. But, but anyways, it was a, it was a great time. We ended up getting them better on around 1 a.m. So I am on five hours of sleep on some, some, some caffeine. But most importantly, the Holy Spirit that sustains and gives energy. Oh, wow.

Well, I had the incredible privilege of getting to continue this kind of miniature series that Pastor Brad began last week where we were talking about generosity. Somebody say generosity. And I love to talk about generosity. This is actually one of my favorite topics to talk about because I've seen both biblically and in my own life what the power of generosity can do. Well, I've seen and I've been a recipient of the generosity of God. I've been a, I've been a recipient of the generosity of other peoples. I've been able to, to engage in generosity. And so there's nothing that fires me up like generosity. Come on, somebody say generosity. And so we're, we're preparing for the end of this year and our legacy offering that's going to be on December the 6th. And listen, we're never going to beg you for your money. But here is the question, I want every single person in this room to pray and ask God in just sincerity and authenticity is God, what would you have for me to give? Not what do I want to give. Not what can I give? No, no, no, God, what would you have for me to give? And this is going to be an actual intimate exercise I want you to do with the Holy Spirit and actually work with Him and actually say, God, what do you want me to do? It's so funny, we want the Holy Spirit, we want Holy Spirit led everything.

We want Holy Spirit led worship. We want Holy Spirit led preaching. We want Holy Spirit led. But, but do you want a Holy Spirit led financial life? That's a different story, huh? Oh, what not, you know? We're in Texas, man, you know, my money is my money. You know what I'm saying? And then we're like, well, hold up. Do you want a Holy Spirit led life or not? Okay, so anyways, that's the legacy offering. And it's going to be an incredible time and we're going to impact the city. We're going to impact the state. We're going to impact the nation. We're going to impact the world through the generosity and the house of Christian life. That's what I believe. Oh, man, I'm already getting fired up. Five hours of sleep. And so today I get to continue in this series that we're talking about generosity. And I want to be in Exodus, Exodus chapter 12 today. You can begin to turn there. Let me give you some context. I think many of us in the room know a man by the name of Moses. We all know the man named Moses. Whether you grew up in church or you didn't, most of us know this person by the name of Moses,

arguably one of the most popular historical biblical figures. And so what do we know about him that he had this dark past and yet God still wanted to use him? Let me just speak that word of encouragement over someone in the room. I don't know how dark your past is, but God still wants to use you. And so he uses Moses to actually be a source, a vehicle of deliverance for Israel, for the people of God from the hand of Egypt. And so Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh several times and they petition and they say, "Let my people go." God, this is what Yahweh says, "Let my people go." And many of you guys know Pharaoh several times, time and time again, rejects and says, "No, I will not let the people go." And so there are these 10 plagues that take place. And the final plague is probably the darkest plague. It's the death of the firstborn. And there is a way out. It's the death of the firstborn unless there is the blood of the lamb that is covering the doorpost because the blood of the lamb still saves. Because the blood of the lamb still heals, because the blood of the lamb still protects. There's nothing like the blood of the lamb. We see this in the Old Testament. We also see Jesus embody this in the New Testament. They were covered by the blood of the lamb. And so eventually, Pharaoh actually ends up losing his firstborn.

And in a moment of desperation, in a moment of anxiety, in a moment of worry, in a moment of frustration, there's probably so many emotions that he has. He summons that Moses and Aaron would come to him. And this is where he pick up in chapter 12, verse 31. We're actually picking up in the heat of the story, at the climax of this story in verse 31. It says this during the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, up, leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds as you have said and go. And also bless me. The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. For otherwise they said, we will all die. So the people took their dough before the yeast was added and carried it on their shoulders and kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people and they gave them what they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians. The title of my message today is the path to prosperity. Let me pray for us. God, would you speak to us? You're already speaking to us. We wanna receive everything that you have for us.

And so our hearts are, our hearts are good soil today. We're open to hearing your word in the name of Jesus we pray, amen and amen. Have you ever missed out on a minute detail on a story and it changed the way that you saw the story? Like you heard the story one way. You would believe it to be one way, but you're missing one key detail that actually changed the entirety of the story. I feel as though this portion of scripture here in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 31 feels a lot like that for me. See, the very way in which Israel left Egypt, in my mind, I imagine Israel was leaving Egypt and tattered clothes and slave clothes and slave garments. I imagine that the people of Israel are leaving Egypt and they're hobbling along. They don't have very many possessions. I'm imagining that they're leaving Egypt poor, but it seems as though in the scriptures when we reread the story, they didn't leave and tattered clothes. They didn't leave looking poor. That actually Israel walked out with some diamonds. Anybody like some diamond? Hey, actually Israel walked out with some gold around their necks and that actually Egypt maybe walked out in the finest of pieces of clothing. It says it right here.

If the Egyptians, they would ask the Egyptians for silver and gold and fine clothing and God made them favorable in the Egyptians eyes. So I'm just imagining they're walking out in pearls and chains and Cartier and tennis bracelets and gold and silver and luxury clothing, Louis Vuitton and Prada and Dior. I'm imagining the story differently now because when you read this key detail right here, quite literally they're walking out. I mean, you're imagining chains. I don't know, maybe when you eat the Bible, you don't put yourself into it, I think you do, but I put myself into the Bible. Like this ain't the fake stuff. This is the real stuff. I remember when I was a kid, my mom, she would never let me do this, but one day she gave me a quarter and I went to this little like quarter machine and I got myself a chain out of this little quarter machine. I think I was at ACB at the time. And so I put it, and I put the chain on my mom, never wanted me to wear the chain. And I never really knew why, but then I found out a couple days later when my neck turned green. And I'm like, "H, she," and I'm like, "What's wrong with my neck?" Never felt this before, right?

Right, right, no, no, no, this ain't the fake stuff. This is the real stuff. This is probably the finest, the purest of gold that you could find at this time. They're walking out quite literally with in our context millions of dollars of gold and jewelry on them. I think this changed the story. Like imagine them walking through the Red Sea. Brother God, Cuban links on, right? They got, you know, they got watches, like rollies, like, "Hey, what's going on?" We walking out of this thing. Let's go. Like imagine, like, what, what, and then the audacity. I mean, if I'm going to escape a place, now I gotta go over, "Hey, yo, bro." I've been, I've been to an Egyptian. "Hey, yo, yo, Jason, no, I've been liking that chain." You wanna hand it up? No, no, no, no, you don't have to do that. Oh, he hit it, he hit it. Right, just imagine, like, "Hey, girl, I like them hoops." Hand them over, right, you know? It's like, this is a really strange story to me, but doesn't this change the entire perspective of the exodus, of God's people leaving, that they weren't leaving poor? It actually left rich. But why would God do something like this?

Why specifically emphasize, let me tell you something, everything in Scripture matters. This is why we can't just gloss over your scriptures and just read them so quickly, because you'll miss the minute details. Why would a God choose to have his people leave and gold and chains and find jewelry? This started to theorize that maybe he was looking at his children who would have everything robbed from them. Maybe he was looking at his children who had had everything stolen from them, taken from them, they had been enslaved. And what he's telling to them right here in this moment is that I am the God that will restore whatever has been taken from you, I will restore back to you. Whatever you think that you've lost will be given back to you. Why? Because I'm such a good God. I'm a God that restores, and I believe maybe just maybe you sympathize or you empathize with the Israelites. Maybe you thought your job has cheated you. You thought your job has taken advantage of you. Can I remind you that you have a God that restores? Maybe you're in the room today and you thought like this toxic relationship that you've been in has taken your confidence. Can I tell you that we serve a God that actually restores? Maybe you're in the room today and you feel like the traumatic experiences that you've had have robbed you of your joy.

Can I tell you that we have a God that restores? Maybe just maybe you feel like everything has been taken away from you. Can I tell you that we serve a God who restores, and he didn't just restore things back to the way that they were, but it seems like he restores them better. He always makes this better. And encounter with Jesus always leaves us better. And encounter with a God of the universe always leaves us better, better than we could have ever imagined. And so maybe whenever I said that the title of my message was the path to prosperity, you got a little bit nervous. I don't know what popped into your brain. Oh, here's this guy up here. He's just gonna preach the prosperity gospel. Oh, he says this guy up here, he's just gonna talk about what God's gonna do and he's gonna make me rich. Can I tell you that's not at all what I believe biblical prosperity is. And here's a reality. Let's just address something that I do believe that humans have distorted the prosperity that's found in the Bible. But that does not mean that God does not have prosperity for his people. Oh, well, you know, people, well, no, no, no, no. But hold up, didn't, did you not realize that over 90 times the word prosper actually occurs all throughout the Bible?

Did you not realize that this idea of increase, of abundance, of success, of favor, occurs 500 to 1,000 times all throughout the word of God? Just because man distorts something doesn't mean God doesn't still have it for us. And I think we have to have a clear understanding of what it truly means to actually operate and actually receive this biblical prosperity. You know, I believe that biblical prosperity actually takes place when God's favor rests on faithful hands and the outcome is that fruit is produced from your life. The favor of God collides with faithful hands, diligent hands, hard working hands, and the outcome is that you experience fruit in your life. Let's look at scripture because some of you are still not convinced. Prosperity gospel teaches us that prosperity is a result of how good we are. Biblical prosperity teaches us that prosperity is a result of the kindness of God. Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you. If you know it, say it with me. Declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Why? Because of the kindness of God, because of the goodness of God. He says I have plans to prosper you, not based off of what you can do, but based off of my kindness. Prosperity gospel teaches that if I give more,

God will give me more. Biblical prosperity teaches that I give because he's already blessed to me. Second Corinthians nine and verse eight says this, "And God will generously provide all that you need." This is the promise, watch this right here. Then you will always have everything you need. And what's that word? Plenty left over to share with others who lied to you and said you're never gonna have enough. Who lied to you? And said it's not a God who takes care of you. Who lied to you? And said God is not a God of abundance. Who lied to you today? 'Cause that's not in the word of God. This is a promise right here. And also this is in the New Testament for anybody who's like, "Well, I don't know man, the Old Testament is one way." And then, no, no, no, no, no. This is found in the New Testament as well. Prosperity gospel teaches that the miracle is the miracle is wealth appearing out of thin air. Biblical prosperity teaches that the miracle is having the gift to produce wealth. Did you know that you have the gift to produce wealth? Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse 18. But remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Oh wait, but you thought you were producing wealth

on your own goodness? Oh, you thought you were just that talented. And you are, I love you, you're great. You thought, oh, you thought you were doing this on your own. Do you not remember that it is the God of the universe who gives you the ability to produce wealth? Do you not remember it as the God of the universe who gives you that entrepreneurial idea? Do you not realize it's the God of the universe who gave you the creativity, who gave you the leadership, who gave you the, do you not realize it is he that gave you the ability to produce wealth? Yeah, prosperity gospel teaches that the, the goal is to acquire wealth for ourselves. Biblical prosperity teaches that the goal is to acquire wealth so that we can impact others. Luke 12 and 48 says this. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. From the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. This is a demand. It's not for us to hoard and keep to ourselves. There's actually something he wants you to do with what he gives to you. So therefore, it's, let me see this conclusion right here. This is the conclusion that I've come to, as studying the text, is that prosperity is not measured by how much you have, but it is measured by how much you can give.

Please write that down. I don't want anybody to misread or misunderstand what I'm talking about when I'm talking about prosperity. It's not a measure of how much I can attain and how much I can get and how much money I can acquire, but it's more so about what you can actually give. This actual, if I had time, I would walk throughout the entire, the Old Testament, I would show you how the idea of prospering Israel is always attached to the blessings of the nations, but we don't have time for that today, but we need to understand that prosperity is not about how much we can get. It's about how much we can give. Can I tell you something, what is not just trying to get something to you today? God is trying to get something through you to impact the world today. He's not just trying to get more money into your pockets today. He's trying to funnel money through godly and righteous people who are pure and who are blameless and who are seeking the Lord that it might impact people. He's not trying to get something to you. He's trying to get something through you today, and I just want to live a life, I don't know about you, but I want to live a life that blesses others. I want to live a life that impacts others. I want to live a life where my resources are actually resources for others.

I want to live a life where my connections are actually connections for others. I remember I was hearing this entrepreneur speak on this one day, and he was a Christian entrepreneur, and he said one of the greatest gifts that God has given me is the ability to produce wealth for others. And as soon as I heard that, something awakened to my spirit, I want to be someone who can produce wealth for others, not just for myself. I want to be someone who gives back. I want to be someone who trains others. I want to be someone who puts something into someone else's hands and they would become a blessing to them and to their families. I want to be someone who blesses other people. Do you want to be someone who blesses other people? If you want to be someone who blesses other people, stand your feet right now and put your hands together. You make a decision right now. If you don't want to stay seated, but do you want to be a people? Do we want to be a church? Do we want to be a ministry? Do we want to be a people who say, I don't just want to get things for me? I want to get it through me. (congregation applauding) Lean over to your neighbors here. I want to bless others.

Lean over to your other neighbors here. I want to bless others. - Oh. - Okay. We about to get into this. Y'all sit down, y'all sit down. All right, if you brought your Bible, we're about to go even deeper, all right? So, we started off in Exodus chapter 12. I'm fired up, Exodus chapter 32. Go ahead and turn to Exodus chapter 32. We're about to see how this principle plays out. Notice, notice, let me remind us, Israel walks out of easier with chains. Israel walks out of easier with some gold, with some rings, like this, how they walking out. Okay, y'all keep that in your mind. Keep that mentally snapshot. Take a picture of that. Now let's get here. I don't have a lot of time. And I got some texts I got to break down here. Exodus chapter 32 verse one through six says this, when the people saw that Moses was so long and coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come make us gods who will go before us. As for the fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what's happening to him. He's somewhere out there, he's lost. Verse two, Aaron answers them.

Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol, cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then he said, these, watch this. These are the gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the, what is that word right there? The Lord? They thought the calf was Yahweh. If I had more time, I'd break it down. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings after they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. So Moses is out receiving the 10 commandments. He's up on the mountain. He's gone for 40 days. They've been traveling for a few months now. They're like, I don't know where Moses is. He's cooked, he's gone. I don't know where he's at. He might be dead, he might be lost.

So Aaron, will you do something for us? How about you go ahead and you just make us a calf? Just go ahead and make us an idol. I get this, two to three months before was when they had experienced the 10 plagues. Two to three months before, they had experienced God delivering them miraculously with the parting of the Red Sea. Two to three months before, they had begun to see the supernatural provision of God to feed them and give them drinks and water. They had been fed and taken care of for two to three months. And in this moment, they said, oh, I don't know where God's at. So we'll just make our own gods. Let me remind us, don't forget. Don't forget what God has done in your life. Don't forget what he's done in your life. I love people, but I get to talk to so many people and counsel and love on and encourage so many people. And sometimes there are certain people over my life who every time I see them, they have some reason to complain. Y'all know people like that, don't nudge, don't point, don't do none of that. I see you, not just kidding, no one did it up there. I'm totally joking, like every time. Oh, yeah, well, my car this week, having more problems. All right, let's pray. Oh, yeah, well, you know, this week, my kids are just wiling out again, okay, let's pray.

Oh, well, you know, this week, I got bad news about the job and, okay, let's pray. Well, you know, you know, I'm trying to get into this school, I'm trying to get into this college, I'm trying to get this opportunity, it's not working. And sometimes I have to stop people and I have to say, but wait, hold up, don't you remember a week ago when God provided for you and you had nothing? Don't you remember a couple of months ago when we prayed for your family member and they received healing on the spot? Don't you remember a couple of weeks ago when you went to that men's group and they all got around you and those chains were broken off of you? Don't you remember when God showed up for you and no one else showed up for you? Don't you remember? Don't forget! Notice something. What did they create the idol out of? Good. You're always so smart. The very gold that God gave them became the source of idolatry. The very gold. God said, "I'm going to give you favor, so when you walk out, you got gold." Come on. We walk in now. We got the gold. We drip in.

We walk out. Come on. What you got? You got gold here? You got that same exact gold became the source of the idolatry. Good. Don't allow yourself to begin to worship the provision over the provider. He provided the job for you. Don't start worshiping the job over the one who provided for you. He provided the house for you. Don't start worshiping the house over the one who gave it to you. He provided the stability. He provided the money. He provided the money. Don't start worshiping the provision over the provider, and in this very moment, this is what Israel did, they burned down the very thing that God had given to them favorably to offer to an idol. Here's the reality. In case you knew this, maybe you don't know this, but the entire world, and when I say the world, I'm not talking about the physical world, I'm talking about, let's be honest here, the dark principalities of the world, there are spiritual forces. This is just very true. We need to understand this. Everything is fighting for your tithe and offering. Everything is fighting for your tithe and your offering. Everything is fighting for you to be generous to it, to give to it. Everything is looking for you and your money. What is that golden calf for you? What is that thing that you're tithing to? I mean, some of us right now, we're like getting ready for the football day, and we're like

already on price picks and draft kings, and we're already betting money. We're going to get some money back, but you've been losing, stop. What are you tithing to? I mean, everybody tithes to something. Is it Amazon? Something in my throat. Sorry. You're about to go home and have 20 million boxes at your door. Let's just do the knife here. Are you tithing to Amazon? I mean, half of us, we put ourselves in this position where we're tithing to clarn and afterpay. Come on. You're still trying to pay off some concert tickets. You're still trying to pay for F1 tickets. Happy for those on clarners. No way I'm paying those up front. What are you tithing to? The question is, what are you giving to? I mean, what will you give? The question is, what are you giving to? Because everything demands a tithe from us. Everything demands an offering from us. Okay. Now let's juxtapose this. I got five minutes. Let's rock. Exodus chapter 25. Go there. Go there.

Oh, I love the Bible. Do you love the Bible? I love the Bible. It's so beautiful. Watch this. Watch this. I can't wait. I can't wait on you to train there. It's only a couple of pages. Okay. I can't wait on you to bring them to Moses. Watch this. Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them. Gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet yawing and fine linen. Goat hair, ramskins, dyed red, and another type of durable leather. Acacia wood, olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and other gyms to be mounted on the ephod and the breast piece. Then have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. Look at the juxtaposition here. I'm going to help you. You've got the golden calf and you've got the tabernacle. The golden calf demands an offering, but the tabernacle, a place where God is actually going to come and dwell with humanity, also requires an offering. He says, come and bring, what does he ask them to bring? They're gold in their silver? Let's go back. Where do we get the ... Hey, we walk it out.

Like, all that gold, he says, now come and bring it to me. You know, it's kind of rude when you give somebody something and you ask for it back. (audience laughs) Hey, yo, so, you know, I loaned you like 20 bucks the other day and you're like, no, it wasn't a loan. You said I could have this and you're like, well, the way I was seeing it and the way my bank account sit up, you know, boy. (audience laughs) I'm gonna need that 20 back. (audience laughs) For what, bro, what are you trying to do, Amazon? No, I'm just kidding. (audience laughs) Oh, we're having fun, we're having fun. But this is the picture of what it looks like when the people come together and build something for God. Listen, I don't care whether you believe in a tie, whether you believe in an offering. It's a heart posture. I'm not after your money, we're not after your resources. It's a heart posture that God is after. He's not after you to give him more stuff. He's after a heart posture. People's hearts are prompted and you know what they do? The people come together to build a tabernacle. They have no resources. They're in the wilderness. All they have is the very things that God gave them.

And they come together and they say, this is the heart posture I want every single one of us to have, how can I help? Hey, how can I help? How can I be a part of this? The Bible says there was not even forcing. It says this, you are the receiving offering from anyone and everyone who's heart prompts them to give. Can we allow all these people to prompt us to give? Hey, how can I help? What resource can I bring? What tool can I, hey, I got some gold earrings. I really love these darling to give them away. I've got some silver that I got whenever we left, I had an Egypt, I want to give those away. Hey, I've got some linen and some fine clothing and I got a little bit of this. Let me give this away. What if we all came together instead of us saying, how can I get, we said, how can I help? How can I help? How can I be a part of something bigger than myself? How can I contribute? So many people who come up to me and they'll say this, hey, Pastor Sam, you know, there's no, there's no, the Bible doesn't talk about a tie, no New Testament, doesn't mean there's a tie. It's a Old Testament law and I'm like, okay, cool. You can believe that if you want. Fair question.

So they say, well, so what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to give my 10%? Am I supposed to give to the church? Am I not supposed to? And here's my response. Why would I want to give anything less than 10%? I don't know. I'm not trying to judge anybody here. But I got shown up for me in quite a few times. - Hello. - But God's blessed me so many times. But God's, without him, I would be nothing. Why would I want? Okay, so you don't want to do the tie, give 20%. That's the, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's just, that's just, no, no, no, no, no. You don't want to give the tie, just give 20%. Give 30%, give 50%, give 100%. I don't care, but here's the deal. It's a hard posture. We're like, we're like trying to negotiate with God. If I get like, you know, a couple dollars a year. If I just, if I just like, without 5%, like broken out over this many years and then there's some interest on top of it. (soft piano music) Just, just, just give, just give. Why would I want to give anything less than my best? Here's the question. Are you giving your best?

Are you giving your best? It's just beautiful story that takes place in Mark 12th and it's this widow who has nothing. There are all these other people who come before them. Y'all know this story. And there's all these people who come before them who are fluent and they're wealthy and they come and they put their offering in the offering plate. And at that time, he can see what everybody's putting into it and there was no privacy there. It was just like, this is what I got. So mixing in all this widow who has nothing. Tons of, she's lost, just got a couple coins here. She's got a little bit, she gives it, she puts it in. And Jesus is sitting and he's watching. He says, hey, hey, hey, oh, just watch this, watch this. Look at this lady coming over here. Truly, she's greater than the rest. Truly, she'll have favor. Truly, she'll be blessed. Truly, why? Because she didn't get out of the abundance. She actually gave out of her poverty. She actually gave out of the lack. Well, Jesus, why would you tell someone who doesn't have anything to give? Because it's a heart posture. Man. And he's like, ah, she has a heart for me. She loves me, it's not about an amount.

It's not about a number. But will you wake up and say, how can I help? Some of us have been on the sidelines. Today, here's what I'm asking you. Hashabraz is not here, he's not saying this. He might cancel somebody cancel me. "How can I help? "How can I help? "This is the gospel, this is the prosperity. "Not that we can receive, but that we have, "she has something to give to impact the world." And here's the beauty of it, I'm out of time. Scripture tells us that the world of the generous, it's larger and larger. Years ago, I met, I was having some financial issues. Really, I didn't have a lot of money at all, and I met with an older saint. Someone who had been in the faith for a long time, and I just said, "I just need some encouragement right now." And I said, "Hey man, I just don't have a lot of money, "like what should I be doing right now if my money?" He asked me, "Hey, am I talking to you, am I offering?" He said, "I'm trying now, you're like, "I'm barely making it by, like I'm trying." And this is what, I said, I said, "Man, I'm really wanting this, "I was telling him something I was really wanting." And he said, "Here's what I want you to do. "I want you to give it to God before He gives it to you." (piano music) Well, that's not math.

I don't have it. (audience laughs) I'm like, "You, maybe you're hearing me wrong, "it's been your old age, you're..." (audience laughs) I would never, I respect this man. He said, "Give it to God before He gives it to you." And I've lived with this principle because of the very scripture that says, "The world of the generous gets larger and larger." You feel like your world is small right now? You know, rich people can still feel like they're the world small. You know, the most affluent person in this room who looks like they have it all together, your world still seems small. Why, because he says not to rich life gets larger and larger. He says, "The world of the generous gets larger and larger." A couple of years ago, I'll end with this story. A couple of years ago, my wife and I, we were looking to buy a house. There was no way it should have happened. There's no way we didn't have the right money. We had only been in Austin for one year. We were just trying to figure things out and we're trying to put money into the right places. And God just said, "I want to give you guys a house." I said, "Okay, I'm going to start praying about it." But here, this was not my prayer. My prayer was, "God, give me a house.

I need a house. I want a place I can walk around in my boxes. I want a... I want more space. I want a big two story, three story, three card garages. That wasn't the prayer. You know what the prayer was? God, I give this house over to you, that this house would be a place of community, that this house would be a place of peace, that when people are in need, I'll open my home for them, that when people need counseling, my house would be a place of counsel, that this house would be a house of prayer, that this house right here will be a house where the scriptures are open 24/7, that this house right here will be a blessing to your people, that this house will be a house, that will channel generosity, that this house right here will be a house, that will bless others. They said, "Ah, I gave him the house before I ever had it." Well, this just gave my mind. Hannah gave Samuel before she had it. Don't read that story for yourself. She said, "God, day and night, she can cry out to God. Please, give me a child. Please, give me a child." You know what she did before she ever got him?

She said, "I will dedicate him to you, O God." Maybe there's some things that are on your heart and on your mind right now that you're like, "God, I really desire this. Here's my encouragement to you. I'm not saying this is going to get you, your house or get you, you're bitter." No, no, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, maybe today you need to start with God. I'm going to give this to you, before you ever give it to me. God, I want to finance or increase. I'm going to give it to you, before you ever give it to me. There were moments in my life where God gave me an increase in my raise. And I said, "I'm giving it all to you first. We give the whole entire check to you first." And I'm not making myself seem like I'm better. I've done it worse. I've done it the wrong way more than I've done it right. But what I will say is there's God sees it. You all say, "I'm going to give this to you before you ever give it to me. This is the prosperity that I want to talk about." Would you stand in your feet right now? I want to pray for us, but I'm going to invite the prayer team down right now as I close.

I want to pray over finances. I want to pray over hearts. So just put your hand on your heart like this. Not on your wallet, on your heart. Oh man, the church got me. No, I'm just getting bad joke. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, that you're looking at our hearts. It was never about an amount. It was never about a number. It was never about what we could. No, no, no, you're just looking at a heart. And God, here's what I know when I sacrifice. I'm praying that someone would be stirring their hearts to sacrificially give. We're not giving out of an abundance, God. Some of us in this room, we might be giving out of a lack. Some of us in this room, and I say, "Man, I'm on my last dollar. I don't have much left, but I'm going to give it to you." Because true prosperity is not about how much I have, but it's actually about how much I can bless, how much I can give. I pray over just entrepreneurs in the house right now. People with businesses, Jesus. God then, ah, just for this in my spirit, money has taken a hold of their hearts. And so day and night, they toss and they turn and concerned about money.

Day and night, the minds are going over and over and over, how am I gonna pay the bills? How am I gonna do this? I have more money, I wanna buy this. I wanna get this. And it's just ruling the lives of today, with their eyes be opened up to it. Would they realize something that, that there's just a love for man and just this love of money, Jesus. Money's not bad, it's this love of money, Jesus, that's ruling some people's hearts in the room today. I'm praying for the person in the room who has a poverty mindset who always feels like, I never have enough, I never have enough, I never have enough, I never have enough. They're never happy, they get more money, they get a better check and they still never have enough. Right now, I pray that that would cease, that the mindset would be shifted from a poverty to a prosperity mindset, that God, you give more than we can ask, think, or imagine that God, you're a generous God. And so God, would you even unlock that over someone's brain right now? We give over to you everything we have. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen, amen. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]