Transcription
[Music] Thank you for joining us for another power-packed message from Dr. Miles Monroe, provided by Monroe Global Incorporated and MonroeGlobal.com. We transform followers into leaders and leaders into agents of change. We hope that this message is a blessing to you as you advance your life and discover your purpose.
Now, let's go into the message. Okay, right on top of your page, the statement again, if you haven't written it down: "The Kingdom Purpose for Resources and Money." Say it: "The Kingdom Purpose for Resources and Money." And you want to take notes because you're going to follow some things to get you out of debt and also to keep you out of debt. And some principles that I have used in my own personal walk with the Holy Spirit that took me out of debt. I am out of debt personally, and I'm telling you, it's because I learned what I'm going to teach you tonight. You're going to learn some of my secrets, and I got them all from the Kingdom book, the Bible.
I want to begin first of all by talking a little bit about the Kingdom concept of wealth. And as you know, we're dealing with the application of the Kingdom of God to Earth. And I want to remind you in this particular segment of a reintroduction of the global picture that God has. And a couple of statements you want to write down: Number one, the original purpose and plan of God was to extend this heavenly Kingdom to Earth. That's God's original plan. Heaven is a wealthy place. The asphalt on the streets of Heaven is made of gold. So when you talk about wealth, if you don't like wealth, don't go to Heaven.
Now, if a kingdom is wealthy and it has a colony, then the colony is to reflect the nature of that Kingdom because the purpose for colonization is to extend the Kingdom's influence to a foreign territory. So I want you to get this picture. Remember, if your thinking is wrong, your life is wrong. If your thinking is right, your life will begin to line up with your thinking, and your life, your life begins to become right. I don't pursue wealth, nor do I look for money. Why? Because in my country where I'm from, wealth is part of our culture. My country, no one is poor. In my country, nobody. Where I'm from, no one is poor. So poverty is a foreign experience for people from my country. Where I'm from, I used to live in the Bahamas. You know, I thought I was from the Bahamas, but I'm actually from Heaven, in case you don't know that. And in my country, there is no depression, there is no poverty. Listen, I believe that with my whole being, and that's the way I think now.
And to get you to think that way, we've got to start with this concept: If the Kingdom is colonizing a territory, the territory will reflect the nature of that Kingdom, the same way the Bahamas reflects the nature of Great Britain in the way we live, and what we eat, what we drink, and how we drive. So if a Kingdom is wealthy like Heaven is, then the colony of people on the planet that represent that Kingdom are supposed to be reflective of that Kingdom. And they are not wealthy in order for them to boast or to compete with each other or to brag about what they have, because what they have ain't theirs.
So, point number three is important. Write this down: Wealth in a Kingdom is the personal property of the King. I want you to start thinking that way, otherwise you won't come out of debt. Wealth is the personal property of the King. Now, in a Kingdom, no one owns anything. The King owns everything: the land, the animals, the forest, the waters, and the people. Everything in a Kingdom is personal property of the King. This is important because if you don't get this point, you will continue to run after money, pursue material things, and compete with other people for resources. But if you get a revelation, I hope you get it sometime this year, hopefully tonight, that you own nothing. Then, if that ever hits you, then no one can ever steal from you. Listen, people can only steal from you if you think you own it. I tell you, this stuff is heavy.
Now, I've got a whole lot of material to give you tonight, but if you don't get the first slide, I might as well just quit because it ain't going to work unless your concepts change. Kingdom concepts are the most important thing in the world for you to capture. That's why I wrote the first two books just on concepts. Because if you don't get the concepts right, you will be lost in the activity. Listen, if you are in a Kingdom, you own nothing. If you own nothing, you can lose nothing, nor can anyone steal. So crime is only possible where ownership is present. It's a profound statement.
Now, here's the problem. I call it a culture clash. You were brought up in a culture, just like I was, that trains you to think ownership. The whole culture is built. I mean, capitalism is built. The Western society is built. The whole culture is built on two ideas: one, independence; two, personal ownership. And both of those concepts are anti-Kingdom. That's why people are stressed out. I'm going to show you from scripture tonight why God keeps money from you, and I'll show you right from the Bible why he does. And he does it because you are a capitalist, you are an Earthling, and you are trapped in a system that encourages the belief that you own things. And that very belief is what's keeping things from you. Oh, please, Lord, help me. And somehow, I'm praying for God to break that thing from your mind. It's going to take a while because you were brought up in there, but we're going to start tonight. And you need to ask God for how about a miracle? Anybody want a miracle? Ask. Put your hand here. Say, "Lord, Lord, Lord, destroy my ungodly thinking. Remove from my mind, remove the cultural damage, the cultural damage of the world, of the world, and give me, and give me Your culture, Your culture of the Kingdom." In Jesus' name, I receive it. Receive. Hallelujah. Praise God. He has to heal your mind.
And this point is important: In a Kingdom, the King owns everything personally. Number four: The Kingdom gives the Kingdom gives its wealth to its citizens to accomplish its purposes in the colony. This is a very important statement. The Kingdom and the King. The King himself, He owns everything. And whatever He gives you is not for you, it's for His purposes in the colony. This is important because the moment you think what you receive is yours, then you lock it up, you stop it with you, you hold on to it, and that is anti-Kingdom. If God cannot get it through you, He won't get it to you. Anything God gives you is to accomplish His purpose in the colony.
I remember the scripture that explodes in my mind at the moment. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and chapter 8 are important chapters to read. It's when the Lord brought them out of Egypt, He began to tell them how they must think, the attitudes. And then He said to them, He said, He said, "I am your God, and it is I who will give you the power to get wealth." Now, that word "power" then means ability or skill. "I will give you the ability, the power, the skill to get wealth." And the sentence ends like this: "so that I might accomplish my covenant that I made with Abraham." In other words, "I'm going to make you wealthy to fulfill my covenant in the earth." So any time the King gives you resources, remember, your first question should be, "What's it for?" Not "Who's it for?" "What's it for?" Because you want to say, "It's for me," right away.
And that leads me to this important final statement in introduction, and that is: The Kingdom citizen is responsible and accountable to the King for the use and the management of His resources. Please be sure that everyone in this room gets a copy of this CD or DVD when I'm finished, because I'm going to give you a lot of information you need to convert your thinking. And to do that, you keep listening to it at least seven times. Listen to this thing seven times to get your mind changed. The Kingdom citizen is responsible and accountable to who? The King. For what? For the use and the management of His resources. He owns everything. He gives it to you for His purposes, and then He makes you accountable back to Him as to how you use it and how you manage it. Basic fundamentals in the Kingdom.
Now, let's move to this particular story. Matthew chapter 25. If you look at verse one of Matthew 25, you will find that Jesus Christ is still talking about His only message. And He opens the passage this way: He says, "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like..." and then He gave these different stories. In other words, these stories are about the Kingdom of God. So you cannot read, nor preach, nor teach from these passages outside of the context of the Kingdom of God. These are Kingdom stories. And He begins by saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like this," and then He tells this beautiful story that everybody remembers. Let's read it for the first time. He said, "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them." Hey, boy, think about the statement. Now, there's a man going where? On a journey. And he does what? Entrusts his property to who? His servants. Okay, now let's see if we can connect that.
Now, remember now, these are not supposed to be literal stories. He's trying to explain the Kingdom. Okay? The Kingdom begins in Genesis 1:26. Dominion. Dominion. The word *malak* or the name is *dabar* in Hebrew. *Dabar* or *malak*, and they both mean dominion, rulership, authority, Kingdom. In Genesis 1:26, the Lord created the heavens and the Earth. Everybody follow me now? Heavens and the Earth. So He finished the property. The Earth was created before man was released. So the property preceded the manager. Yes. So Christ is going back to the story. He said, "Look, I'm trying to tell you a thousand different ways. Here's another way: There was a man who had property. He made his property and he left it in the hands of his servants." Now, those servants are actually His sons who happen to be mankind over the Earth. He's trying to connect. He's telling people in that area, in that culture, who know about servants and about properties. He's using that scenario, that simile, that example to explain Genesis 1:26. He said, "Look, God created you. He had a piece of property and He told you, 'Look after that for me. Have dominion over the Earth.'" Clear? Are you sure? Okay. That's exactly what He's talking about. He's talking about rulership over His property.
Point number two: He says, "To one he gave five talents of money." Now, why does Jesus use money? You're going to say in a minute why He uses money. Money is the most personal thing to everybody. Money is so personal that we keep it in a purse. That's why you call it a purse. It is so personal that only you know how much you don't have. You're faking it all the way. It's so personal that if anybody wants it, it's a fight. It's so personal. And money is the most powerful thing on Earth next to God. That's why He uses money. Jesus said this to His disciples, His students: He said, "There are only two masters on Earth: God." And He never mentions the devil. You keep thinking that the devil is powerful. He said, "No, there's something more powerful than the devil, and you've got some in your bag right now." He made money more powerful than Satan because money is so personal. And He says, "You can't serve both of them." Huh? He says, "This man gave..." Everybody say, "gave." I want you to underline every word I emphasize. Underline those words. He what? He gave talents of money. Talents is a certain amount of money. The word "talent" means a certain amount of money in measure of money. To another he gave two talents, to another he gave one talent, each according to his what? Ability. Everybody say, "ability." Ability according to what? In other words, He gave not according to how much He had, He gave according to what they have the ability to manage. The Kingdom has no lack and no scarcity. It has no limit in wealth. So if there's scarcity in your life, it has nothing to do with God. Read the statement again. He says, "He gave them not how much He wanted to give them, He gave them how much they had the ability to handle." So God doesn't determine what you get from His Kingdom. You do. Can change your thinking now. Change your thinking. So what you've got to do is don't even pray for certain things. Your ability should determine what you pray for. That's frightening me. You ask God for 10,000 bus. God says, "You know something? I gave you $100 last week, you didn't even pay tithes." So now your prayer is frustrating you. You don't get the thousand, and then you tell God He doesn't answer prayer. He answered your prayer completely. You ain't able to handle a thousand. So He answered your prayer. He didn't give it to you. The amount was determined by the person's, the recipient's ability to manage it.
Now, watch this last part. It says, "Then he went on his journey." That means, and I have a list to show you this in a few minutes. This list, you get the principles are powerful. That's an important statement. He left. Everybody say, "he left." Underline that, please. He went away. Went away. That's important. In other words, God gives you stuff and then leaves you to handle it. He gives you a brain. He gives you His Spirit. He gave you intelligence. He gave you wisdom. He gave you His Word. He says, "Now, I ain't going to tell you what to do with that money. I'mma watch to see how you manage that yourself." He goes away. God told us, "Have dominion," and then God left. When God came back, a snake was in charge. God says, "Adam, where in the world are you? I didn't leave you like this. You, I left you in charge. You mismanaged the garden." So what to do? God drove him out. Whatever you mismanage, God drives you out of. Look at the next verse. It gets worse. Smile. Matthew 25:16: "The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work." Everybody say, "money to work." Underline it. "Money to work." Everybody say, "money to work." Say it again. He didn't go to work. See, you missed the whole revelation because in the Kingdom of God, you don't work for money. Money works for you. In the Kingdom, anytime God gives you resources, He wants it to work for you. What makes us die young and sick and depressed and grow old fast is the fact that we have reversed this Kingdom principle. We pursue two jobs, two and a half jobs. We don't even go home. If you work for money, guess who's the boss? Christ has only two masters on the planet. Hallelujah. I'm listening. Sorry. And the governor is very close to me, or he's screaming. Listen. Hallelujah. You are supposed to work for purpose, not money. If you find your purpose, money will find you. If you're not in your purpose, you haven't found your purpose, you're still working for money. Money is your boss. Jesus tried to explain this one time with a simple example. He said, "Why do you worry?" In other words, "Why are you pursuing what you will eat, what you will drink, trying to get stuff, getting money to buy food, clothes, and stuff?" He said, "What are you doing then?" He says, "Look at the birds." Now, the birds are important. He says, "Look, look at the birds." He said, "They don't worry, they don't toil, they don't plant, they don't reap." He said, "Our Father takes care of them." What is the only thing a bird does? Be a bird. Be a bird. Get it? You get it after I'm gone tonight? He said, "Look, look at the bird." He said, "Be like the birds. Find what you do." What do birds do? Birds are birds. So they bird. Whatever birds do, that's what birds do. Birds don't try to be horses. You never see a bird trying to be a cow. You never see a bird trying to lay eggs or nothing, you know, like, I mean, sorry, like like have children like like cows and things, calves. Calves. You all know what I'm talking about. You know, a bird will never try to be a crocodile. But the bird never tries. The human is the only creature that tries to be something they are not. Purpose attracts the prosperity for its fulfillment. I repeat: Purpose attracts the prosperity for its own fulfillment. Why? Because God will always finance His own products, His own assignments, His own purpose. That's why Jesus is saying here, "You don't work for money." He put the money to work. It says, "The one with the two talents gained two more." The man who had received the one talent went off. Everybody say, "went off." Hey, people, people, "going off." Going off. Do you know what I believe "going off" implies? They look busy, but ain't nothing happening. He went off as if he's doing something. Guess what he did? He went to bury the thing. Some people, some people are taking all their wealth and burying it in some work that ain't profiting them. They look busy. So where you going? "I'm going off to work. It's going to be a rough day today." Where you going? "I'm going off to work." People can go off and be busy and never get their mortgage paid, always robbing Peter to pay Junior, because they don't understand the power of money. He went off. He dug a hole. Everybody dug a hole. How many of you know what a hole is in finances? No? Just lift your hand if you know what the hole is. Come on, all of you. Everyone lift your hand. Stop lying. A hole is where every time you put it in, it's gone. Every time you put it in, it's gone. Is it like a... you ever put in a pocket with a hole? Yeah. Some of y'all know your payday is already paid. Gone. That's called a hole. They go off every day, and in the month, a hole goes off. A hole goes off. A hole. God's like saying, "That's a rough way for you to live. You're my kid. What's wrong here? My children have not locked into Kingdom culture." Money does not exist. Did you know that? I learned that years ago from a very wealthy man. I was free from money that day. He says, "Money is an idea. It's in your head. It's an idea." There's a book called *Think and Grow Rich*. Do you know what your book says? "Work and Grow Rich." The book says, "Think and Grow Rich." It's a multi-million dollar seller. When I read that book, I said, "This book is saying exactly what the Bible's been saying." That book stole all the Bible principles, and it's selling millions. Still, it's a bestselling book. And it doesn't say, "Work and Grow Rich." We keep saying, "If we work, we grow rich." He said, "No, no. You're supposed to work for purpose. If your thinking is correct, wealth is attracted." You know, it's amazing that Solomon never asked God for money. Now, now, let's be honest. If God showed up in your room tonight, 2:15, and said, "Hey, anything you want." Now, you know, you'd tell God right away, "Listen, I got my dump truck somewhere. Fill that with a couple thousand million dollars for me. Dump it right here in my yard." You know, that's where we go for money. Money is a master. And Solomon refused to ask for wealth because wealth is supposed to be a byproduct of Kingdom thinking. Solomon asked for mental things: "Give me wisdom," he says, "knowledge, understanding." That's it. Once I got them down pat in my mind, then they will make money for me. And Solomon became the wealthiest man in history. He became wealthier than his father, David. I never asked for money. And the first thing we asked for was money. I asked my daughter the other day. I said, "What do you want for Christmas?" "Money." I said, "You answer me too quickly." I tell her, "Tell you what I can do. I'm going to buy you some books. I want you to read. That's how your daddy became what he is today." It wasn't money that made me what I am, because money is a lousy god. Money will last in your life until you pay for something. It's gone. So if you have sense, you'll do what Solomon said. Proverbs 4:7, one of my favorite verses. He said, "In all, if it costs you all you have, get understanding." Proverbs 4:7. If it costs you, he said, "If you're going to spend money, say, 'Buy understanding with it.'" No, we want to go buy a nice car, or here, we want to buy clothing, we want to go to Miami. And God is saying, "No, that's why you're broke." Now, tell your neighbor, "I'm coming out of the hole." Say it like you mean it, man. Say it loud so it becomes a spiritual force. "I'm coming out of the hole." Say it. "I'm coming out of the hole." Praise God. Can you see yourself coming out? If you could give Him a big hand, you can see yourself coming up. You're coming out of the [Applause] hole. You know, tithing and giving doesn't necessarily get you out of the hole. You have to add to your faith, works, and then it says, "add to your works, understanding." You have to know how to think, even when you give it. That's why I spent so much time in this introduction. My thinking changed years ago, and that thinking was: He owns everything, and everything in the Kingdom is His property, and He gives it to me for His purposes. So my thinking is different.
Let me give you another verse. Verse 19. Read aloud with me, please. Everybody read: "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them." Everybody say, "accounts." Accounts. That means underline the word. God says, "Look, I gave you the planet. I told you what's in the planet: water, precious stone, resin, oil, fruit, fish, bird." In other words, in Genesis, He says, "I gave you guys all this wealth. There is earth around your house, and you still buying tomatoes." If anybody today wants a fresh head of cabbage, I'll give you one from my yard right now. I'm serious. Okay? So you want a fresh, fresh head of cabbage? You let me know. I'll pick one from my yard and give it to you. Anybody here want broccoli? Broccoli costs $7, $8 for a little stick. If you ask me for one, I could pick one right now from my yard and give it to you. Now, you see, you think so wrong. All you want is the broccoli and the cabbage. You missed my point. I am saving money because I turned my yard into productivity. And he who has more. You're asking God for money to buy groceries. God says, "This grocery is behind your house. You are abusing, ignoring the dirt I gave you."
Now, you notice before I close tonight, I'm going to use two words over and over again. The two words are put together because we keep thinking of money as money. No, it's resources. God's concern is about resources. Everything is resources. After a long time, long time implies He gave it out on the planet and God came back. Long time to see how he's doing it. It's being said 7,000 years now, and God is still trying to figure out, "What are y'all doing to that planet?"
"The man who had received the five talents bought the other five. Bought the other five." So he had 10, right? He said, "Master, look, you entrusted me." Everybody say, "entrusted." Underline it, please. Entrusted. God gives you money and resources as a trust. Do you consume it all on yourself? "You entrusted me." That means, by the way, the word "entrusted" means this guy understood it was in His property, even though it was given to him, he refused to own it. He says, "You entrusted to entrust me is I left this with you, and that's still mine." If you are going to take the right attitude in the culture of Heaven over resources and materialism and money, you're going to have to be converted with my first statement on my slide: He owns everything, all the time. Can I hear an amen? Amen. That man was a smart man. Okay. If I left my car with you and I went away for three months, is that your car? That ain't never your car. So it's called trust. Entrust. To entrust means it's never yours. Now I come back, and my cars are wrecked, mashed up, lights broken, windows broken, engine smoking, nothing's working. Do you know how I feel about you? If you read the last verse of this story, it says Jesus said this with he says, "Cast that worthless, worthless servant out into outer darkness." Read that right there. In other words, "I don't even want to see him. What? You messed my car up? My, my, I gave you my car to use, and you destroyed it." You know what I discovered? Something. We use the concept of tithing to claim ownership to the 90%. Oh, that's heavy. But I didn't give God His. God, no, no, no, no. What you left is mine too. See, in other words, the whole idea. But I didn't pay my tithe. This is mine. God said, "That ain't yours either. I might come back for another 20% to give somebody." So now God has a fight to get what was His already. And then you try to hold on to it. So He takes the whole thing with some sickness and disease just to remind you that none of it is yours. Let me put it this way: When you give God a tithe, look at me. This is deep. The pressure just starts. Why? He got His. Now He's watching you to see how you manage His 90%. That's pressure. So there's more pressure after you tithe. Do you understand that? Yeah. So God wants to know, "Okay, that $1,000 you got for bonus at Christmas, I want you to go back and I'll count what you did with it. Then write down everything what you did with it." You'll be amazed how you abused that. And then He says, "Say, 'Come to pray again for another $10,000.'" Lord, what I can do with you? God says, "What I can do with you?" So He takes you back to 100. He says, "Start again. Let me watch you." You don't get away from God. In the Kingdom, management is the highest work. It's the highest work.
"He gained five more." Verse 21: "His master replied, watch this, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" Well done. What? Good. Everybody say, "good." Underline that, please. Good. In other words, if you don't increase what He gave you, multiply it, and make it beneficial to bless more people with it, you are no good. Let me tell you something, nothing could be better than God calling you good. We keep saying God is good, but how are we getting Him to call *you* good? And Christ is giving us the secret to position ourselves for God to call us good. And He ties it to money. The scarcest thing in most people's lives is money. Am I right? I say, am I right? You got plenty fat on your body, at least those of you who be on a fast. God has a little bit. You got plenty things, air to breathe, you got plenty oxygen. But that money, boy, that thing. He's got plenty friends, eh? But all of them broke. In other words, this, this thing, this money thing is just like it's like. But Solomon says, "If you hoard it, it takes wings." It actually leaves you. It runs from you. The Bible says money runs from people, and that's the truth. I've watched it. It used to run from me. Now it keeps running at me. Why? Because it can go through me. This guy, he says, "You are good." What's the second word? Faithful. Everybody say, "faithful." Say it again. Faithful. That's an important word. Underline it. Two things God observed about people who are good money managers: they are good people, and they are faithful people. Faithful to what? Let me put it this way: You can only be faithful if you are aware that you're doing something for someone else. Faithfulness is a concept of a steward. Faithfulness implies you are accountable to someone. In the name of Jesus, He says, "You've been faithful." Now, watch the result: "Over $10, I will now give you charge of $10,000." Work does not attract money. Management does. Work does not attract money. Management does. Whether you attract more material resources to use for God's work on Earth is determined by how well you manage what He gave you the first time. He actually says, "Come and share your Master's joy." Wow. In other words, God begins to trust you so much, He lets you into His private business.
Okay, let's close this. 24: "Then the man who had received the one talent, he came and said, 'Master, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.'" By the way, this statement is a very important statement. Now, this Jesus speaking. Jesus made this sentence. He made the sentence for the story. Look at me, please. I beg you. Oh, God. He made up the sentence, so the sentence must be important. He said, "The guy's mentality." He's explaining what the guy is thinking. In other words, this man never got his money to grow or multiply, not because the money couldn't. His mentality stopped the money from growing. Jesus said, "He said in his mind, this guy said to himself, 'I know you.'" That's what the saying means. The man was jealous. He was angry at a wealthy man. And some of you feel a way about me right now since I told you I was debt-free. "Who does he think he is?" See, that's why you ain't never going to get it. Listen, you can never get help from someone you're jealous of. Write that down, please. If you are jealous, they can't help you. I'm telling you, if you see somebody blessed, go find out how they did that. If you are angry and hate somebody, you cannot receive from them. You can never receive from someone you don't respect. This man did not respect the master. He was suspicious of the master. He was jealous of his wealth. It's a matter of fact, it's even worse. He felt that the master got his money by using him. Woo. That's a blasphemy. So why should I give him more? That's not Kingdom culture.
Verse 25: "Therefore I was afraid." Fear and money don't go together. "I was afraid." I think I have a good question. You know, the question is, what was he afraid of? You know, it doesn't really say. He's afraid of. Look, so the fear had to be related to the statement before that, because I'm suspicious of you and don't like you, and you think you're better than me and got everything, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. "I was afraid to get involved in it." His mentality stopped his multiplication. Money is an idea. See here. "Take your money back." He says. "His master replied, 'You wicked and lazy.'" Everybody say, "wicked." Underline that. Is we almost think of wicked people as those who are doing witchcraft and turning salt down on people and all kind of things? He said, "Look, there are wicked people sitting right here in this building." A wicked person is somebody who mismanages money. We think of a witch as being wicked. Well, if that's true, you're sitting next to one. Don't know where the paycheck gone, buying things they can't afford, investing in things they can't afford, buying stuff trying to compete with everybody else. That means spending money on shoes and watching things because it's a fad. Hey, be delivered. If you buy stuff to be accepted by the world, you are not in the Kingdom, because remember, we are in the world but not of the world. So tonight, in Jesus' name, will you be delivered from fashion? That stuff will make you poor. I heard Donald Trump this week. Y'all saw that program he was on? Tyra Banks or whatever her name is, Tyra or something. And I, and I just, you know, yesterday when I was getting ready to go down to the convention, and the TV was on, and he, you know, I wanted to see because she said he was coming on. I wanted to see what he'd say. This guy is a multi-billionaire. So she asked me some interesting question. She said, "Do you carry doggy bags home from restaurants?" He says, "Absolutely, yes." She said, "Of course, I do." She said, "Ask a question." She said, "Uh, uh, do you pay for lunch every time? Like, if someone takes you out, do you volunteer to pay for it?" He said, "No." He said, "People just like to believe that that's a sign of..." She said, "You're tight." He says, "Yes." He said, "If you don't manage money, money will destroy you." I went to visit the temple down there, the temple down there behind the gate, John Temple, the multi-billionaire owner. I went to visit him one day. He invited me to his house. I went to his house behind the gate, life key. I'll never forget this man. I walked in there, and I fell out on the whole short pants with holes in it. Straight holes in it. And I said, "This is the multi-billionaire?" And he even didn't notice me looking underneath. He just talking, talking, talk, talk, talk. And I said, "Here I am in my nice suit. I come to impress him." He had on tennis shoes with holes in it. Why? They're comfortable. His feet, he liked them. He didn't dress up for me. From that day forward, I was delivered. I said, "That's it. Poor people dress up. Rich people, they wear normal clothes that fit." That's amazing. Is it? Yeah. Set me free. Lazy and wicked. Lazy and wicked. By the way, before I close, I'm going to define laziness for you. It's a word that you probably didn't think about, because there's something that this guy didn't do that Jesus defined as lazy. He defined it. He says, "I have not sown." You know that? He said, "Then why didn't you put my money in the bank and at least get some interest?" In other words, even if you wasn't going to get the money to work for me, at least let the bank work the money for me. I want my money to work. "Take the money from this man, this man, and give it to the guy who has the most." He says, "That makes sense." That makes good sense to me. Whoever makes the most money for me, I can give him more money to make more money. If I could trust you with more, I'll give you more. And you proved I could trust you with more, then I'll give you even more. The God gives you $100, and you eat the tithe because this boy can't trust that one. Next week, may go find somebody else who I could get the money through, because the work of God has got to go on. And that person holding up my money where God can't go on. The church is a wealthy place if everybody paid their tithe. Based Ministries, we pay all of the bills of the ministry off. I talk about in one year off. They have done studies in every church in America, and the same thing is in the Caribbean, and only 20% of the people in the church pay tithes. 20%. That means 80% of the people sitting in this room potentially don't pay tithes. Only it's small. 20% and they're the ones who carry 80%. They carry the cost of the lights and the thing and the upgrading and the whole place and keeping air conditioning on. 20% do that. The rest just come. They kind of just loaf and just enjoy the whole thing and never give back to God. So that could mean that only 20% in the church really prosper. Can He trust you with management? You know, uh, brother, uh, my trumpet player, where he is, Odin Moss. Odin, where are you? Get to slip out. Odin Moss. Say his mother called me one day. She said, "Pastor, M wants you to come by my house." He said, "Mar, you okay?" She said, "I'm okay, M." She said, "Okay, Miss M." Okay. So I said, "Okay, I'll stop by." And I stopped by, and she gave me two oranges. She said, "I had, I, I want this. I give this to you. He was my pastor." I said, "Thank you very much." And I'm leaving the door. I said, "You called me for two oranges?" She said, "Yeah." She says, "Somebody gave me 20 oranges. That's my tithe." Clap. See, you only think of tithe as money. She was conscious that two of them were not hers. She never wants. She'll never want for anything. Her thinking is right. Do you think the tithe first, or you got to wait till you come to church to be reminded by the pastor? "Everyone who has will be given more, and he who has abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken." This is so negative, isn't it? That's so depressing. He said, "If you don't manage your money well, I'll take the little you got and give it to someone like Pastor Miles. He'll have abundance, and you'll even be worse off than before you get anything." Because management attracts prosperity.
All right, let me give you some things to write down. Just write this down real quick. I call this the Kingdom Purpose for Money and Resources. Number one: Resources and money is a trust. He gives it to see if He can trust you. Number two: Resources and money is a gift. That means it ain't yours. It's given to you. You think you work for money? You don't work for money. Remember, you work for purpose. Money is a gift. He gave them the talent. Number three: The quantity of resources you receive is determined by your ability. So you should never pray beyond your ability to manage. You'll never get that prayer answered. Let your ability determine the size of your prayer. Which means that the more you become good at managing resources, the bigger you can request from God. That's why every session in this particular series, you must come to. I laid it out because I want you to come out of the hole, and you've got to learn how to budget, how to invest, how to manage. What if you learn the skills, you start attracting more? I put it to you. Number four: Resources determine your own creativity. Now, this is very important. Demand rather your own creativity. This is the key here about laziness. Okay, remember this. I got to work in my hands again. This is my gift. It's my money, my talent, whatever it is, my material things. Okay. I give this to my servant, my son. I said, "I'll be back in two years, and I want you to improve that," and I leave. Watch this. "Stand your place." That's all I said to him. Oh, that's deep. And I left. Which means I must know that he has the capability, the creativity, the dream, the skill to do what I left him to do. And I'm gone. Let me tell you something, though. Let me put it another way. Oh, please hear me. In the Kingdom of God, poverty is a lack of creativity. God gave Adam a tree, but never gave him a table. Now God says, "You want to sit down? Find a way to get a chair out of that tree. I ain't going to get it for you." God has never made a table in history. God has never made a car. And that's why Mr. Ford is a multi-billionaire and you're broke. Because Mr. Ford went to the mountain, got the iron ore, and made it into a car. No car came out of a mountain driving. You know, here I am. Somebody had to think. And November, a lady came to our conference. Some of you all saw her. She gave me a check for $10,000. Remember that lady? She gave me a check. She said, "This is the fruit from the seed you planted, Dr. Monroe." She gave me a check for $10,000. She said, "I read your book on potential." That's why I tell you, get that book on potential. She said, "I read that book." She said, "Every..." She says, "I..." What was she doing? What she used to do? She's like a [Music] maid. She's the seller from the back of her car. Yeah, seller from the back. She said, "When I read that book, everything changed. My mind changed." She said, "Everybody say, 'mind.'" See, money is, it's an idea. She built a business from a book and hired over 200 people and came back to the Bahamas, never knew, and gave me $10,000. But said, "This is just a tithe." Yeah. Your back trunk is good business, but you don't use it. The guy with the five, he didn't tell the guy how to make it 10. The guy with the two, the master didn't tell him how to make it four. Which means that the five and the two guy were creative. So laziness is defined as lack of creativity, and wickedness is defined as not using your brain. You're wicked. My mother used to say something. Boy, mothers, something else. Say, "Think." They say, "Never leave you." Huh? She still haunts me. My mother said, "Get out of bed now." She says, "If you lay there, grass will grow in your belly." Now, I used to think that was funny. She's right. She was telling me something deep. If you don't develop, instead of becoming a garden, you'll become bush. She was telling me, "Control the growth of your life. Don't let things just happen in life. Get up and use your brain." Resources demand your own creativity. That's the word "own" there. Own means he didn't tell him anything. He left. You need to take money and just sit down and say, "Okay, God, give me some revelation. Let me use the brain, the insight, the wisdom, the talent you gave me to multiply this." Do you know what we think money is for? Spending. Money is for creativity. You get $10. Look at it for a while. Just look at it. This ain't $10. This is a... What's the first one? A trust. What else? A gift. And what is it? This determines whether I get more. I want you to use this list, okay? This list for the whole year. Thank you. Next. Resources and money must work for us, not us for it. Number six: Resources and money is not for hoarding or possessing, but for investment. Now, listen, it's important to save money. Saving is not hoarding. You should save for a purpose, not save so no one else can get it. Jesus talked about this in Matthew chapter 6. In the Kingdom culture, He says, "Do not lay up for yourselves." He didn't say don't lay up. Management includes saving. He said, "But it's not saving for you, for yourself." So we have an account in our family, and that account, we put money in. Account. We save in an account, and that account is for giving, so we can give effectively. Boy, do you think that account is always full? God makes your it full because our purpose for it attracts Kingdom. Do you have a giving account in your life? Get one. Take $10. Go to the bank. Say, "I want to open a giving account." Just, just, just try it for 2007. Says, "Go to the bank this month and say, 'Look, he has $20. Open an account.'" And I'm going to call it my giving account. All of a sudden, you start kicking into Kingdom culture. Now God has got to give you something to give. Now, the trick is, when the money comes, hey boy, say, "He's watching your management." Yeah, he's watching your management. Number six. Number seven, rather: We will give an account of what we did with resources and money. I'm telling you, the stuff that some of you have done with money, God's going to call an account. You, you're going to pay for that. What have you done with God's resources? His resources? Nothing. You see this suit I have on? He gave me the suit, so I have to use it to stand before you and serve His purposes. There are people home tonight who should be here. You know, they told God, "I had underwear." But that same person would go to a club or a party. God is saying, "You know something? All the clothes in the closet is mine, and you ain't using it for my purpose." Write this down. Number eight: Resource money must be multiplied. He told this guy, "You didn't even get interest on it." When God gives you something, think about how to multiply this. Of course, the first way to multiply anything God gives you is to put it in His system. That's it.
The first thing Bible said, "Lay up for yourselves not treasures on Earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven." How do you get treasure in Heaven? It doesn't mean you send money up to a place. Heaven is on Earth. Remember the colony? He says, "Put, put it in my kingdom activities." Heaven is here in the colony. Get your money in the hands of the governor. He says, "My work and moth and dust were not corrupted, and thieves cannot steal what ain't yours." What a way to go.
Number nine, resources and money test our goodness. You want to be good? God said, "Look, you know fasting and praying ain't enough. That, that, that doesn't mean you're good, that means you're consecrated. I want to see if you're good. You could be fasting and praying and still mismanaging money and not paying your ties and not giving and and not organizing your spending and not saving properly and not B managing your stuff." God said, "Look, all the tongue you talking, I can't still can't trust you with nothing."
Ties don't attract money, management does. Test for goodness, resources and money is the measure of your faithfulness. Remember, good and faithful. If you're faithful to God, God will check it by how you manage money and resources. You faithful coming to church, but you ain't never paying your tages? God's confused. You are a faithful loser, a faithful mismanagement. You, you know car say, you know something, something, this ain't working. You, you know, always remember this now. God watches money. Say it. God watches. Say it again. God watches money. Say it again. God. Every time I get money, I become nervous. I really do. I'm thinking, "Uhoh, oh boy, I got somebody else's things and I got to give an account for for it."
Next, resources and money determine our promotion and influence. He said, "Because, because you've been faithful over little, because in other words, I am not going to promote you because you pray and you're nice. I'm promoting because you was faithful over a little bit of material resources. I will make you ruler." That means influence over much more. That means possessions, friends. The power of money is the key to your whole life because it's the power that God uses to measure everything. That's why we must manage it. We must learn to budget it. We must learn to give it. We must learn to tithe it. We must learn to spread it around. And when He speaks to us, even if He tells us give our last $20, $30 a week, you say, "God, this hurting me, but anyhow, it ain't mine." And then you give it. "Oh God, I trust you with $5,000." Imagine God fighting to get $25 bucks from you in a whole church service for for two hours. God, like, "This is crazy. First of all, it's mine. Secondly, the work that she went to that she think gave it to her, the energy is mine. And then the dress she got on to hold it back from me with the place that she bought with the cow's mine." This don't make no sense. God just forget this and He walks off. Then suddenly, there's a lump in your breast because He takes His hands off and they say, "Need surgery for $5,000." All He wanted was $25.
The Bible says, "The blessings of the Lord maketh rich, and He adds no sickness, no sorrow, no infections to it." He wants you wealthy, but remember, they ain't yours. That's all in a kingdom. The wealth is what common, it's a common wealth. So He moves it around whenever you're ready to move it. You got to give it up, move it around. Write this down. Resources and money must not return as given. You should never give God back what He gave you. Give Him more. "I give you two, give me four. I give you five, give me 10. I want to see increase. I want to see more."
This is the power of money. I thought I would write this down for attitude. You want to jum this down quickly? Attitude can change the perception of money. Remember the guy with the one? His attitude made the money look evil. He says, "Look, you did not, you know, you, you go get money that you didn't work for." D, in other words, he had jealousy, coing, coveting. He hated the rich. Fell and he felt like he was competing for scarce resources. "You got it, boss, and I ain't got it." In the in the kingdom of God, it ain't "You got it and I ain't got it." It belong, everything belongs to the government. But he was thinking, "If you got it, I ain't got it." And if that thinking is is prevailing in your mind, you start fighting for it because now you begin to think of this word that God hates. It's the word scarcity.
Next, scarcity mentality restricts effective management. This guy says, "Because I know that you are tight on your money, I did not invest it." He says, "Scarcity mentality makes you not invest." He said, "Boy, Pastor M, I got my last $10 and I need gas in my car." And Holy Ghost says, "Give it." You said, "Going, boy, this thing scarce." So the scarcity holds you back from giving God back what His already. All of you, all know all the stories in the Bible. I, the story I love the the best of scar is this woman. You know who had only two meals left and she said, "Me and my son going to eat this, be going to die." And then God sends a fat prophet and asks for the first meal. Now that's scarcity. E, she had to take the spirit of scarcity and drive it out of the house, and she gave him the last meal. You know God was just waiting for that to start the meal barrel growing, and the meal barrel start growing. This is so critical. Scarcity mentality restricts effective management. It stops you from giving. So the minute you think, "This is, this is all I, this is all I, this is my last," that that whole mentality is what robs you from investing in God's economy.
I found out something very interesting. Brother, listen to me. I found out something interesting. I fig something about God. Okay, let secret. Guess what? God loves to to bring you down to your last just to test ownership. Let me say it again. God loves to bring you to your last to test ownership. That's all. You got plenty in them, but He will reduce it to the last just for a moment, and then He asks for it, just to test what ownership. To test what? See if sometime God just want to, you know, He just want to check you. He's going to check you. He's going to check you. You know, here you are praising the Lord, Hallelujah. God said, "Let me check her this week." And He bring it down right down the end. You know, car on E, just make it in the car churchyard, bomb, cut it off. God said, "Okay, now that last $10 bucks you got, put that an offering." And you don't know that He got somebody in church with $100 bucks that's yours and they looking for you. But He said, "I can't release $100 until you at least a $10." And you sitting there going, "Boy, scarce." And He says, "You know something, I just want to test where you think you own that $10." And you hear the spirit talk to you. Spirit say, "Okay, write the whole check." And you going, "God, sound like you." Uh, "Let me test this. If a person with a blue shirt walk in with a pink tie, then I'll give you the $100 bucks." Ain't nobody walking. That was that was the devil. That was the devil. There that was the devil. God said, "No, don't play games with me." But we do it. Yeah. It's amazing.
Oh, by the way, this last one here. Mismanagement of resources and money is a result of laziness and wickedness. And so He says, "You are, you will always lose what you mismanage." He said, "Take it from me. Take it from me." Say it. "I will always lose what I mismanage." Say it again. "I will always lose what I mismanage." "I will always lose I what I mismanage." Say it one more time. "I will always lose what I mismanage." Say it again. "I will always lose what I mismanage." No s. Say it again. "I will always lose what I mismanage." I will what always lose what I what miss. That includes your marriage. That's why I want you to say it thousand times. That includes your weight. You lose control of your body. You mismanage your job, they fire you. Keep going to go, just keep going, keep going to work late, just keep going to work late. You lose your job. Whatever you mismanage, you lose. It's a principle of God.
Scripture. I'm me give you the scripture. Write this down, please. Money is has three purposes. One is a trust. Two, it's a test. And three, it's a trial. God gives you money to test you, to see if He can trust you, and then to try you. It's a trial. And if you pass, then you get more. If you fail, He takes what you have from you. Management of material resources determines your ability to manage spiritual resources. Manage material resources. God will give you a lot of spiritual resources. Young people, young men, women, listen to me, please. I'm giving you my secret to my success in my financial life. If you manage material things, God will give you great spiritual influence. Some of you all are praying for God to give you ministry. God say, "Look, you owe too many people and you running from your creditors and you hiding from people in church who you owe." He said, "How can you have a spiritual ministry when you can't even handle the physical ministry?" The power of money. Money is so powerful, it can prevent God from giving you spiritual influence. Now read it loud with me. Read it. Read it. Read it. Go. "Management of material resources determines your ability to manage spiritual resources." You want a lot of anointing? Fix your money life. I know my wife. I don't know if someday she is, she could teach you all about living with a man like Miles. I'm serious. Just a teaching on that. You know, it's amazing. I manage most of my own accounts for my house, my house, and all my other assets and investments that I have, and the portfolio is growing all the time. And sometime it takes me two days just sitting at home in my office all night, just making sure that everything is paid, all my obligations are paid, go through all my books, balance my bank accounts, go through all my files. I do all this work so God keeps trusting me more. Some of you write checks, don't even know what you wrote. I mean, if your check Bonks, you ain't getting no spiritual anointing. There are two books that Reveal Your Life: your Bible and your checkbook. Two books. And I can read either one and see which one tell me your life story. Matter of fact, if you give me a checkbook, I can tell you your future and your life because your checkbook reveals your values, which you value. I pick up people's checkbooks, you know, CL, some that Tides nowhere, Walmart, birdin, JC Penny, McDonald's, no Tides. So that tells me your life. Wherever your heart is, come on, that's where your treasure goes. So I can tell where your heart is by reading your checkbook. Read again. "Management" out loud. "Management of material resources determines your ability to manage spiritual resources." In other words, God will trust you with spiritual things after He has proven you can be trusted with material management. Therefore, God will only give you what He can trust you with. When you leave here in a few moments, take that statement with you and and get a copy of this CD and listen to this for the rest of the year. And every week, listen to it once, just to make sure. He can test you, try you, and trust you. He will only give you what He can trust you with. This the verse I want you to to read. Read Jesus speaking now. Luke 16:11. Read. "So if you have have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, ohoh, who will give you property of your own?" That's a statement made by Jesus. It's all clear. True riches, the real stuff, spirit, spiritual wealth. He says, "I won't give that to you if I can't trust you with $100." Is money powerful? Are we, are we okay? Now, we we be Prov it, right? That's why from this day forward, on this day, this the first week in February, make sure that you mark this day and ask God tonight when we pray, "Oh God, deliver me from mismanagement." And no one gets away. I promise. If you don't, if you don't don't manage, you lose. You will lose. And I don't want no one here to lose. And in Jesus name, you will not lose anything. In Jesus name, you shall be blessed by God because you become great managers. Can I hear an amen? Lift your hands and me prophesy to you. I prophesy that you will be delivered from poverty and from lack and from scarcity. I prophesy that you will no longer be begging and scrapping and scraping, but I speak the word of God that you shall tighten up, organize, put priorities in place. You shall become a manager of God's resources, and the Lord shall be proud of you and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and He shall give you rulership over much more. For this is the word of God to those who are in the citizenship in Jesus name. Give Him a big praise. Hallelujah. Give Him a praise. Hallelujah. Give Him a praise. Hallelujah. Give Him a praise. Hallelujah. Now shout it loud. Read it. "Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul." Tell your neighbor that one more time. Just talk to him out loud. Tell them, "My beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers." Until your neighbor, it shall done. Give God to praise. Amen. I love God. Hallelujah.
Okay, let's repent. What repent means, change the way you've been thinking. Let's repent. Repent. Bow your heads and have a little conversation with the governor. You know where He hit you tonight. You know exactly where He hit you tonight. Don't refuse the hit. Tell Him thanks because that hit could save your future. He doesn't rebuke to embarrass, He rebukes to improve. Father, forgive us for abusing Your resources, our bodies, our minds, our talents, our gifts. They've abused our friendships, our opportunities. Forgive us for abusing our monies that You have blessed us with as a gift, our jobs. Forgive us, Lord, for abusing the time on the job. Forgive us, Lord, for trying to get home rather than get ahead. Forgive us, Lord, for avoiding opportunities to give to bless somebody. Lord, forgive us for eating all the oranges today. We, we just ask You to have mercy upon us. Don't judge us according to our work, oh God. Judge us according to Your loving kindness. We promise that we are going to do better. And the little that we have been given by You, Lord, we're going to multiply this by using it properly for Your kingdom. Have mercy upon us, oh Lord, according to Your loving kindness. Have mercy upon us, oh Lord. We give You praise. Lord, I pray for the rest of this series that every single session would be filled with Your governor's anointing, and we'll be changed from glory to glory to glory. Anoint every one of our speakers and teachers, Lord, that they would hear word direct from heaven and feed our needs so we can line up with You, Lord. Thank You for this great, wonderful beginning. We begin again, Lord. We also prom that this month we shall manage the resources You give us. It's going to be, Lord, Your Kingdom month. We are going to do it right. We give You praise. Give us the courage to act where we need to act, to organize, and even to pull back on some things that we need to pull back on that we have been stressed by, Lord. Give us the courage to say no to things that are just fleeting fashion. Oh, let Your Colony live, God. Let Your Colony live. Let Your Colony live. We give You praise. Thank you once again for listening to this message. As we hope that it has been a blessing to you, our goal is to show you new paths and opportunities so that you can discover your purpose. It is your love, support, and partnership that makes Monroe Global possible. Please visit us online at www.mrglobal.com for more Prof prod partnership or to join us at one of our live events around the world.