Sermon Tone Analysis

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!