← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Developing For Prosperity, Part Two | Morgan Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
01:02:35
Loading summary
Transcript3 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
- [00:09]
B
I am going to continue with what we started last week regarding prosperity. And I was encouraging us by the leading in the direction of the Holy Ghost regarding God's plan for you and his prosperity plan for you. And. And that God's plan in prosperity is not just for us to believe and call for prosperity, but to develop for it. Amen. We're to develop for prosperity. The man who is developed for his profession can have longevity. The man who is undeveloped will quickly become a liability and not an asset. Right. In the professional world, the man who is developed and trained for a position, you know, I'm talking about one that requires much skill, whether you believe it or not. Prospering God's plan of prosperity requires much skill. And when we talk about prosperity, we are talking about finances, but we're also talking about relationships, we're talking about health, we're talking about a life. And we're gonna look at some of those examples this morning. A life that is so of the joy of the Lord and the blessing of God that it just pours out and pours over onto others around him. A developed man, not just a rich man, but a developed man, has something to offer everyone. And this is what we're after, is a developed being. We want to develop ourselves. Because when Peter and John said silver and gold, I do. We do not have right now on us, but what we have, thank God, they were developed men. They weren't just heading back to the. To the sea to go get in their boat to make some money because they had been off work for a while. You know, they were spending time in the fellowship of believers and in prayer. And so what they had, what they were, they were able to offer this man money couldn't buy him. He wanted the money, he wanted the alms because he couldn't work. So that's how he fed himself. But Peter and John said, we'll do you one better and we'll help you to get up on your feet so you can live your life and no longer become dependent on man's system. But you can step into God's flow and God's system. Amen. And God's system is one where we are completely dependent on Him. We are not dependent on anyone but our Father, complete reliance. Amen. And so we talked about how God's plan is not just for us to believe and call for prosperity, but we are to develop for it the Scripture says in John, through John, beloved, I wish above all things that thou prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. So we're seeing that the soul, John was expecting that their soul, the soul of a man, the mind of a man, was going to prosper first. It was going to develop first, be renewed first, that money would come after the mind came first. If you're putting money first and not your mind first, you'll get off. Amen. The renewing of the mind is first place in our life. Amen. The enemy is going to fight the abundance of prosperity God has for his people. Don't think that he is going to. He is going to sit by and allow you to increase in your life and make steps, and we won't take time to turn there. But the scripture says, and pastors so skillfully taught us, at the door, there's many adversaries right at the door. A great and effectual door. This is, we're believing, we've been saying, open doors of financial opportunity. Don't think those doors swing wide open without anything standing at the threshold. Amen. A developed man will make it through the threshold and not back up. Amen. But one that just pursues money will forego the open door that God has and go find an easier way to get it. That's oftentimes what happens is they don't want what it takes to get past the adversaries. They just want the increase. Be skillful in getting past the adversaries. Develop yourself so you can get past the adversaries to get into God's rooms and not pick the direction of prosperity you want to go. Amen. And so the devil's going to fight. He's going to place adversaries at the places of increase in your life. And when we're deciding to develop, develop ourselves as believers, as children of God, as a man, woman, in the family of God, when we're interested in that, then we'll better know how to rely on the God that's going to get us through that door. He's not asking you to get through that door by yourself. He's asking you, though, to not go find another one. Amen. Don't, don't find. Don't go looking for your own opportunities. Stay at the place of his opportunity. But the devil doesn't want you to listen in the plan of prosperity. The devil doesn't want you to go through God's plan. Because in God's plan, what comes with God's plan is the abundance of Joy, health, long life, longevity. What man does in man's effort will wear a man out. Everything you pursue in your own effort from the natural will keep you in the natural. And the natural, you know. That's what Jesus was telling his disciples. Watch and pray that you not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh. What did he say? The flesh was weak. Say weak. The flesh is weak. If you live by the comfort of your flesh, you're living in weakness. You're walking in weakness. There's no strength to be found in the flesh. And the mind, the unrenewed mind. So what did he say? Watch and pray. What was he asking them to do, really? He's saying, get full. That's it. Nothing complicated there. For those men that were with him, he was just saying, get full and stay full so you don't enter into temptation to quit. Because what did he have to do? He had already been there in the wilderness for 40 days, you know, three years prior. And he understood what was on the door that those men were coming to when he was going to leave. And they were going to have to depend on the Holy Ghost. That's what happened to him. The Holy Spirit came upon him. And then God led him into the wilderness where only he only had the Holy Ghost. It was him, the Holy Ghost and the devil who showed up to bring temptation. And Jesus knew what was coming for them. And he was trying to tell them, if you'll stay full, you won't be tempted to quit. You won't be tempted. It's not just about being tempted with the wrong things. It's about being tempted to go the wrong direction. Remember that temptation isn't always about wrong and perverted and filthy things. It's sometimes a temptation to go a different direction. And he didn't want them to go the direction of the flesh and to quit. So he was saying, watch and pray. Stay full so you don't enter into that temptation that I face. He knew they were going to have to face that in order to have the miracles that he had. They were going to have to go through that process that he went through. And what did that process create? Total reliance on God. If you want to prosper in the things of God, you will have to become completely reliant on him. Every crutch you have to allow to be removed, you have to agree with that. I want to see which direction I want to go. I want to give us three things. I think I want to go ahead and move in this direction. Because this is what The Holy Ghost was talking to me about yesterday in this week, some of these things I'm going to give you three say, well, how do I develop? I'm going to give you three things that the Holy Ghost gave me that are if you focus on money, if you focus on increase, if you focus on getting, then prosperity stops there. But I don't know about you, I'm interested in every arena of my life. You know, we see that with Abraham because Abraham had to believe God for something that his cattle couldn't get him. You know, there was no, you know, in vitro, there's no option. You know, God said, is between you and you, Abraham and Sarah, that's it. You don't have any other option. You're totally dependent on me. But notice in the meantime, if you. He was still prospering and increasing him. And yet the one thing that he so desired and that God had said and spoken to him to come to pass was something that his cattle, his wealth, his money, his people, nobody could get for him. God's prosperity plan is we can rely on him for every single arena. No matter what the doctor says, no matter what your family says, no matter what your education says, you know, there's jobs and positions that God will raise us up to that you didn't even have an education for, and God will place you there. Just a family testimony. My sister was telling me that her husband left. There was a he has a job or had a job with the city of Gainesville. And he had applied for this job just he'd been looking for another job within the company that he really liked and he had been training in that direction and he had gotten his degree. And this other job came open with a significant pay increase and he was not qualified for it. And somebody had suggested, go, you know, apply for this job. And he walks in and they said, he goes, I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm not qualified for this. I've never done anything with this. They liked him so much that they hired him. Well, well, money can't buy that Open door. Money can't purchase even his education. His degree was not even for that line of, you know, that line of work. Okay, so we want to develop ourselves in these arenas, these three things. And if we will do that, if we will make sure, then God's plan of prosperity will be easy for us to follow, to be directed in. Amen. And those opportunities open doors, funds, Divine ideas can come because in a developed man, they have found a heart that is turned towards Him. And then God's developing that in you. And you're not taking and trying to develop it yourself. Amen. Number one. You ready for the list? And this is so great. And you know what I told the Bible school students? Prosperity is going to look different in every single one of our lives. Don't ever look and think you're not prosperous because you see someone else. It's going, listen, God's prosperity plan is going to look different in each one of us. But the process is the same. It's the same. Okay? God's prosperity plan will look different because we're all at different levels. But the process of increase in prosperity in God is all the same. Prosper in your mind so you can prosper in money and health. Right? John gave. Gave it. Number one is reverence. Reverence. Not skill, not knowledge. This is what the Holy Ghost gave me. Reverence number one. The number one area to develop in is reverence for God and the things of God. Reverence in his presence is not hard. It's reverence under pressure that will test a man's level of godliness. Reverence in his presence is not hard. It's reverence under pressure. Say pressure. Reverence under pressure that will test a man's level of godliness. Reverence. Talking about reverence, it's easy to come into a church and sense the presence of God and the movement of God and come in with needs and be reverent. You know, even the unsaved, they know how sometimes even better to be reverent. You know, in. Around their priest or around, you know, their. Their pastor or around. There is rules for their reverence. Right? They have things put in place for reverence. Guidelines, things that you do, things that you abide by, things that you have to obey in order to show reverence. God, the flow of reverence with God's. The way God does things is. It's a reverence first in the heart that affects the outward man. Amen. God is not putting rules and laws in place around us. He's asking us what he say to watch and pray, to get filled up. Amen. So that we can follow our heart and not follow the flesh. Reverence is. Reverence in his presence is not hard. It's reverence under pressure that will test a man's level of godliness. Look at Job. Look at Job. I can't think of a better example than Job, can you? With a man whose own wife under pressure is telling him to denounce and curse his God. But Job had so much reverence for the Lord. That even when everything had been taken away, he was still prosperous with the man on the inside. An unsaved man, an un. This man was not alive unto God the way we're alive. And yet the reverence for God was in the midst of everything the devil was doing. Yes, the world is getting darker. Maybe things are getting tighter for you financially. Maybe symptoms are increasing. Don't lose reverence for God's word. Do not trade in your reverence for questions. Cynicism, you know, critical. A critical mindset. Questions about, you know, well, why has it Member. Prosperity looks different for each and every one of us, but the process is still the same. Renew our mind. Obey God's word. Amen. Follow the leading of the spirit. Reverence for God. What about Moses? Moses tried to make it without reverence. He had heart. Bless God. He was going to get a job done and he sure did. And God pulled him out of there so fast, you know, because he wasn't doing it with reverence. He was doing it based off a carnal reaction. There was wrong being done. So he reacted from the flesh. You know, this is what happens when you watch too much news. Your flesh starts to react. God was getting. God had to take him 40 years in the wilderness into a place of greater reverence. Because reverence, the level that you reverence God and his. Remember, it's not just about reverencing his presence. Presence. God's presence can be tangible. It can be felt, it can begin to influence. It can even take in, you know, the stir up an emotion. And we enjoy his presence and we should be. But reverence is. Is to be there for God's word when the situation is wanting a response contrary to the Word. I'm not going to. You know, you. You have a level of reverence in your home to where you're not going to allow the word to be violated in any way in that home. We're talking about prosperity. Talking about prosperity. Okay? So don't let, don't, don't deviate. You know what I'm saying? Put it all, I want it all in the context of a man, a developed man who's prospering in the things of God so that the things of God can prosper him. If you're interested in prospering in the things of God, then the things that God has access to will prosper you. I don't have access to what God has access to. His angels have access to supply, to influence that I don't have access to. If I make Myself, reverent and consecrated and dedicated to God and what he desires and to his plan and to his things, then the things that he has access to that I can't reach, he, he can bring into my life. But if you pursue man's things, you pursue money, then you'll just only be able to have what money can get you. And one day you may need something that money can't. Money has tried to buy many a sound mind and a happy home. Enjoy meant that's what. And I'm not knocking anybody, I'm just saying that's what you spend money. You know, you spend money on a psychiatrist or a therapist to try to somehow deal with the mind and be happy from the mind. When God's prosperity plan is that you may have joy from the springing from the well of life that never runs dry. This is why people have to keep going back and back and back because there's no well from a therapist I'm not against. And there may be things that you that's at the level and you need to go and you need to handle some things. But you understand the Holy Ghost is the well that never runs dry. Man's knowledge is limited, his resources are limited. This is why Solomon was blessed and prospered more than any other man is because he was interested in the wisdom, the unlimited wisdom, wisdom of God. Amen. And so reverence, I guess we need to, you know, if we would live. People say, well, we're not to be sin conscious anymore. No, we are not to be sin conscious anymore. That sin to live sin conscious, you will always live defeated. But we do need to live conscious about how quickly you can fall into sin. Okay. It's not about some who preach well, we're not be sin conscious anymore. But what they do is they keep people from recognizing that they need to be full of the Word because their flesh is going too quickly. So it's not about living sin conscious, about living conscious of how quickly you can fall back into those old habits. You can fall. Remember Jesus said the spirit is willing, flesh is weak, the weaker. If you fight with the weaker. Let's say maybe you've got you decided you're going to do an arm wrestling match. Not even gonna. You're gonna beat me, brother. We have an arm wrestling match and I have one arm that's stronger than the other. But I decide to play with my weak arm. Right? Yeah. What happens is you quickly realize I brought the weak side to the table. And this is what happens when we live carnal and we're not staying in God's word. We're bringing the weak side to the table. We're bringing the weak one to the fight. But when you learn to live in reverence from your spirit, you're not living, sin conscious. But you also know if I live with that weaker side, then that flesh is what's going to be there waiting for me when opportunity arises. And therefore it will be easy, you know, to step over into sin. So I don't want anybody to think I'm teaching you to live afraid to sin. But live mindful. Where are your weaknesses? Where do you trip up? Where do I find myself struggling in my flesh? Is it worry? Right? Is it not walking in love? Is it being selfish? Is it being prideful? Where is your flesh weakest in? Don't focus and become conscious of that, but be conscious that if you don't live full, how quickly you can go that direction, you know, and saying, being very much aware, I'm not full today, you know, there's nothing wrong with saying, I'm not full today. Right? I'm a little bit more empty today than I was yesterday. Because those rivers on the inside are living. They get spent, they get used. And so we gotta draw back up from those rivers every day. God's word is alive and what does it want to do? It wants to go out and be used and take that living word and apply it to dead situations, apply it to things that look like they're not gonna make it. Every time you spend God's word on something, something that needs life, you got to go back and fill back up on that life. Amen. Because you've spent that. When we're talking about reverence and empty, staying full of God is being reverent of God, being reverent and aware of his presence in the day to day, not just in a service. Amen. Amen. An empty believer is easily filled with unbelief. Look over at. I want to. Well, let me give you. Let me give you number. Let me give you number two and number three, and then we'll, we'll go back number two. Number two is obedience. Number one is reverence. We're talking about developing a man for God's. God's level of prosperity. Obedience. Obedience. The man God can make prosperous isn't the bold leader, but the humble servant. The man God can make prosperous isn't the bold leader, but the humble servant. When there is a struggle to obey God's written word and his direct leadings, we will struggle to receive from him if you struggle to obey the Scripture and the leading of the Holy Ghost and there's always a fight, always a reason, always an excuse, you know, always a justification, right, for, you know, why you're dismissed from something or why you'll do that later. I'll obey that later. I'll get that right later. Then your receiving will always be in your mind. It's going to be a struggle to not put that off till later. See, God's a right now God, and that's with everything. So when you, when you get revelation, he's expecting that right now. You take that revelation and you put that into action. He's expecting that when you get a leading of the Spirit right now, you're going to obey that. But if you have a habit of putting that off till later, what happens when you need to receive from God? For right now, it's going to be real difficult. We're covenant people. What we don't give to him, we can't receive back. Amen. You can't have all of him if he doesn't have all of you. The parts you, you give to him in your heart. The places you give to him in your heart, in your desires, will be how much is going to be the measure that you can receive from him. No, he's not trying to keep something from you. It's that because the. What we live in, we still live under. In this realm where the law of sin and death is still operating. You know, there's still that influence, the lease, the devil's lease is not up. He has a right to be here. He has a right to hold on and hinder until we take our authority and assign God's word and his power to what God led us to. Then he is still going to be here. You better know how to cooperate with the one who's going to work the miracle for you. And if you don't obey him, your life lacking in cooperation, it'll be a struggle. Doctor used to teach us that all the time, be a person of your word, Be a man or woman of your word. It'll be easier to believe God in His word if you will decide to be a person of your word. And then number three for prosperity. Developing yourself for prosperity. Number one is reverence. Number two is obedience. And number three is reliance. Learning to be totally reliant on him. There was some great, there is some great examples of this. Can I say this? Prosperity is a mindset not of quantity, but of quality. Prosperity is a mindset not of quantity, but of quality. What kind of quality of life right now do you have? I don't care if you don't have the biggest house. I don't even care if you own a house. But you can look at your life right now. And if you have the quality of life that the Word of God says you can have, you are living in prosperity. It's not about the amount of scriptures you have memorized. It's the quality of walking in the Revelation. Amen. It's not. Prosperity is not quantity. Man sees prosperity as quantity. How many deals, how many customers, how much money, how much stuff, how much accumulation, how many stocks man counts? Why is it quantity? This is what we were talking about earlier. Quantity is something you can see. Quality is not always something you can see. The quality in a man's heart and a man's mind are not always visible. When you have a quality of life, then when you're at home, you're at peace with God, you're at peace with your spouse, you're at peace with your family. You're at peace with what is unpeaceful. Because you know God, I'm reliant. I'm obedient to Him. I'm reverent of him, and I am reliant totally on Him. And he is bringing it to pass. Amen. So we've got to get out of our minds that prosperity is an amount. It's a measure. Prosperity is not something that can be measured, but it can be observed. It can be observed. You can observe the look on someone's face. You can observe the direction that their life is headed and know if they're walking in God's prosperity. All you have to do. And I'm not. I'm not. I'm not downing or belittling anyone. But you can look at people in a celebrity status and you just see relationship after relationship, marriage after marriage, kid here, kid there. My kid, you know, there's. There's money, but there's torment. There's drugs, you know, drug abuse. There's a constant pursuit of an amount, right? And obtaining something and reaching something. And if you notice, they never really get there, never really arrive. Have you ever heard somebody say they feel like, you know, they've arrived? No. They're always wanting more. The thing is, with God, and it's what Paul says, I have learned to be content. Prosperity is when you can be joyful in the little and in much. I'm talking about in the natural, because the abundance flows from a man's heart and from his life with God. And not from the amount that he has, you know, on the outside. So prosperity. We've got to get it out of our minds. If you'll get it out of your mind that it's about quantity and accumulation, humiliation, it's about reverence, obedience, and total reliance on him. Then you become a candidate that is so full of God, the man who's full of God, he will fill with all of his riches. Amen. And that's what we're after. That's what we're pursuing. Remember what we said last week? We. We're not waiting on somebody outside this ministry to come and be the first funders. I want to be a first funder. Amen. I'm not saying he can. I'm saying I want to develop myself and my family to be to the place where we can be the first funders, the first in line, the first to get filled. Amen. So, number one, reverence starts with reverence. Reverence. And not just reverence. When you come here, obedience. Listen, you don't make money while you're here. You don't, you know, I'm saying you don't. You don't necessarily need to follow the leadings of the Spirit while you're here to the degree that when you leave this place, you understand. So where is reverence really? Key. You know, while you're at service, there's somebody leading the service and they are going to hear and follow the direction and the leading of the Spirit in that service so that you can get where you need to go. I am not going home with you to get up with you, to go to bed with you, to bring the presence of God and hear from the leading of the Spirit so that you can secure succeed. Just because we succeed in a service and we get where we need to go in a service doesn't mean you're going to get up tomorrow and get where you need to go with God. That's why reverence is so important. To not have just a habit of reverence in here, although that's where it starts, is that when you leave this place, the word is still first place in your life. Amen. You're still quick to obey, quick to respond. Amen. And quick to believe. Go with me if you would. Let's. Well, let's go to 1st Chronicles 29. And I saw something here with these men who throughout the history of the children of Israel, They would build idols and fall away to keep it short. And then they would come back to God. Then they'd build aisles and fall away. And then they come back to God. Some there would be a man, a king, someone that would be raised up. And what we see, if you look in the passages, and I'm going to endeavor to do not, not just today, but going forward, if you'll look, the first thing you see with that man that would rebuild and reestablish the relationship between God's people and himself. They had a reverence for the things of God. They had a reverence for the temple of God. They had a reverence for the house of God. They had a reverence for how God had asked them to do things day to day. They had a reverence for how to sacrifice, what to sacrifice, how to bring the sacrifice. And we see her in Chronicles, 1st Chronicles 29. And I read this a few weeks ago. It says in King David said to all the assembly, solomon, my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young, tender and inexperienced. And the work is great. For the place is not to be for man, but for the Lord God. So I have provided with all my might for the house of my God, the gold of things to be of gold, silver of things of silver, bronze for things of brawn, iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, as well as onyx and barrel stone, stones to be set, stones of antimony, stones of various colors, and all sorts of precious stones and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, in addition to all I have prepared for the holy house, I have a private treasure of gold and silver which I give for the house of my God. And we wonder how his son and him were so wealthy he had set his own things aside. As king, he could have taken from anything he wanted to fund the building of the temple. But what did he decide? To be a first funder. The man who could pull from any resource, take from any place he wanted, he took from himself first. That's reverence. You're not waiting for somebody else to give it. You're not waiting for somebody else to obey it, somebody else to serve it, somebody else to respond to it. You are a first funder. Amen. And David said, I may be king and I have access to all the resources and I can do anything I want. But I'm going to tap into my private. I'm going to give. I'm going to be the first giver, the first funder. I'm going to be the first one to provide the gold, the silver, the stones. This was because he had reverence, not just to do things, you know what I mean, for God and have his name written down and have people notice, you know that he did something. But it was because he loved God and he knew that there was specific instructions given of how to build this temple, how God wanted. Remember it said, for where gold there should be gold, for silver, the things that should be silver. He didn't even build it. He followed that very direction of how to build. We all know that there was specific instructions of how to build the temple. You are now the temple of God. And God, through the help of the Spirit is going to give you specific instructions and leadings to follow. Don't give half heartedness and don't say, I'll do that later when he's dealing with you with something. Right now we're talking about prosperity if he's dealing with you. If you cannot be prosperous in obedience, you can't be prosperous. Other things I want David was interested in showing God his total reverence, reliance and obedience to anything that God said he was going to do. Amen. And so we see that. But look down here. And talks about who else was going to give. In verse 9, verse 8 says, and whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord and the care of Jael the Gershonite. Then the people rejoice because these had given willingly, for with a whole and blameless heart they had offered freely to the Lord. King David also rejoiced greatly. Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly and said, be praised, adored and thanked, O Lord, the God of Israel, our forefather forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and yours it is to be exalted as head. Overall. Both riches and honor come from you and you reign overall. In your hands are power and might in your hands it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name and those attributes which that name denotes. Notice he began to rejoice and began to tell God as he's rejoicing after he's given to God that God the riches and the honor come from God. Where you invest your time and your money is where you believe riches is going to come from. If you say God's going to prosper me, then you'll take what you have and first give unto him. But if you believe that your job is your Source, you will make every sacrifice, give every dime, pay whatever price you have to pay physically, mentally, emotionally. And that's saying that I'm reliant on man. I'm reliant on this. I'm more obedient, you know, to the time that I can give to make the dime. Amen. Than the time it takes to worship and to praise and to rejoice where you give. See, David believed God was the source of all riches and all power. So what did he do? He brought all that he had to the Source. If you believe God's your source, you'll bring unto him. Amen. So they brought whatever it took to take care of the house. And David didn't. Wasn't even the one, you know, Solomon was the one really building. He was setting up for the next generation. Isn't that what true prosperity is? That you have something to leave for the next generation? A man's legacy is not just taken with him in his rewards to heaven, but what is left here on this earth, what he leaves that is still producing from his life. I want something still producing should. Jesus, Terry. Something is still producing from my life that is going to be produced through my children. And David clearly shows what he did with his money affected his children. Let's go real quick, because I can show, show. I can show even the opposite of this. Well, go to Second Chronicles, chapter 29. Well, Pastor, I just want you to tell me I'm rich. Preach to me about how rich I am, how wealthy I can be. I can do that. But it's better to preach it to a man who's developed, who can receive it. We want to be the place where we can receive that word and obey and follow the leading of that word. Because with listen, with every word of God comes instruction from God. With every word from God. He's maybe given you a word about your business. He's given you a vision. He's given. Given you something for your life, an assignment, something that he's expecting you to believe him for and trust him for. And with every word that he gives is going to come instruction. I've got to teach and I've got to develop myself. And that you've got to develop yourself. So that we are reverent, obedient, and reliant on him. When the instruction comes, we're quick to obey. The instruction came how to build the temple. And David was the first to respond with his resources and his obedience and his faithfulness to get it done. Amen. So to be able to get up and say, yes, you have been made rich. Christ became poor so that you could be made rich. That's truth. That's wonderful. That's the word. That's the wonderful thing about the Gospel is it offers people hope. It offers them something other than their pursuit, their natural pursuits and their natural effort. That there is a supernatural God who has a supernatural plan for their life. That if it doesn't matter if they are sweeping the street, working in the lowest end job, he can take that man, he can take a man most like him and raise him up so that his. The prosperity in his life reflects the kingdom of heaven. I want my life to reflect my family, to reflect the kingdom of heaven, not just my checkbook. An unbeliever can have their checkbook reflect riches and abundance, but their mind and their heart and their home is empty. So we must first. I guess what I'm saying is we must first give proper definition to what Prosperity really is. Second Chronicles, chapter 29, says, Here Hezekiah began to reign. Now here Hezekiah is stepping in and he's taking over. When there was idols, you know, things were a mess. Nobody's serving God. Nobody's living according to, you know, the law that God had given. And Hezekiah began to reign. Verse 1. When he was 25 years old and he resigned. And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zachariah. And he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all. Notice this. All that David, his forefather, had done. He reaches back to David, his forefather, and he says, what did he do? This is. I saw. Basically, he knew by story, by the Scripture, that what David had done had affected him and his offspring. And he says, I'm going back to that. I'm going back to what I want to be the first giver and the one who takes care of the temple, like my father David did. Verse 3. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, which his father had closed and repaired them. He brought together the priests and the Levites in the square on the east. He said to them, levites, hear me now notice. Look at, look at this. What was the first thing he does now? Sanctify, purify and make free from sin yourselves and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place. What was the first thing he did? Establish reverence. This is it. The first thing he did was establish reverence. Before he collected any offerings, any tithes, any increase into the house, he established reverence. This is our example. Establish reverence, cleanse. Get rid of what doesn't need to be in your life. Get rid of that which is holding you back. Get rid of that which is keeping you from living a life pure and blameless before Him. You know what I'm saying? Not that he's blaming you, but because you know you're doing wrong. There will be blame there by living unclean. The one that's been made clean should not go pursue uncleanliness and be around it. So the first thing he did, if he's going to get God's house in order, is he's got to establish reverence. So he tells everybody, sanctify, purify, make free from sin. Notice he didn't even get everybody together to start worshiping. This is. This is a example to us for our lives. What is. He made us kings and priests. So what they did. Because no longer is God living in the temple, he's living in here. What they did for the temple is what we need to be doing for ourselves. Levites, hear me now. Sanctify, purify. Make free from sin yourselves in the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. And they have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of the Lord. And have turned their backs. They've become irreverent also. They have closed the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. And they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the place holy to the God of Israel. Therefore, the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he delivered them. And to be a terror and cause of trembling, to be astonishment and a hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For behold, our fathers have fallen by the way of the swords. And our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now look at this. Verse 10. Now it is in my heart to make covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, do not now be negligent. For the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to serve him and to be his ministers, and to burn incense to him. And it goes on to talk about all that they began to bring to him. But notice what he says. I make covenant. He said, I make covenant now with God. Well, hadn't David made covenant. Weren't they living under a covenant? But I find it interesting that the Spirit of God would talk about how he says, I'm going to make covenant. You know, today we're going to receive communion and it's not wrong and it may be something we need to put in place with our covenant with God. That's all communion is, is a reminding and a re, a stirring up and a re establishing of the covenant that we have with our father. He didn't say, well, David made covenant. You know, Solomon had covenant. You know, Abraham had that covenant too. And we're all coming out of these other covenants. He said, I want my own covenant. Young people, you cannot live off the covenant and the prosperity and the health and the blessing on your parents. Hezekiah says, I want my own covenant established and broken with God. So doesn't matter what kind of church history you have, what kind of holiness was run in your family, you know what I mean? What kind of we're now on. My kids are third generation Word of faith. And let me tell you, it pays to. How do I say this? They are going to need to establish their own covenant with God and training them to be reverent, to be obedient and to be reliant on God. And sometimes in those situations, you've got to let them find places that they're going to have to be reliant, teaching them how not just you need to follow Holy Ghost, need to follow the Holy Ghost, how to follow. How do I teach them how to be reverent by my example. How do I teach them how to be obedient by my example. And how do I teach them how to be completely reliant on God by my example. So, parents, it's our responsibility first to show and to demonstrate our covenant. It's not enough to say, that's why it's not enough for the kids to come and for you to come in here. You've been made rich, you've been made wealthy. All that heaven has is yours. There's an abundance. Yes, we want to keep that in front of us. But if you don't teach your children and you don't remind yourself how to live what a covenant it means to live in a covenant. And the reverence that you have for that covenant, the reverence that you have to be obedient to the rules of that covenant, what is that? Keep your hands to yourself, keep your mouth to yourself, you know, don't have anything else above God. Love one another as Christ has loved you, that means you are sacrificing daily. If you're not demonstrating this, then what covenant are you demonstrating? Because it's not God's. Remember, we're talking about prosperity. And so look at this in verse, chapter, and we're going to close with this, chapter 29. Look at when they had stopped, because I'm not going to even take time to read through the whole offering. And when they had stopped offering, the king and all present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. So notice this. First they're purged and get rid of what is this? They become reverent to God. They decide, we're getting rid of what shouldn't be there. Now they're bringing offerings. They're obeying the law, which the law specifically God sent specifically tells them how to bring offerings, what to bring in offerings. They bring those. And now they're going to worship. Verse 28. And all the congregation worship. The singer sang, the trumpeters sound. And all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they stopped offering, the king and all present and bowed themselves and worshiped, also King Hezekiah, the princes ordered and Levites to sing praises to the Lord with words of David and Asaph the Seer. And they sang praises with gladness and bowed themselves in worship. Then Hezekiah said, now you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord. Come near. Bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house, Lord. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings. And as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. And the number of the burnt offerings. And it goes through all that. And look at this. The offerings were so great and the priests were too few that their Levite kinsmen helped them until the work was done in verse 35. Also, the burnt offerings were in abundance with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the Lord's house was set in order. Thus Hezekiah rejoiced. And look at this and all the people because of what God had prepared for the people. For it was done. Suddenly it was done. Suddenly it was done. Suddenly. Suddenly you may have some things in your life today you need today you need today. This is a wonderful example. Notice God responded to them. Suddenly they purged. They brought their offering, their sacrifices in obedience. And then they showed their total reliance by worshiping him, bowing. Everyone came. They were in one accord. They were in agreement where this temple should never have been closed. And you know something? After this, you know what they did after they came before God. Then they went out and tore down all the idols. Then they went out and dealt with the wrongdoing that had been set up. But notice is suddenly God made note of the sudden turn, the sudden change. One man brought us suddenly to that whole nation. And if you go through and we're going to look at some things with him, with different ones who reign that gave honor to the house of God, to the temple of God. And their reigns were marked with peace, with victories, battle. Listen, our battle is no longer with flesh and blood. And the scripture says that we no longer wrestle with flesh and blood, principalities, powers. But don't you know, we're still establishing our victory over those principalities, powers and might and dominion and every name. We're still establishing the kingdom here. But their fight, they needed God. They had a physical fight. But everyone who put the temple first, God was able to come in and help fight those battles. That they would always come out in victory. They would always come out ahead. And I believe this because King Hezekiah established his own covenant with God, his own reverence for God, his own obedience to God and his own reliance on God. When it came time, when he got prideful and began to get sick and he turned his face, it mattered what he had done some 20 years earlier. It mattered what he had done. Young people, do what you want right now. But there's gonna come a day where you're gonna want to turn your face to God. And you're gonna realize, I don't have. And I'm not walking in all that I should be. And I'm not saying God's not gonna reach out to you. But you understand, he had already est. Established, done right by and live for God. The only thing that got Hezekiah off was when much riches had been accumulated. He brought the Babylonians in to see. Notice what he got his eyes on quantity. He had gotten his eyes on the quantity of what he had and off the quality of the rain. There was such a quality bless a blessing on God's people during Hezekiah's reign because he established reverence, obedience and reliance on God. Amen. So everyone prospered because of it. But the moment he said, hey, come look at all this stuff. I got all the gold, all the riches. He got prideful. He got consumed with the quantity that he had. We could say the amount he had in his bank account mattered more to him. So notice when the king got his eyes on quantity and off the quality of the blessing of God on his reign. That's when he began to stumble. But we still see him marked as a man in covenant with God. And all the people worshiped and rejoiced. And there was great joy. And we're going to look at the scripture because it talks about great joy among the people when they were the first. First to come, when they were the first to give, when they got excited about the reverence of the temple and the place that God was establishing, what he was establishing with them as a people. Great joy filled the people. And he fought for them and he. He blessed them and he prospered them. Amen. And then what would happen? They would turn away, the temple would fall apart. They would build idols. They would begin to worship other gods, and they would drift away. And the quality of their life, they would suffer. Prosperity is not about quantity, but quality. Amen. So we'll close there. We'll stop for today.
- [62:18]
A
We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings. Share share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.