2nd Condition

I’m not doing as well getting through in time but I’m going to go quicker. Let me just emphasize this.

Conditions for prospering. The first one is our motives and attitudes must be right. I dealt with that whole area. Condition number two has already been touched on this evening by Eric. Faith is essential, there’s no substitute for faith. Romans 1:17:

“The righteous will live by his faith.”

Every area of righteous living must be based on faith. Whatsoever is not of faith is what? Sin. When you handle your money in an unbelieving way, that’s sinful. The entire disposing of your money must be based on faith just like the way you eat or anything else you do. The entire Christian life is based on one simple principle, faith. Whenever we depart from faith we get into sin. Faith consists in acting before you get what’s promised. So, Luke 6:38, Jesus says:

“Give and it shall be given unto you . . .”

Which comes first? Giving. That’s faith. You say, “I don’t have it.” God says that’s faith.

“Give and it shall be given unto you . . .”

You say, “I’ll wait ‘til I’ve got it to give.” God says that’s not faith. Give and it shall be given. 2 Corinthians, and we’ve been there once, turn back to it for a moment. Chapter 9, verses 6–7. Paul is talking about money and he says:

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

We don’t need to read further. Which comes first? Sowing or reaping? Sowing. If you never sow you’ll never reap. Isn’t that right? That’s faith. You see, every time farmer sows his field he’s exercising faith. He’s believing that all that seed he’s throwing away is going to come back multiplied. Paul says it’s exactly the same in giving. It’s important to see this. We know there are laws governing agriculture. Many people do not realize there are laws governing money. God’s laws. So, if we want to reap what do we have to do? Sow. And the measure in which we sow will determine the measure in which we reap. Sow sparingly and how will you reap? Sparingly. Sow bountifully and you will reap bountifully.

Furthermore, I think we can take it further in two respects. Sowing is not just scattering seed just anyway you happen to be. If you were to walk down the main street of your city scattering seed right and left into the gutter you wouldn’t reap much of a harvest. Some Christians give but they give like that, they just throw it out anywhere. On the contrary, sowing means you pick the best soil, you make the best preparation, you chose the right time, you sow the best seed. That’s completely different. That’s how we should handle our finances individually and collectively. Choose the best investments, choose the best time, do everything to secure the maximum return. That’s providence, that’s wisdom. Sow and reap.

Another thing is if you sow barley you won’t reap oats. Did you know that? I really believe it goes this far with money. If you sow dimes you’ll reap dimes. If you sow quarters you’ll reap quarters. If you sow dollars you’ll reap dollars. Whatever you sow will come back multiplied. I believe that’s implied in what we’re seeing.

Let me tell you from experience, don’t start with the ambition to sow a thousand dollars. Because it’s got to be out of faith. Faith grows. Let me just say this. I hope I can say it with humility. For me today, it’s as easy to have faith for a thousand dollars as it was to have faith for a hundred dollars ten years ago. I know inflation has taken care of a lot of that! But basically, I think in different categories today because I’ve matured my faith. I know there’s much higher figures. I’m not speaking as a person that specializes in faith for finances. There are brothers that have that ministry.

I know one man who’s a missionary and God has challenged him year by year to determine in advance how much he personally will give to God out of his own finances. Two years ago he promised God $25,000. He doesn’t do this idly, he waits on God to get the figure. Do you know what he promised God last year? $100,000. Out of his own finances. He’s not a wealthy man, he’s a missionary in a poor country. But that’s faith. Faith grows. It’s a little mustard seed when it starts but it can become a big shrub if you cultivate it.

I’m not saying that God will lead all of us along that line but I’m saying the principles of faith work. Let me tell you something else. This may not be the right place but it comes to my mind. I’m related to a very wonderful group of Charismatic believers in Jamaica. The Bashams know them and some of the rest may know them. Two years ago Charles Simpson and I were down there preaching to them. They’ve really entered into the things that we’re talking about: relationship, commitment, covenant. They care, they’re a beautiful group of people. Charles, at my insistence, related to them how at one time the people in his fellowship prayed and decided what they would make available of their personal finance and possessions to God for his kingdom. It was a sum that ran into several million dollars. So, Charles didn’t want to tell this in Jamaica but I kind of pressured him into it. It was very interesting, I went back the next year. Do you know what they told me? And, they are not legalistic in any sense. They said, “We called our people together and we asked them all to pray and determine what we collectively could make available to God for his kingdom.”

Jamaica is a small nation. It has about two million people, it’s economically on a very low level, it’s under real economic pressure. Do you know what they came up with? More than four million Jamaican dollars. A Jamaican dollar at that time was worth a little more than an American dollar. So, God has shown me don’t ever say these people are too poor, it wouldn’t work for them. If you are poor, you better take the root out. That’s the faith root. I am absolutely convinced myself that just as the principles of agriculture work all over the world for black people, brown people, yellow people, white people, people of any background or race, I am equally convinced that the divine principles of finance work all over the world for any kind of people anywhere.

I used to tell these people in East Africa, which is a poor country though not one of the poorest, I said, “Do you think God loves the Americans more than he loves you?” They didn’t like that because they were always asking the Americans for money. Then at the same time they wanted to be, "indigenous." You know, "independent." I said, “Just bear in mind dollars don’t grow in Africa.” I was trying to challenge them to believe that God could provide for them in their situation with the same abundance that he could provide for any of his people anywhere in the world.

I was working with young people who were students and they were all of the poor. It was a continual struggle for them to raise the money for their school fees because there was not free education in East Africa. I went back in l976 at the end of the year. Two of my former students met me, entertained me and took me to lunch in one of the best restaurants in Nairobi. I didn’t care about the food because by the grace of God I eat in all sorts of restaurants everywhere. It really did me good to see that it works in East Africa. It works anywhere. You find the right soil, follow the right principles, sow the right seed and you’ll get the right harvest. But, it must be in faith.

Malachi 3, we won’t dwell on this but just look there. Malachi 3:8. You’ll notice here in these verses, Malachi 3:8 and following we have the curse and the blessing, we’ve come back there.

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”

I don’t want in any way to be legalistic but I just want to say that if you withhold God’s portion from him you’re robbing him. And robbing God leads to a curse. It leads to the poverty curse. It leads to the sickness curse. It’s very clear. What’s the remedy? God says:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith . . .”

God says you’ve got to put me to the test. “Don’t wait for the abundance and then bring the tithe, bring the tithe and I’ll see to the abundance.” Always it must be in faith.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . prove me now herewith . . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

What’s the blessing? Is it spiritual? No, sir. It’s very practical. It’s financial, it’s material. I’ve been in prayer meetings where Christians pray, “Lord, open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing.” It sounds good but I always want to get up and shake them and say, “Listen, it doesn’t come by praying, it comes by tithing.” You could pray forever and if you didn’t obey you’d have no claim to the blessing.

Then God says:
“I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. All nations shall call you blessed . . .”

It’s very clear what the blessing is, isn’t it? It’s not confused, it’s not obscure; it’s real. As soon as we get outside the four walls of a church building we all know what it is. It’s just while we’re in church we get so spiritual that we don’t care about money. I don’t believe it.