Prosperity – God’s “Even More”

We have been talking about prosperity these past Sundays. How to live prosperous, blessed, successful lives. How many of you want to live successful and prosperous lives?

How do we live prosperous lives? That is what we have been talking about these past Sundays: how to live prosperous lives, how to reach that state of prosperity that is our inheritance as children of God, because Christ came so that we might have what? Life, and life abundantly. That is prosperity. It is enjoying life. You know, there are people to whom I preach the Gospel and say, “Accept Christ personally and enter into a deeper life with Him,” not so much because they need to be saved, because I believe that in their hearts they already believe in Jesus and know Him as the Son of God, but simply because they have not entered into the fullness of life that God has declared for them. They have simply received Christ, but they have not learned how to use the principles of the Kingdom of God to generate prosperity in their lives. So many Christians are in the Kingdom, are saved, and will go to heaven, shoes and all, but here on earth they are living miserable, timid lives because they do not know how to use the laws of the Kingdom of God; they do not know how to use the principles that lead to prosperity.

They are like people who have a lot of money in the bank but are starving because they do not know how to access their bank account. And so we have to learn the principles of prosperity, and when we enter into the Gospel, we have to enter so that God may bless us and prosper us, prosper our children, prosper our marriages, our health, our minds, our intellect, our finances, our working lives, our discipline—all the things we do have to be leavened. What a lovely word: leavened! Say “leavened.” Perhaps this is the only time in your life that you will use that word: leavened by the leaven of the Gospel. The Gospel must penetrate every area; that is why the Bible compares the Gospel to the leaven that leavens the whole batch of dough. Brothers and sisters, I fall more and more in love with that principle: the Gospel must penetrate every sphere of human life, not only the spiritual sphere but also the intellectual sphere; that is why we work to educate our children.

I want to see a prosperous congregation, with its children studying, going to college, becoming professionals, with adults going to night school, learning English, receiving more training so they can be promoted at work, because I believe that God gives us the mind of Christ. And sometimes we are like those little old ladies who buy a sports car that can go 150 miles per hour, but only drive it through the city at 30 and never take it out on the highway to test how powerful the engine is.

Most of us Christians live with only a tiny portion of the power that God has caused to dwell within us, and that power is transmitted to the intellect. We have... I have lived my entire life with this idea that God has given me, has given us, an intellect better than that of anyone in the world, because God gives us... Look, He created the entire universe; is He not going to give us a privileged mind and make it the mind of Christ? God can also penetrate your family, the structures of your family. Never give the devil room and space to roam freely through your home. You have to inform the principalities and powers: “A child of God lives here; the Holy Spirit dwells here; this house is governed by the laws of the Kingdom of God, and you have no right to enter this place.” When you are in Christ Jesus, assert your authority in the Kingdom of God, because God has given you authority. Perhaps you do not feel that way, but you have authority in the Kingdom of God, and the principalities and powers must submit to the authority of the child of God. The problem is that sometimes we do not use that authority, or sometimes we are not living like a person who has authority. Because having authority also entails having responsibility, so that authority can flow through you, do you understand?

If you have the insignia of a captain or a colonel and you have been given that authority, but you behave like a corporal, do not expect people to respect you when you give orders. You have to walk like a colonel, you have to speak like a colonel, you have to think like a colonel, you have to behave like a colonel, you have to train like a colonel, and you have to look like a colonel. In other words, authority also requires responsibility, conduct, a way of life that supports that authority. And we have to learn how to use the principles of the Kingdom of God, how to integrate the principles of the Kingdom of God into every dimension of our lives so that God’s authority, God’s blessing, may then be transmitted to our family, financial, emotional, spiritual, relational, and intellectual lives—I do not know whether I already said that—to every dimension of life. The Kingdom of God, the abundance of God, penetrates and does wonderful things. That is living in God’s prosperity.

And I do not care how far behind you are when you begin the race. In the race of life, some begin very close to the front. It is like the Boston Marathon, where you see that enormous crowd. There are so many people that some are way at the back, others are farther ahead, and others are in the middle. But you know what? By the time they reach 26 miles, you know what? Everything has evened out. The fact that someone started 100 yards ahead no longer... over 26 miles, that loses its relevance. And that is what happens in the race of life. Perhaps you are starting very far behind because you did not go to school, or you come from a disadvantaged family background, or you have emotional problems, or you have never excelled at anything in life, or you do not speak English, or you come from a financially and educationally humble background. Look, brother, God does not care about that. God is perfectly capable of putting you at the head of the line if you use the principles of the Kingdom of God. That is the wonderful thing.

God loves to lift the poor from the ash heap and seat them among the rich and prosperous. He loves that, brothers and sisters; He loves to take ordinary people who show no promise and seat them among kings, if they dare to use the principles of the Kingdom. That is why God chose corrupt tax collectors and fishermen and prostitutes, and with those people, those people, He founded His Church and conquered the greatest empire in history, the Roman Empire. Because God likes to use what is lowly, poor, unpromising, humble, ordinary, obstructed, and bound—to set it free, bless it, breathe upon it, and send it soaring to the heights like eagles. God wants to bless you. And if only we could understand that principle: God has caused a power to dwell within us that no institution in this world can compete with.

But there is a price to pay. We have to know the laws of the Kingdom of God. We have to act according to the laws of the Kingdom of God; we have to take God seriously. Many Christians do not take God seriously, and that is the problem. We come to church, simply sit here and look at the pastor while he preaches, make some strange gestures here and there and all that, and then go home, and the fire of the Spirit has not broken through the inner patterns of our minds and emotions. So we cannot expect God to bless us in that way.

One of the most powerful principles of the Kingdom of God is this principle of giving: putting ourselves at a disadvantage and opening up a space for God to fill, bless, and prosper us.

Look at what Proverbs, chapter 11, verses 24 and 25, says: “There are those who give freely and gain even more, and there are those who withhold more than is right, but come to poverty. The generous soul will be”—what? “Will be” what, brothers and sisters?—“and whoever refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” You see some paradoxes here, what logic calls paradoxes. They are like apparent contradictions; they are things that seem to counterbalance one another. There are those who give freely; that is, there are people who withdraw some of the money they have in the bank and give it away, thereby reducing their account. But what happens to those people? They prosper. In what way? As it says here: “They gain even more.” There are people who invest, let us say, a certain amount of money in a cause for the Kingdom of God. They make themselves a little poorer, but wonderfully, more is added to them, and after a certain amount of time, the account that they temporarily, momentarily, depleted is not merely restored, but more has been added to it. A paradox, because one would expect that if one reduces what one has, one has less left, isn’t that so? But there are people who give freely and give, and more will be added to them; and there are those who withhold more than is right—there is the key, more than is right—but they come to poverty. What does it mean to withhold more than is right? I will not get too far ahead of that text. Before finishing the sermon, I hope to return to it so that you may understand. What does “more than is right” mean? To withhold more, hold back more, not give, receive and retain, when the call comes to give, more than you have a spiritual right to retain—and then you come to poverty. Instead of saying, “Well, since I have more, I am going to save more, retain more,” right? That is the paradox of the Gospel.

Brothers and sisters, one of the keys to prosperity—I can tell you this from my own life with such conviction—is that when you give generously to the Lord, prosperity comes. And I can still give Him more; I could give more; I ought to give more. But when we give generously to the Lord, prosperity comes. And when we live with giving as a lifelong principle, when giving is a governing value of our lives—giving, giving, giving generously; being a generous, giving person, broad-hearted in what we give the Lord—and when we give in three dimensions: first, giving to the Lord. Say, “To the Lord.” Second, giving to my church. All of you say it so you do not get it wrong: “To my church”—and I want that to apply to everyone—and to others. To the Lord, to my church, and to others. When we give generously to the Lord, to the church, and to others as a principle of life, we prosper, we are blessed, we advance. More is added to us. We live prosperous lives.

This is an essential principle throughout all Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. We see this principle presented in different ways—in narratives, biographies, theological and declarative texts—but it is always the same principle. Listen to it: “When a person suffers loss or puts himself at a disadvantage in order to honor or obey the Lord, God is pleased and commits Himself to blessing us.” If you have a pencil, write it down, because this is bread fresh from the oven; I am not even going to charge you for it—it is free. Principles for young people, businesspeople, mothers, and fathers. “When a person suffers loss or puts himself at a disadvantage in order to honor or obey the Lord, God is pleased and commits Himself to blessing us.” That principle is found throughout Scripture.

Let me take one or two examples of this. Daniel, a young captive from the Jewish aristocracy who was taken to Babylon, was placed in Babylon’s most advanced university so that he could become a member of the Babylonian bureaucracy, because the king had decided that these young Jewish men were very intelligent. The Jews are always blessed; you know that, right? They are intelligent, cultured, disciplined people. He said about these young men, “I am going to take them, I am going to train them, and that Jewish spirit will bless my nation.” He took Daniel and a group of other Jews and placed them in his finest university to train them for a time and then promote them to various government positions in his country.

Daniel was a young man devoted to the Lord; he loved the Lord. You know the story. But because I know the youngsters like to hear it again, here it is. When Daniel went to the university dining hall, he realized that the food had been sacrificed to the Babylonian idols, and he was a godly young man. How rare it is nowadays, brothers and sisters, to find a godly young person! Just as rare as in Babylon. And Daniel said, “I am not going to defile myself with that food, because I want to honor my God.” Do you see the idea of honoring the Lord? Obeying the Lord. As for the other young men, I do not believe God punished them for deciding to eat the food. I do not believe that was the case; they simply were not calculating things the way Daniel was.

Daniel had a different heart. It was a heart like that of Jabez, who was said to be more honorable than his brothers, because sometimes God places that calling upon certain lives: to be—to love the Lord more, obey Him more, be bolder with the Lord, give more to the Lord. That is a gift, and God gave it to Daniel. And Daniel said, “I am not going to sacrifice my faith.” And he struck a deal with the man in charge of them all. He said to him, “Let me eat legumes, spinach every day, vegetables, lettuce, and cucumbers, with a little dressing. Let me eat that every day and not eat the food that has been sacrificed to the idols.” Then the man in charge said to him, “But, young man, according to...” Notice that he was calculating according to the world, according to reason, which is what we often use when we say, “Should I give to God or not?” We use reason. He said, “If you do not eat, you will become gaunt, you will grow weak, and they will blame me for neglecting the young men the king has entrusted to me.” Daniel said, “No, give me—put me to the test. Ten days, I believe it was? And let us see what happens.” And you know the story.

Daniel, chapter 1, verses 8 and 15, says that “.....at the end of the ten days their faces appeared better and healthier than those of the other young men who ate portions of the king’s food.” Because there were other friends who were blessed by Daniel’s example and joined him as well. What happens? When we are generous with God, others are blessed; they too are inspired to be generous with God.... And the Bible says that God gave these four young men knowledge and intelligence in all literature and sciences, and Daniel had understanding of every vision and dream. You see how Daniel impoverished himself for a moment; he did not play along like the others, and he risked his privileged position. He risked going hungry, looking gaunt, and becoming weak in order to glorify his Father and honor his God; God blessed him with wisdom, learning, intelligence, academic success, and favor. He gave him understanding in the subterranean realm of the spirit through visions and dreams, because when God gives, God gives generously. How many millions would people pay to understand the secret things of the universe? God gave them to Daniel for free.

When you give generously to the Lord, God blesses you. Do you understand? That is the principle: Daniel impoverished himself, Daniel weakened himself in the flesh, Daniel put himself at a disadvantage for a time in order to honor God, and God committed Himself to him and blessed him beyond what Daniel gave. And Daniel’s life was always an example of that. That idea, brothers and sisters, of impoverishing yourself, weakening yourself, putting yourself at a disadvantage, and then saying, “Father, may that be my burnt offering to You, my sacrifice; bless it, bless me.” There is nothing wrong with expecting God’s blessing when you are faithful to Him. Nor do we have to be more Catholic than the Pope. “No, I only want to give to the Lord out of love for Him; I do not need Him to give me anything.” That’s a lie. You always want something; you want God to bless you. And if you do not ask for yourself, ask for someone else around you, brother. It is like when you go to restaurants, right? Meche says, “Oh, I don’t want a salad,” and I tell her, “No, order it and give it to me; I’ll eat it.” We are paying for it. If you do not want a blessing, ask for it for your child, ask for it for your brother, ask for it for your church, for someone. But God likes us to ask Him, to be faithful to Him, and to expect to be blessed, because that is how He is: He blesses those who honor Him.

In Solomon’s case, God told him, “Ask for whatever you want.” Solomon did not ask Him for glory, he did not ask Him for money, he did not ask Him for the death of his opponents; he asked Him for wisdom so that he could be faithful to Him as king. What did God do? He blessed him.

Look at First Kings, chapter 3, verses 10 through 14. God was so delighted that this young man would impoverish and weaken himself when he had the opportunity to ask Him for whatever he wanted—when other men would ask for money and selfish things—and it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this. Because when we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all the other things are added to us. When you seek God’s glory and God’s pleasure, then it says—what happens?—it says, “It pleased the Lord; God was pleased that Solomon had asked for this,” and God told him, “...because you have asked for this and did not ask for yourself”—selfishness is the principle that always destroys us; it is the “I,” personal advantage, whatever gives me pleasure, or.....—“and you did not ask for many days for yourself, nor did you ask for riches for yourself, nor did you ask for the life of your enemies, but you asked for intelligence to discern justice,” that is, to benefit others. “Behold, I have done according to your word.” In other words, I give you everything you asked of Me. “Behold, I have given you such a wise and understanding heart”—because when God gives, He gives abundantly—“that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall anyone like you arise after you.” And look here at the “also,” the “also.” That is what I like about God. That is the little part I always want in my life: God’s “also,” because when I give to God, God gives me what I have given Him, He gives it back to me, but then He says, “I will also give you more.”

Everyone say, “Also.” And let me tell you right now: title this sermon “God’s Also,” because here it says: “And I have also given you the things you did not ask for, both riches and glory, so that among the kings there will be none like you all your days; and if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments as you and David your father did, I will lengthen your days.” In other words, I am also going to give you money, glory, power, and peace within your walls, and as a bonus I am going to give you a long old age. Who would not want that, brothers and sisters? But Solomon first had to put himself at a disadvantage, do you understand? He had to seek God’s glory, think about his Father, and not think about himself. Then his Father gives him what he gave because He gives it back to him, and then He gave him much more. What a tremendous blessing!

If only we understood these principles. Sometimes we read the Bible and these things go right over our heads. Now the question is: do you dare to believe that God still works as He did with Solomon? That this was not only for Solomon in—I don’t know what century—before Christ, but that now, in the twenty-first century, in this time, it is for you; put your name over that text, because that dynamic is also for you. If you give to the Lord, if you seek His glory, if you seek His Kingdom, if you seek the principles of His Kingdom, if you seek to honor Him first, He will give you back what you have given Him and will also give you much more: the petitions of your heart, those secret ones that would require a psychiatrist to uncover for you, God reads them and grants them to you. Because He delights in giving His children more than they ask of Him and more than they give Him.

You cannot give God anything, as Brother Montaña said yesterday: God owns everything. What can you give God? Gold? He made gold. A luxurious church? The concrete block you use and the Sheetrock belong to God. Your life? He created it. Your praise, hymns, works of art—who gave you the intelligence and creativity to conceive those things? God gave them to you. You cannot step outside what God has made and created. Everything you are, think, desire, and offer comes from God. So you are giving the Father out of what you have received. In other words, you cannot give God anything. What you can do is give symbolic offerings, and He receives them, blesses them, and gives you much more. These are secrets to living a prosperous and abundant life.

In the Kingdom of God, when you weaken or impoverish yourself in order to please or serve Him, He restores what was lost and gives you even more. That is the principle, brothers and sisters; it is the structural principle that governs other practices. The practices, then, are simply the manifestation of the principles. I will explain that to you another day; it is too early in the morning right now. Practices are simply the expression of the principles, the foundations. It is like mathematics: the laws of mathematics are predicated on what are called postulates, which are fundamental principles from which everything else proceeds—all the operations: addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and geometry. All these things depend on logical postulates, physical postulates, and so on.

Among the postulates of Scripture is that principle, which is then manifested in practices such as tithing or fasting. They are practices, but the principle is this: impoverish yourself, reduce yourself, put yourself at a disadvantage in order to make room for God’s power to increase in you, for God’s blessing to increase in you.

What is the tithe? I explained it to you yesterday: you put yourself at a disadvantage by giving that ten percent, which sometimes you do not even have enough left over to pay the bills. Then you say, “How am I going to give Him ten percent when I am barely keeping those I owe at bay, and I can barely pay for the car and the house, and now the Lord asks me to give Him ten percent of my money?” But then you say, “No, God’s logic is different.” God says, “If you impoverish yourself, if you dare to believe God and subtract that ten percent, God is going to”—I even have background music for my sermon at this moment; God is saying, “You’re doing well.” Amen. If you subtract that ten percent and weaken yourself financially, I will restore that ten percent to you and give you more. It is the postulate of impoverishment, of reduction for God’s glory, so that God will commit Himself.

Fasting is also explained in that way. Logic and reason tell you, “The more I eat, the stronger I will be.” You know that is not true; even logic itself does not support that. But you know that if you do not eat, you grow weak; there is a reasonable amount to eat, and fasting says: “No, if in the spirit you weaken yourself physically, and you refrain from partaking of that food that is so important to your mind or your body, and in the spirit you reduce the amount of food you eat and offer that sacrifice, that space in your stomach, to the Lord, God will restore you, bless you, prosper you, and give you strength like that of a wild ox.” Say amen, even if it is only to please me, do you understand?

That is the idea: if you fast, you become weak, and God makes you strong. A prayer vigil: if you go without sleep and endure a little hardship, God blesses you. It is a principle; that is how it is. I can show you that throughout the Bible; many texts open up when we understand this principle. Ruth, instead of chasing after a pair of pants to find herself a man somewhere else, as Naomi told her, says, “No, I am going to be faithful to you; I am going to love you, old woman. I am going to go with you, walk with you, be faithful to you, be a noble woman, stay close to you, protect you, and watch over you. I will cover you with my youth.” And what happens? God later finds her a man and blesses her by making her an ancestor of Jesus Christ and the great-grandmother of King David, and He redeems her from being merely a Moabite woman who, according to the law, did not even have the right to be part of the Kingdom of God; He makes her a member of the family of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! And throughout Scripture you see that principle. When you put yourself at a disadvantage, impoverish yourself in some way, or weaken yourself in some way in order to glorify God, God promises to bless you and prosper you, and that must be a daily practice in our lives. And if we do not practice that principle, I dare say that we are being disobedient.

Let us go to a text..... Let us return for a moment to squeeze the last drop of meaning out of that text from Proverbs 11. Let us examine it in light of what I am telling you. I hope it is clearer now. “....There are those who give freely and yet receive even more”; that is, there are those who impoverish themselves and receive more than the amount by which they reduced themselves. Why? Because they are operating according to that spiritual principle, that postulate of the spiritual Kingdom. “And there are those who withhold more than is right, but come to poverty.” Why? Because they are violating that postulate of the spiritual Kingdom. There is nothing wrong with withholding something, brothers and sisters; it is good to save. It is good—look, if..... God is not asking you to be a fool, to let yourself be exploited, or to let people do whatever they please with you. No, you have to hold something back, do your accounts, and make sure you can pay for the things of life. You must be prudent. That is fine, but what does God say not to withhold? More than what is—what?—right. In other words, there are things that you do not have a legitimate right to withhold, such as the tithe, for example.

If you read Scripture continually, and if you.... That is not my expression; it says, “The whole nation has robbed Me,” says the Lord. “You have robbed Me.” Because the tithe is a sacred portion of your money as a believer, as a child of God; it is not yours, and it is not right for you to withhold it. If you withhold it, you are entering the realm of illegitimacy, and then you come to poverty. You are putting your money into a bag full of holes. If someone in need comes to you and you have the means to bless that person, if your brother needs something and you withhold help, blessing, and a contribution to his well-being, you are withholding more than is right. If your church needs something in order to bless the Kingdom of God and advance the purposes of the Kingdom of God, and you can help it and are in a position to do so, but you do not, you are withholding more than is right. If you have a talent and the Kingdom of God needs it, and you are not giving it to the Kingdom of God, you are withholding more than is right and are coming to spiritual poverty in your life. So I say, woe to those whom God endows with a talent but who are not using it for the Kingdom of God and are withholding it unjustly; they come to spiritual poverty. You have to give generously to the Lord, give to your church, and give to others. God loves generous people.

Actually, the source of my concern to preach this sermon is that, brothers and sisters, I want to see a congregation of men and women who give generously to the Lord, because that is the key to a prosperous congregation. That is the key so that ten years from now I can see you having bought your homes, having been promoted in your jobs, having learned to speak English, having brought your children under the discipline of the Lord and still having your children with you, having seen your marriages healed and blessed, and seeing your talents developed and used for the Lord’s glory; seeing single mothers who arrived without knowledge now guiding young women with their counsel, discipling other women, tithing to the Lord’s Kingdom, and using their talents to bless the church of God, because they have given generously.

A prosperous community is a community that recognizes the lordship of Christ and gives generously to the Lord. When the Lord says, “Give to me,” simply because he wants to see whether we will give to him, and we do, God blesses that community. Do you want to be blessed individually? Do you want to be blessed as a spiritual community? Give generously to the Lord. When God asks you to give, give to him; do not withhold from the Lord more than is rightfully his. That is the principle.

When God calls you—come and study, come and keep vigil, come and fast, come and tithe, come and serve—do not tell the Lord, “No, I am tired, I am depressed, or I have other things to do.” Do not make excuses to the Lord; give generously to the Lord, whether you feel like it or not, whether you are at an advantage or a disadvantage, whether you have much or little—it does not matter. Give generously to the Lord, master your flesh, and do it out of spiritual principle, and God will bless you. I see many people in our congregation—and I am saying this pastorally now—who have gifts and talents but are not giving to the Lord as they should, and sometimes they are stingy when their church needs them, and sometimes, brothers and sisters, they are too comfortable and too tightfisted with their gifts. And the Lord says, “I will not bless you; I cannot bless you until you give to me generously.” God is honored by the man or woman who is passionate and generous toward him. The person who gives to the Lord without measure is the person who is blessed, and we want people with warrior hearts in this community, people who are being blessed and winning over their companions—and their companions’ souls as well—because there is an abundance of passion in their hearts.

Brothers and sisters, we want a... Volunteerism is important in a church. I hope that if the Lord were to give us a budget of 50 million every year, this church would still have men and women who serve him here for free, and that this church would not become a church of professionals. I rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus. There are people who do not want to do anything for the Lord unless they are paid. I rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus. And so you understand that if men pay you, God cannot pay you, because you have already received your reward. And I am not saying—I believe that the worker is worthy of his wages; I am paid for what I do—but I did not serve the Lord for money. If that were what I wanted, I could make more money elsewhere. But there are things that we must give to the Lord that only he and I should know about, no one else.

People do not understand that. When you give generously to the Lord, God never tires of blessing you. The way for you to prosper financially is to say, “No, I do not want it; I wish I could work without being paid.” If I could do what I do while holding a secular job out there, I would prefer that a thousand times over. And I did that for a while, until the work increased too much for me to be physically able to do both. But I would much rather give everything I can to the Lord—from my life, from what I have, from my portion—and let the Lord reward me, because I want him to be the one who pays me. When he pays me, he pays me far better than any man ever could.

If we understood that principle, brothers and sisters, in everything we do in our lives, how blessed we would be! Always give generously to the Lord. And look up and say, “Father, I do it for your glory and honor. Look down from your kingdom and bless me as only you know how. If you want to bless me with money, bless me with money. If you want to bless me with health, bless me with health. If you want to bless me with the restoration of my emotions, do so; or fulfill the secret petitions of my heart, which you know very well. Come, pay me in whatever currency you choose, but I do this for you. This is the offering I have for you, Lord.” Live generously. Give—to the Lord, to your church, and to others. Be generous with God. I want a church that is always impoverishing itself for the Lord, because that church will always be enriched by the Lord. Listen to the proposition: if you impoverish yourself for the Lord, you will be enriched by the Lord. Write it down before it slips away from you, because that is good. If you impoverish yourself for the Lord, you will be enriched by the Lord. Apply that principle every day of your life, in every transaction and every decision you make. And the Lord says, “See if I will not open the window of heaven and give to you until it overflows.” That is the word of the Lord for you this morning.

Let us stand. I wish I had more time, because there are so many things in the treasure of God’s Word concerning this principle, and I do not want us to miss it, brothers and sisters. Let us be diligent, alert, and passionate toward God. Let us build up a church whose eyes are like two burning coals of passion for God—a church passionate for the Lord, which knows how to operate according to the principles of the Kingdom of God.

God wants to bless you, but you must give to him generously of everything: time, talent, gifts, energy, sleep, emotions—everything. Just give to the Lord passionately and trust in him. He will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. He will prosper you. He will place his hand upon you. His love will be upon you 24 hours a day.

That is the Lord’s blessing for the children of God. Let us not be children, says the Lord, in matters of the Spirit. Let us be children with regard to malice and wickedness, but let us be wise in matters of the Spirit, says the Lord; let us be mature in matters of the Spirit. Let us learn to apply the laws of the Spirit as God requires. Let us be passionate about extracting those nuggets of gold hidden in the Word of God.

Let us bow our heads. Let us repent of all selfishness. Let us repent of all materialism in our dealings with the Lord; let us repent of all timidity and of every cautious, tightfisted disposition concerning the things of the Kingdom of God. Let us repent of being too cautious, too timid with our talents and gifts. Give to the Lord; fall in love with the Lord. Believe the Lord. Apply the principles of the Lord’s Word, and you will prosper; you will be blessed. Father, may this word become embedded in the walls of this church and reverberate every day that this congregation exists, Lord. Father, we embrace these principles that have been proclaimed. They are the governing principles of this church, and if we do not obey them and live by....... have mercy, alert us, and discipline us so that we may return to that path, Lord, because we know that this is the path of blessing for a community.

Engrave these principles upon our hearts, Lord, and do not let this word, which is a promise, fall to the ground, Lord. Do not let this prophecy fall to the ground, Father. May those who apply it be blessed and see the blessing, Lord. Father, this morning I launch this word like a projectile into the hearts and spirits of my brothers and sisters, and I bless them with it, Father. I fertilize them with that word; I impregnate them with the seed of your Kingdom and your Gospel, Father, this morning. May those who receive it prosper and be blessed; may those who close themselves off against it, Father, also experience the truth of your Word. As a church, we submit to your judgment this morning, Lord; we embrace your truth, Lord. We embrace your judgment, Lord. We embrace your commandments and your precepts, Lord. Have mercy on us, Father. Help us to be upright and honorable before you, Lord, and to live according to what your Word reveals to us. Oh Lord. We worship you; we bless you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We worship you, Lord; we bless you.