6 - Faith Series - Faith that prospers

Final message in our series on FAITH today. I’ve been so blessed in my study and reflection time on this topic of faith. It has been changing my thinking and the way I’m looking at the future!

Faith Overcomes

Faith has a voice – it declares and confesses the promises

Faith fights the good fight – its active

Faith is “Now”

Faith gives – it trusts God with our FIRSTFRUITS

Faith that prospers – breaking the mindset of SCARCITY.

Let’s pray today that this morning is not just an exercise over getting an offering over and done with – but to unveil a powerful principal that can change the way we conduct our lives.

Humour:  A little girl became restless in church as the preacher’s sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, "Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?"

Let’s PRAY:

Scarcity = ‘Insufficient supply or amount of something needed, a shortage or goods or services that are needed.’

‘a small and inadequate amount’.

Synonyms = The condition or fact of being deficient: deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, lack,  poverty, scantiness, scantness, scarceness, shortage,  shortfall.

Hello – anyone ready to go home yet!  For some – I’ve just described how you think about your life on a daily basis!  For others – you hate these words, but somehow SCARCITY follows you around like a bad smell!

What we can give out in life is ruled by our perspectives and mindsets.  Simply put – what we THINK we HAVE or DON’T HAVE.

Today we are going to allow the MASTER of ABUNDANCE – El Shaddai “The All Sufficient ONE”

Jehovah Jireh “The Lord who sees to our needs”

-          to teach us by his actions about FAITH THAT PROSPERS:

Story of loaves and fishes – Mark 6:30-44

• Jesus gives, even out of his tiredness [v.31 For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.]  – “whatever I have at my disposal I will reach out to these people” – Notice Jesus was moved by compassion – his spiritman was directing and guiding the decision making centre of his life – not his FLESH.
• Disciples say v.36 “we haven’t got enough” – mindset of scarcity is revealed in their thinking
• Disciples say v.36 “send them away”.  Because their perspective was one of not having enough this forced them to divorce themselves from other peoples problems and pains.  “Not my problem – I haven’t got enough time, money, resources to deal with this problem”.
• Mindset of scarcity removes us from the very opportunities that God puts in front of us.  Instead of the need of the crowd being an opportunity it became a THREAT to them.

This so often happens in church life – we see the need but because we are restricted by a mindset of “NOT ENOUGH” - the threat towards the little we may have the holds us back and the OPPORTUNITY is missed.

So often we are looking through BUDGET eyes in everything at our disposal – “I only have” – therefore we negotiate our way out of so many opportunities.

What is it exactly that we don’t believe we have enough of?

1.  One was their resources – they just didn’t see enough.

Friends – the oldest trap in the book is for the enemy to trap us into “always focusing on what we don’t have enough of”.

I look at my vision and I know we don’t have enough resources in the natural.  We are going to need millions of dollars over the next 10 years to fulfill God’s desires through our lives in order to touch this world with His love!

Of course WE don’t have enough!

2.  The disciples also saw themselves as INCAPABLE.  I can’t do this!  I don’t have the qualifications!  I don’t have the credibility.  They believed that somebody else could but NOT THEM! 

SYMPTOMS     When they looked at what was SCARCE - the lack of resources and their INCAPABILITIES  - it hamstrung them to ACT.  But these two issues were only SYMPTOMS of the real ISSUE here: 

What they really saw as being SCARCE was God’s DIVINE ACTIVITY! 

-          They thought they had to do it on their own!

-          They didn’t just see a lack of food they saw a lack of God’s divine activity. 

LISTEN TO THIS:  If we knew God would REPLACE the TIME and MONEY and RESOURCES that we gave HIM – not double, but merely REPLACE – we would give FREELY.

But the mindset of SCARCITY gets in the way of understanding that God will do exactly that – SCARCITY does not FACTOR in the miraculous and the ABUNDANCE of God’s hand – so we all end up acting just like the DISCIPLES did that day in feeding the 5000.

We can come up with lots of excuses but we are looking at what we DON”T have.  I use to do it all the time!

LISTEN – if we think that we don’t have it, then we will believe it MUST NOT EXIST for us. AND we will act accordingly!

If we think we don’t have enough time – then we act accordingly!  How?

• We short change our kids with the shortest story book at bed time because we have too much to do.
• We short change our relational depth with the key people around us, because we think we don’t have enough time.
• We short change others in generosity because we believe we don’t have enough

The great lesson out of Jesus behaviour in this story is that He gets them to focus not on what they don’t have (MINDSET OF SCARCITY) – but what they did have!

Tell me – what do you have?   Because whatever you have – if you have a mindset of ABUNDANCE – it is enough to live life feeding others and doing what God has called you to do!

Jesus does not ask us to do something and not give us enough to do it with. 

HOWEVER – Jesus does have a habit of MESSING with our MINDS!   Let me qualify this statement:

Moses – God comes to Him to call him into a leadership role that will require him to challenge the highest potentate in the land to let God’s 3 million people go. 

“Moses what do you have?”   “Well Lord – I’ve got this stick in my hand” – “That’s enough Moses”.  EH GOD???

If it was me – I would be asking for some explosives, soldiers, war-chest.  But a STICK????

What we have in God’s hand turns into a snake that eats all Pharoahs snakes, pollutes a river, brings plagues, parts the RED SEA!

David the Shepherd boy.  What have you got in your hand?  “A sling and 5 smooth river stones” – that’s enough David!

The 12 disciples – what have you got?  “Not much Lord – just ourselves.”  That’s okay – just take what you are wearing, a purse and head out to bring the Gospel to the world – I’ll look after you!

A mindset of abundance does not look at what I don’t have – but looks to the Lord in faith for His amazing ability to MULTIPLY what I do have and make it work for His purposes!

Contextualise:  Today we are obviously focusing on releasing an ABUNDANCE mentality into our BREAKTHROUGH OFFERING – otherwise it won’t be a BREAKTHROUGH offering – it will be a BREAKDOWN OFFERING!

However – what I’m preaching today is not about JUST MONEY!

LIFE in GENERAL:  Today some of you may be looking at the little GRACE, the little FORGIVENESS that you have left and you’re saying “I don’t have enough to get this relationship back on track LORD.”  But if you look to the God of all ABUNDANCE you will find he will multiply GRACE and FORGIVENESS to you to get that relationship healed and your heart healed in Jesus name!

Was the miracle of feeding the 5,000 in the fish and bread?  Yes – but not only.  The miracle is in Jesus words to his disciples “You feed them”!

When you begin to do this(operate in mindset of ABUNDANCE) TWO things happen:

1.  Unity grows and community begins to thrive.

Jesus gets them to sit in groups.  Mk 6: 39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.(NKJV)

Why?  Wanting to teach them a lesson.  Sitting in your group of 50 – getting late, what are we going to do??  Then a disciple walks by and he is only holding a basket that is obviously big enough for what – 5 people?  But then as he distributes to the group it becomes a bottomless pit of provision.  As the disciple gives out of that finite basket – the Holy Spirit takes what he gives and multiplies it out to the people!  Can you imagine what happens as this is going on?  “Did you see what I just saw???”  They begin to chatter excitedly as they witness the God of ABUNDANCE providing in their circumstances.  There comes a bonding in the process in their group – UNITY is experienced as God unfolds his miraculous hand!

As we take on the mindset of SUPER ABUNDANT GOD today and begin to give of what we have – and sow it into this offering for the purpose of making provision for MORE people and doing church better – to reach more – as we experience HIS ABUNDANT miracle in our midst – God does something fresh in our hearts.

REALITY CHECK:  NOT ALL WILL!  I guarantee out of a crowd that size some weighed up their circumstances – it’s getting late, if I don’t leave now I’m not getting fed – come on lets cut a track out of here!   DIVORCED from the DIVINE because of a MINDSET that told them there wasn’t ENOUGH!  They not only missed the miracle of seeing 5,000 being fed by 5 loaves and 2 fish, but the missed the miracle of the community COMING together!

2.  The Abundance mindset operates under FAITH in God and releases us from the constraints of HUMAN ENDEAVOUR – working it out in our own SRENGTH

• \\ Jesus saw His father’s ABUNDANCE before this DIVINE act and this caused him to behave in the way that he did.  So he is able to see in the circumstances what God has already given him and give thanks *before the miracle takes place.  Then offers it back to His father and witnesses this phenomenal miracle unfold.

So many times we miss out because we are focusing on what we don’t have and spending so much time whining and groaning out of our SCARCITY mentality.

I’m coming into this offering as I did last year – LORD we need this roof on our great facility fixed, but $70,000 is a lot of money LORD.  However, you’ve called Viv and I and our family to this place LORD.  You’ve given us a vision of what can be.  You want to TURN this place AROUND – spiritually and naturally!  Therefore I come today to give out of what I have – I’ve come today to sow the seed I have and because I know you do “exceedingly abundantly above all I can ask or think” – I believe we can do it LORD!

BEGIN to quote SCRIPTURE as it comes to mind at this point – under the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT.  Declare who He has said He is and HE will do what He has promised to do!

Jesus did this by PAUSING to give THANKS to his Father right before offering the people the food – by doing so he RELEASED his disciples from under the burden of their SCARCITY mindsets and released the power of God into the miracle!

SCARCITY keeps us within the CONFINEMENTS of Human endeavour.  How?  Because SCARCITY measures every little thing – time, patience, energy, money – it keeps us CONFINED to a LIMITED life for God.

ABUNDANCE takes us into a supernatural SPHERE where anything could happen and often does by an ANOINTING that only God can bring that brings HIS ABUNDANCE into the situation!

“They all ate and were satisfied!”

Isn’t it amazing how those with a SCARCITY mindset are never satisfied.  Never enough money, things, grace, patience.  Never satisfied.  But those with an ABUNDANCE mentality can thank God when there doesn’t seem to be a lot around and be FED and are always FULL and satisfied by God’s SUPERNATURAL workings in their life.

WARNING:  However – we must also beware of the trap of moving BACKWARDS out of abundance into SCARCITY too. 

Story of a man who was attending a Wednesday night church service where they were taking up an offering and he literally only had $2 left,  HE was BROKE!  He was humming and haaring – shall I give this - the last of all that is left??  SO he did – what the heck and gave his last $2. Sometime down the track around 12 months later he came back to the same church where a special offering was being taken up and the Pastor asked if there were any testimonies to share of God moving in peoples lives.  This same $2 man got up and shared how he had given his last $2 and after leaving church that night a series of events had taken place and 12 months down the track he had made a million dollars!  The people whooped and cheered! The pastor was thinking “This guy was sent from heaven Lord – thankyou”.  The man sat back down in his seat and a little old lady sitting behind him leaned forward and whispered in his ear – “I dare you to do it again!”

The Old Ladies advice is what you call – “EXCELING in your giving” – learning to push the envelope, learning to grow bigger on the inside, learning to become a CAPACIOUS giver – growing in our capacity again and again – as we believe in EL SHADDAI – the ALL SUFFICIENT ONE.  Once you gain a mindset of abundance you can learn the JOY of what it means to be someone who always has something to OFFER – your supply never runs dry!

How do we move into a mindset of abundance?

1. Jesus got out of the boat and the first thing he saw was PEOPLE.  Compassion for people and leading people to God is a key to ABUNDANCE.  Not just programmes and tasks – but using what we have to minister to people.  Allowing the mentality of ABUNDANCE to change the way people experience God and His GOODNESS.
   
   
2. Move from a mindset of sacrifice to a mindset of FAITH.
   I’m sure that if the disciples thought they would have had enough between them that day they would have SACRIFICED it to the LORD by giving all they had to give in the hope that it might just make it!  But it would have all been done in their natural strength.
   
   No. Can great sacrifice come out of FAITH – Yes! And it often has in our lives.  As we have believed we have sown reasonable amounts into the kingdom!
   But HEBREWS 11 is not just all about sacrifice – it is about men and women who were moved by a PROMISE from God.  They were moved to act, knowing their own resources could never match the NEED but they believed in a God of UNLIMITED RESOURCES that could match their steps of faith. 
   
   This is the “Theology of the PROMISE”.  All Hebrews 11 heroes of the faith were moved out from a mindset of SCARCITY into a mindset that PROSPERS – works by faith in the PROMISES of God – MINDSET of ABUNDANCE.  Listen to this :
   
   Heb 11: 32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.(NKJV)
   
   

Most of us have some area in our lives that is still living in a mindset of scarcity.  Let me encourage you as I finish this message today – walking in FAITH and TRUSTING the Lord will help you transition OUT OF SCARCITY and INTO ABUNDANCE.

If it is in our money – step out and do something today that will walk in faith.

If it is in our time – then offer some time to one of our leaders and SERVE.  Make a commitment that will break that mindset of SCARCITY – that will not keep looking at what you don’t have, but will offer up what you do and see how God will begin to use you.

OFFERING TIME.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. This is not just giving to ELIM Christian Centre today – this is an act of worship to the LORD GOD. We are bringing our tithes and offerings into the Storehouse of God as part of our worship to the LORD today.  Lets treat this moment as a HOLY moment.
   
   
2. If you do not yet have an envelope there are ushers waiting for you at the back of each section where you may obtain one.
   
   
3. Musicians and singers will give first and then support us, as they faithfully do.  Then as we are led by the LORD to bring our BREAKTHROUGH offering to God today.  Let His presence settle on you and as you give to God today – believe for a Breakthrough back into your own life.