Transcription
I read Jim Baker's book, "When Heaven Invades Your Finances." Thou shalt buy it on Amazon.com. Hey, I'm serious. It is so good. "When Heaven Invades Your Finances." Doesn't that sound good? Like having invading your bank account or your wallet or whatever. Like, you know, piles of cash just in your pocket, making you sit lopsided. I don't know. Just, I, that sounded great to me.
So I read it, and it changed my life. I mean, seriously changed my life. It taught me stewardship, kingdom finance stewardship, and it's just an introduction to all that Jim has to offer. He has an amazing amount of content online: wealthwithgod.com. If you want to write that down, because you're going to want to check it out after this. But he's really here to give. He's here to bring a word, and it's been rocking my world all weekend.
So would you stand up and would you welcome Jim Baker this morning? Really, really loud. I mean, better than that. I mean, really loud. I mean, really loud. We receive you, Jim. We receive you on behalf of Tampa, and we're grateful for you. All right. Thank you, thank you. Oh man, it's going to be good. You guys already have some fun. All right.
I'd like to thank, introduce my bride of 25 years, Mary Baker. [Music] Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist. That was very good, babe. Very good. Like, just like you're on a float. That was good. And I tell you what, it's just fun to be here. This is a great church. If you don't like Caleb and Jamadi, you guys have got some serious problems in your life. Like, they're really easy to love. And so, uh, it's just a great place. A house of presence, a house of hunger. It's just really good to be here. And I see some old friends who used to attend our church when they lived in Ohio. They live in Florida now. So Eric and Alex. So good to see you guys. Alex, I don't even recognize you. You've turned into a man. So, uh, good to see you guys.
All right, let's hit this thing. So I got some, I got some good news for you. There is no prosperity gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom includes prosperity. Let me give you my definition of prosperity: You have no financial debt, you have more than enough finances to fulfill every divine assignment God has for you, and enough left over to help others fulfill theirs. Let me say it again: You have no financial debt. Financial leverage is something different, but we're not going to get technical here. I believe in financial leverage. No financial debt. And you have more than enough finances to fulfill every divine assignment God has for you, and enough left over to help others fulfill theirs.
I want you to think about how cruel God would be to give you gifts, talents, visions, dreams, a calling, and passions, all these things, and then to pull back the provision. Just let you squander. God actually has a plan for you to walk in it. Christians are to seek vision and not provision. As Christians, we don't chase dollars. Here's the good news of the kingdom: wealth is attracted. It's not pursued. The kingdom attracts what the world pursues. I don't know if you can see. I got this invisible magnet. Can you see the invisible magnet? Yeah. And so it's U-shaped. It's red with the silver tips. When a magnet is pointed away from you, what it attracts. When it's pointed towards you, it repels. That's kingdom finances. When the priority of your finances is on God, on other people, wealth is attracted in your life. When it's all about you, Proverbs says money grows wings and flies away. Can I get a witness? I've had it there. It goes. What happened? Yeah. It's horrible, right?
Prosperity does not mean that every Christian is going to be a zillionaire. I don't care what the prophets are telling you. Yeah. And I, I wish it did work like money just inflating your wallet. I mean, I know Caleb was joking about that. But God said He blessed the work of your hand, not your butt on the couch. A lot of Christians are waiting for some lightning strike event, or what I call mailbox money. They're going to go out to the mailbox and all of a sudden there's just, oh my gosh, everything is different. The Bible does not teach that. It says wealth quickly gained becomes a curse. So if you're waiting for some lotto type of mentality, then you're not going to be in the kingdom. God wants you to have the, He's, He's strengthening your weight-bearing muscle so you can carry the weight of blessing in your assignment without it crushing you. He's more concerned about who you become than the size of your bank account. Money's just a tool, but we'll get to that in just a second.
So it doesn't mean that every Christian's going to be a zillionaire. But what it means is God wants you to have finances. I know I'm talking really fast. I got to settle down here. I have a course that's literally like 50 hours that goes from everything from beginning wealth building to six forms of leverage, tax advantages, risk management, all that type of stuff. So calm it down. I got like 40 minutes left. All right, here we go. So if you think I'm going into tongues, I'm just talking fast. Just pray for the interpretation.
Okay, here's what I believe God wants. God wants you to have finances in proportion to your assignment. And so if you are, if you're a farmer in Uganda, your assignment's going to look different than the person who's called to reach Hollywood elite. Which one's better? Neither one's better. You're going to stand before God and give an account for how faithful you were with your assignment. Last week, I got up to preach at our church, and I just had this phrase going through my head. I don't remember who said it, but one day this life will pass. Only the things done for Christ will last. It may not matter much what you're doing for God right, right now, but there will be a day where it's the only thing that matters. And you stand before Him. You're not going to think about, boy, I wish I had a bigger this or more that. You're going to think, God, only the only things that counted were the things I did for You. He said that actually. There, you know, there's no judgment for the believer. There's only a judgment for a reward. And He says, but there's going to be, it's going to be judged with fire. And, uh, the things that were wood, hay, stubble, things done in our own strength or for our own glory, they're going to burn up.
Let's close in prayer on that downer. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for talking about death, Jim. We really appreciate that. So abundance. If you're Joseph in prison, isn't the finest chariot, it wasn't the best palace on the hill, but it was the favor, it was the emotional health, the well-being, the, uh, to get him to actually just thrive in whatever environment God put him in. All right. I'm getting apart from those here.
Some of you are cursing your destiny by cursing the darkness. The reason you're attracted to darkness is you were born to shine. Stop complaining about your current work environment. The best way to get promoted out of your current work environment is to learn the lessons and thrive in that current environment. If you can't bring kingdom where you are, you're not going to bring kingdom in some future fantasy scenario when you get a different job. If you want to complain about your job, read the book of Daniel. He was made a eunuch. Do I need to draw a diagram? He was made a eunuch by the king. Mommy, what's a eunuch? Ask your father. Made a eunuch by the king. He was, he was forced. And I mean, this king was so wicked that if you didn't worship him, uh, the statue that he made, you were thrown into a fiery furnace. This was the environment that Daniel not only survived, and he thrived in.
Okay, I want you guys to see God. He's equipped you to bring the kingdom in whatever environment you're in. This is a freebie. Philippians 2 says if you don't complain, you'll shine like stars in the heavens. Just shut up. Just hush. When everyone else is doing this, you zip it and smile and pray. Just change the atmosphere. Don't do well. I'm not going to gossip. You don't need to be the, the spiritual nagging resident, letting everybody know. I don't, oh, you know, someone cusses and, oh, I don't take the Lord's name. No, you don't need to do all that stuff. Okay? Just span. Just love. Just love. I'm sorry, but I'm leaving in an hour. So anyway, hey, here we go. I already got the check. So I mean, oh yeah, we're just going for it. I already deposited it. I mean, it's, yeah, it cleared. Yeah, yeah.
Here's the idea, guys. We stay in our lane. And when God brings us an abundance, it's not just for us, it's for other people. Well, let's not get this religious thing that says every time I get something nice, I gotta give it away. Every time I get something nice, I gotta give away. That's a religious thing. The Bible actually says that the, uh, the good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Which means you're going to have to save something. Means you have to invest something. The only people who were told, "Well done, good and faithful servant," before they died, were the ones who stewarded their money, were able to double it. Parable of the talent, parable of the mind. The minus, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And those who stewarded money were able to steward cities. If you can't steward your finances, you can't be trusted with the ability to shape the culture over cities. I know the vision of this church is not to have on your tombstones, "She paid her bills." Amen. It's a transformed cities and influence nations. And to do that, we're going to need money. Because if you can't afford to go to the store, you can't afford to go into all the world. Okay? We're going to need some money. With this thing here, are we all right? I'm on page 1 of 16. I'm not kidding. Yeah. I think I can. I think I can.
If you think of yourself as a hose, if God can flow money through you, He'll get money to you, and there'll be plenty left over for you. God will take better care of you on accident than you can take care of yourself on purpose. The inside of a hose gets wet. So I've got some good news for you. His name's El Shaddai, not El Chipo. God doesn't mind meeting your needs in style. He doesn't mind you having clothes that you feel pretty or comfortable or handsome. And He doesn't mind you having a house. He doesn't even mind having two houses. And how much money is too much money? Whatever amount replaces trust in God. For some people, they get $100 in their pocket, they forget there's a God in heaven. Other people, $100 million wouldn't even begin to move them because their heart is so anchored in the invisible realm. God's looking for people who love not the world, so you can trust them with the world.
I grew up in the Assemblies of God. It's a great missions organization. We would often hear stories like this: The missionaries that are on the field, they're broke, they've got no food for the family. They would set the table by faith. You know, the knives, the forks, the plates, and they would hold hands and pray in faith that God was going to provide. As they would pray, there'd be a knock at the door. They would open the door. There'd be a family staying there with groceries. God supplied their needs. How many guys have heard a story like that before? Listen, we need stories like that. You know what we need even more than that? We need a group of people like you who can hear God with that level of accuracy and have the means to go and meet the need. And so I wanted to see people who are raised up to be able to knock at the door and meet the needs.
So here's the deal. There's been a lot of bad teaching on finances in the church, in case you haven't noticed. There's also been bad teaching on heaven, but I still plan on going there. So don't let fear of error keep you from the truth. If you're ignoring the truth, you're already in error. Okay, listen, guys. If the enemy can keep you sick and poor, he's going to severely limit your destiny. Why do you think the two doctrines that have been fought against the most in the church have been healing and finances? That's the health and wealth gospel. I told you, there's no health and wealth gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom includes healing and prosperity. Trust me, guys. Yeah. I'm about to go through some of the bad teachings here. But my name is Jim Baker, and I'm teaching on health and wealth. You think I, yeah, irony for those of you who understand the '80s.
So here's the first error. When it comes to teaching on finances, the idea is that poverty is a good thing. It's a spiritual thing. It's good to be poor. You know, it keeps you humble. Going without, lack is a good thing. Listen, guys. If poverty is so spiritual, why does the Bible tell us to give to the poor? Wouldn't that just ruin their spirituality? I'll tell you what, uh, one of the poorest ways to help the poor is to be poor. Has anyone in here besides me ever been broke? Here's what the King James says: it stinketh. There's nothing in the Bible that says poverty is a blessing from the Lord. Adam and Eve up to a park full of food, an abundance that more than two people could ever handle. Okay? Nowhere in the Bible is poverty ever said to be a blessing. But let me just say this: you can be broke and not be poor. Broke is a temporary financial condition. Poverty is the lens that only sees meager possibilities. And when you only see meager possibilities, you're going to severely limit God's ability to invade your life. You get what you believe. You don't get what you need. If you got what you needed, hated to be flourishing.
How are we doing? God's called each one of us to be stewards. You know what that means? You have to have something to steward. [Music] And everything in the kingdom that gets stewarded multiplies and increases. That's how you know if it's kingdom. That's how you know whether or not you're stewarding. If poverty is from God, why did the Lord bless Isaac? You ready for this? So that he became rich and continued to grow richer until he became extremely wealthy. Notice he didn't say the devil did it. Said that God did it. If poverty is so spiritual, why are we told to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? There's no poverty in heaven. There's no 30,000-year mortgages on the mansions. There's no recession.
How are we doing? God has abundance. The enemy has a budget. If money's so bad for us, why doesn't Satan just pour money on Christians? Just watch them backslide into hell. If money's so bad, why did Satan take it away from Job? Why at the end of the book of Job did God reward Job with a double portion? Why is the good man the one who leaves an inheritance to his children's children? Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God." I tell you, the religious person loves the person who seeks first. "And all these things will be added to you." I don't know who this person thinks they are. I'm getting a little nervous. I think they're getting the love of money. Christians are so afraid of the love of money, they haven't read the Bible to realize there's a way to serve God with your money. It's called stewarding. Stewarding is when you're managing or you're controlling and managing the resources that belong to another. The greatest deception the body of Christ is: you think you own something. Well, the tithe belongs to God, but the 90% belongs to me. I'm not sure if you've read the New Covenant. He owns it all. He always has. [Music]
So you get a spiritual chiropractic adjustment when you're about to prone resetting when you realize God's the owner. I'm His money manager. Actually step into financial freedom when you say, "God, it all belongs to You." As Caleb was having you lay stuff down today, and the song was having us do that, that's how you step into freedom. You can literally walk out of here financially free if you'll turn your finances over to God, regardless of the size of your bank account, your net worth, or your debts. The good news of the gospel is that God's name is Redeemer, which means He gets into the pit with you. I don't care if you're in a financial pit because of personal bad decisions, about investments, a divorce, a bad business deal, whatever it might be, the economy, whatever is going on. God gets into that pit with you, and He walks you out in His strength, not your own strength. It's in His name, Redeemer. He's a good Dad. He's better than you or me. If you, though evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more the Father in heaven? I did this last service. We've got any Dragon Ball Z fans out there? He takes it to a Super Saiyan level. I'm talking Ultra Instinct for you Jiren saga fans. All right, there we go.
So the first error is saying that poverty is spiritual. But the echo, the reaction to it is equally as perverted. It says, you know what? Your spirituality is measured by the size of your house, what kind of car you drive. Listen, guys. Material possessions are not a sign of God's blessing unless they are. It's actually places in the Bible: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Solomon, where God, the hand of God's blessing, actually caused them to prosper. Remember the house of Obed-Edom? What happened when the presence of God went into his house? It became so prosperous that King David's like, "Hold on, I'll take that." What happened when the presence of God came into a house and began to flourish and prosper? Boy, if only the presence of God can come into our lives. New covenant. It's not your job, and it's not my job to determine how much is enough for other people. You don't need to be the prosperity police. You don't get to judge another man's harvest when you don't know what kind of seed they planted. Loving God does not mean you have to be broke. And having money doesn't mean you're necessarily godly. Just ask the mafia.
Here's the deal with money. Money is to the natural what the anointing is to the supernatural. It's simply a way to get things done. Guys, we got to get this. We got to get this kingdom view of money. Too many people are getting their self-worth from their net worth. We got to stop that. Here's the kingdom view of money: money is just a tool. If you came over to my house, I'm not going to be like, "Hey, got this beautiful shovel collection. You know, we've, uh, we've been stewarding it well. You know, the kids, you know, the kids bedazzled the handle on this one. You guys remember the Bedazzler? I missed that. You know, you know, this one's got a platinum handle." Like, no one's bragging about their shovel collection because you use it to accomplish work. That's what finances are. Kingdom view of finances is a tool to accomplish kingdom purposes. Part of that is to feed your family.
Let me ask you a trick question here. Don't answer out loud. For some reason, people always ignore this and they always get it wrong. What's more spiritual: to give to the poor, to tithe, or to take your family on vacation? It's all the above. It's all spiritual. Just depends on what the owner's telling you to do. There are actually three tithes in the Old Testament. The first one went to the Levites to support the work of ministry. It was never 10. Guys, even the Old Testament was 23% plus sin offerings, which could get quite expensive depending on your lifestyle. Oh, no, here come the Smiths. Blood, chop, slice. Apology to any Smiths. It's just the only last name that came into my head. I don't know what this was, but it just felt, it felt right. They had to give an offering for every child that, that was born, which could get quite expensive depending on your lifestyle. Okay, so the first, uh, first, um, tithe went to the Levites. The second one was an offering for the poor every three years. So 3%. And the last one was a festival tithe, which they went and partied on. God's like, "I want some people." Tell me more about this festival tithe. I'm ready to start tithing. More concerned about your motive than your amount. So don't get all bunched up about tithing here. He's God the Father, not the Godfather. You're not paying a tax to Guido to not break your kneecap. You're not paying hush money to God to not bring the devourer on your crops. That's the Old Covenant. We've got a New Covenant.
I'm not going on all this. You're turning your dollars into soldiers to accomplish kingdom purposes. Part of it is to take care of your family. Part of it is to do some good in this city. Part of it is to accomplish the gospel. Part of it could actually be to invest in your own business. Your kingdom business is your ministry. When you start a business, you're planting a church because you, because you are the church. [Applause] It's just as spiritual to plan a business in kingdom as it is to raise the dead. If you're going to go, uh, plan a mission in India, what would you do? You would pray for divine favor. You pray for wisdom. You pray for open doors. You'd ask for divine downloads. Um, if you do that, just do the same thing for a business. God, I pray for wisdom. I pray for favor. I pray for divine downloads. I pray for a network. I pray for, what are you doing? You're planning an outpost of the kingdom. You are the coming attractions in the movies, the kingdom of God. What are you doing in the coming interactions? You got to get a little taste of what the whole thing's going to be like. And sometimes they show the best parts. You got the fight scene, you got the chase scene, right? What's going on, right? You're getting a taste of it. You're not, life is a preview of the coming attractions of what God's bringing. Coming soon to a city near you, the kingdom of God. Here's a little taste. We're doing the one of the most underrated tools for evangelism is a blessing. Blessing on your life. I'm not talking about like, you know, lifestyles of the rich and famous. I'm talking about evangelism through jealousy. Because why is it that when the economy's down, they still have more than enough? Why is it that their kids, even though they're old enough to not have to spend time with them, they still want to? Why is it that their marriage works? Why is it their bodies stay healthy? Why is it that Second Corinthians 9:8, hope you brought your shout shoes. The Holy Spirit was in a manic good mood with this verse. The whole, the whole context is, and finances and giving, and God is able to make a little bit of grace poured out to you if you earn it. No, that's not what it says. That's what religion says. Here's what Holy Spirit says: "And God is able to make all grace." What does grace mean? He paid for it on the cross. You ready for what He paid for on the cross? You might not have known this. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you would abound in every good work. How many alls and everys and superlatives can you stick in one sentence? Guys, if that verse isn't true, John 3:16 is not true. Here's what that verse means in context: God wants your finances to go to the point that anytime you have a need that comes across your path, if your heart's moved to meet that need, you've got a stream of income to hit that thing. I believe you actually want your finances to go to the point where the income from your investments is greater than your living expenses, so you don't have to ask money for permission to obey God or do what's in your heart. But you have to learn how to steward. You have to learn how to invest for that to happen. A whole another topic. Maybe Caleb will have me back sometime. All right, there we go.
Well, Jim, I don't believe I'll ever get there. Well, thank you for admitting your unbelief. You're going to need to get over it before you get very far. I'm not asking you to get emotionally pumped up and recite some mantra. What I'm asking you to do is to look at the cross and see what Jesus actually paid for. Roman Second Corinthians 8:9, again, the context is His finances. That you know the grace of our Lord Jesus. Grace paid for the cross that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. What the heck does that mean? Well, when did Jesus become poor? Six hours on the cross. Jesus wasn't broke, no matter what people tell you. I'll prove it to you. He had a treasurer. If you have a treasurer, you have treasures. Hashtag duh. Had so much money he was able to feed three teenage boys for three years of ministry. Do you know how much 12 teenage boys for three years of ministry eat? [Music] It's a miracle. It's so much money in the treasury that nobody knew that Judas was stealing. Only Jesus, through a supernatural word of knowledge. Some of you, $100 goes missing, there's an all-out search party. Judas is stealing from it. And he had so much money that nobody knew. And then on the night Jesus was betrayed, or actually at the Last Supper, Jesus goes and whispers something in Judas' ear. Judas gets up and leaves. And what do the disciples say? "Oh, there goes Judas to give away more money in the middle of the night." It was such a lifestyle of giving. I want you guys to see Jesus wasn't like this hippie. He's like walking around with like this perm, like the hair blowing, and he's got like the Miss America garter on. And I saw the picture, like the white robe with the purple sash. I'm like, "Where's the sash from?" Gee.
One of the biggest problems that people have with prosperity is, I think prosperity is selfish. I got some good news for you. Prosperity's not selfish because it's not all about you. Real prosperity is defined by how much we give away, not how much we keep for ourselves. Real bless, real prosperity is about blessing and not possessing. I'm going to flip this thing on its head because I feel like we're friends by now. We friends by now? All right. Let me tell you the truth. It's actually selfish for you to not desire prosperity. I want you to get that in your heart. It's selfish for you to not desire prosperity. Well, Jim, I just thought enough for me and my family. Oh, wow, you selfish pig. It's just the spirit of religion and the spirit of poverty getting married and having a child together. Let me translate that for you so you get this: "My needs are met. Who gives a rip about the rest of the world?" Religion tries to shrink you down and tell you you can't have anything nice. Um, here's one form of religion that says this: It doesn't want you to have anything nice. "Oh, look at that car. They could have sold that car and given it to the poor." That's the spirit of Judas dressed in religion. Judas doesn't want anybody to have anything nice. He wants to steal it for himself. There's a coveting on the inside. It's actually selfish. We do not deserve prosperity. What if prosperity isn't optional? What if you're required to be blessed? Listen to this prayer from Psalm 67:1-2: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations." All about You, gang. That sounds like revival to me. What's this prayer? "God, put Your hand of blessing on me so people will know what You're like." Because if you're only living paycheck to paycheck, the world will lack a revelation of an abundant Father. Nobody needs to feel bad about their current financial state. Don't hear what I'm not saying. What I'm trying to do is lift her eyes up to see what Jesus actually paid for. The curse of poverty came on the earth with, um, uh, thorns and thistles and the sweat of your brow. What did Jesus take on the cross? Thorns and thistles on His brow, and He sweat blood to redeem us from the curse of poverty. He starts off His ministry in Luke 4, and He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach good news to the..." What's good news? "To the poor." You don't got to be poor anymore. I don't know, Jim, this sounds like a bless me club. Well, Jesus didn't die for a bless me club. And just, what's the problem with the bless me club? Our Father Abraham taught us that we are blessed to be a... That's what happens when Christians get more blessed. I don't know, Jim, rich people are greedy. No, greedy people are greedy. I know wealthy people who are promiscuously generous. I know poor people who covet everything that they see. Money just amplifies whatever's in your heart. That's why God wants you to prosper as your soul prospers. He wants you to take care of the inside, so when the outside comes, it's just going to amplify all the good stuff that's in there. Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England, said this: "No one would have remembered the Good Samaritan if he only had good intentions. He had money as well." Affluence is for influence. Income is for impact. Prosperity has a purpose. That's kingdom wealth in one sentence with two commas: Affluence is for influence, income is for impact, prosperity has a purpose. Listen, guys. Kingdom wealth building is not about toys and trinkets. It's about influence and impact.
Well, Jim, money can't buy happiness. Neither can poverty. People who say money can't buy happiness, they just simply haven't given enough of it away. I'll tell you what, I watched it buy happiness over and over again. We rescue girls, come on, human trafficking on a regular basis in our church. You know what it takes? Money to rent the apartment, and rent the moving truck, and buy the furniture that goes in the moving truck. They got girls, eight months latest, eight months pregnant, nothing but the clothes on her back, cell phone in her pocket. And, uh, it took money to buy the furniture to put in the truck, to rent the apartment, to fill her with groceries, and get her on her track. Now she's, uh, now she's a great mom, serving God. She's off the streets. And we, I think we did 13 in one year. Yeah, yay God. [Music] [Applause] One of our small groups rescued 13 girls like that in one year. You know what it takes? Money. It takes resources to do those things. I remember, uh, oh boy, I'm gonna keep going. I'm just insert heartwarming story that made you smile. Okay, keep going here. They want to hear the story. Oh, you were being heartwarmed. Oh, okay. I thought I'm like, I'm going to disappoint the pastor here. I already got paid. But anyway, yeah. So I say it jokingly. I don't need your money. I'm blessed. Nobody's saying that money can ultimately buy joy, your eternal life. But money can spread the gospel, feed the poor, plant churches, hospitals, dig wells overseas, rescue girls, come on, human trafficking, shelter the homeless, and enable you to enjoy the goodness of God with God.
Well, Jim, that's great. And Jesus was poor. Aren't we supposed to be like Jesus? I kind of hit this already, guys. But, uh, yeah, I'm here. He had the treasure. He had the whole thing. Jesus was not poor. Jesus was not some hot shot of angels walking around with a bunch of bling and making everybody jealous of His wealth. What He was, though, is He had no financial debt, and He had more than enough finances to fulfill every divine assignment God had for Him, and enough left over to help others fulfill theirs. Jesus was prosperous.
Here's the key to the whole thing. You guys ready to get free from this thing? I believe the number one reason why Christians are not prospering in America is because of the spirit of Mammon. And I'd like to break that off you. Don't think of spirit as a demonic spirit like wrapped itself around you. Okay? I think of it like, um, Ephesians chapter four, but talks about "be made new in the spirit of your mind." It's a lens. It's an attitude. It's a mindset. And I believe if we can shift this thing off you, um, I believe that you'll begin to see an immediate flow of heaven. Because you cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." You cannot serve God and Mammon. Some of your Bible translations may say money. There'll be a little footnote. You look at it, and it says it's actually the Aramaic word Mammon. What is Mammon? Mammon was the demon god of Syria, whose name meant "the power of riches." So look at Jesus. He's such a brilliant teacher. Here's what He's doing. He's contrasting: you can either trust this god or the one true God. Okay? Mammon tries to get you to look to money the way you're supposed to look to the one true God. So if you feel a little bit more significant, a little bit more secure when your checking account's bigger, that's the spirit of Mammon. Because your significance and your security is supposed to come from God Himself. What's Mammon doing? It's trying to get you to look to money the way you're supposed to look to God.
So let me read you a couple of popular Bible verses. But what happens when the spirit of Mammon gets hold of him? You guys ready for this? "Where does my help come from?" "My help comes from money." "Money is my shepherd; I shall not be in want." "I've got enough of it." "Money is an ever-present help in time of need." "Money gives me the peace that passes understanding." "My money shall supply all my needs." "People perish for a lack of money." "A day in the mall is better than thousands elsewhere." See, behind Mammon is this great lie: that yeah, God cares for those super saints like Heidi Baker and Bill Johnson and Caleb Hyles. He cares for those super saints. But you know what? You're not one of those. So you need to spend a lot of time worrying about money and dreaming and scheming about how you're going to get more money. Guys, here's the truth: You don't need more money. You need to understand God better. Prosperity always starts with who you have, not what you have. I mean, you have El Shaddai, the God of infinite supply. Jehovah Jireh, your Provider. I mean, He's hinting at some things when He's giving you His name. When He comes, He said, "When I come back to earth," He didn't say, "Am I going to find signs and wonders?" He didn't say, "Am I going to find people that have cash?" He said, "Am I going to find faith?" Baker translation: "Am I going to find anyone who takes Me seriously?" He's looking for people who trust Him.
What's it look like to serve or worship Mammon? Matthew 6:25: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" I'm going to ask you to turn your fence meters on low. Anxiety and worry are to the spirit of Mammon what praise and worship are to the one true God. The way that you worship the spirit of Mammon is by getting worried and upset about finances. Fear is faith in the devil. [Music] Worry is a form of atheism because you're imagining your future without God. Faith is imagining your future with God. What if you could literally shift from the spirit of Mammon to the spirit of the, the kingdom, by this little shift of imagining your future with God? I've got some good news for you. In case you didn't realize this, God's already in your future. So He'll be there when you get there. So you ain't got to worry. [Applause] God's supernatural cannot flow into fear and worry. So you've got to break that spirit of Mammon off your heart. You don't need more money. You need a greater relationship with the Source. Get this principle: If you don't get anything else, I even rhymed it for you. Don't confuse the Source with the resource. Your resource will change many times in your life. Used to be your parents, maybe it still is. No judgment. And, um, you know, it could be your job, 401k, investments, whatever your resource or provision was. Your resource supervision will change many times in your life, but your Source will never change. And when you understand this, you can literally walk into your job tomorrow, your boss hands you a pink slip, and your blood pressure doesn't increase because you understand nobody can take better care of me than Dad.
Remember the story of Elijah? Oh, man. How many guys realize the Old Testament prophets had it rough? Isaiah walked around naked for three years. Like, I don't even take my shirt off at the pool. The only way you can tell the difference between my front and my back is the presence of two nipples. It's just like straight down both sides. I've been told I have the "bottle of FEMA body of a female supermodel." I don't even know what that means. Hosea, she, he married a Gomer. A prostitute. I'm like, "Dude, her name was Gomer. He should have known things are about to go horrible." I apologize to any Gomers on livestream. It was just a joke. Ezekiel had to cook his food over his own dung. Like, when I'm in junior high, that's hilarious. But as an adult, that's disgusting. I'm just honest with you.
So Elijah, he's, God calls him. He's like, "Elijah, I want you to prophesy a famine." He's like, "I'm an Old Testament prophet. I love prophesying famines in the land that you're living in." Man, we do it over the Amorites, the termites, the satellites, the parrot, you know, the parasites. Can we do it over those people? No, Elijah, in the land you're living in. So Elijah prophesies the famine. God's like, "Don't worry, I got a special deal for you. You're gonna be down by the Brook Cherith. Got Amazon now, special delivery service from the ravens. Everything's gonna be taken care of." Everything's going good until the brook dries up. What do most Christians do when the brook dries up? They start freaking out. "Oh, this isn't working. God's forsaking me." Every time the resources, provision change for Elijah, what's the very next verse? "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah." If your resource supervision has dried up, if the channel of provision has changed, what do you need to do? You need to get the word of the Lord. [Music]
So God's like, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go to Zarephath and I want you to find a widow." I'm sure he was like, "Lord, did you say window? Is it like a window of blessing? Is there like a portal there?" No, Elijah, she's a widow. Is widow like the last name of like a Boaz type person, like a person of means? No, Elijah, she's a widow. So what you need to understand, there wasn't a lot of female entrepreneurs on Shark Tank banking in the ancient Near East. It wasn't like a lot of girl power going on back then. It was like her resource supervision was her husband, and it had dried up. So Elijah goes there and says he sees a widow forging through the rocks, trying to find enough sticks to start a fire. That ain't a good sign in your new resource of provision. So Elijah's like, "Hey, can you make me something to eat?" And she's like, "Hey, it's kind of a bad time. Got a little bit of flour, a little bit of oil. Me and my son are going to make one last cake, we're going to eat it, and then we're going to die." Again, not the mighty faith decoration you're looking for out of your new resource of provision.
So at this point in the story, I'm expecting Elijah to take up an offering, find some people of means in the cities, help this poor widow. Right? And Elijah does take up an offering for himself. Because remember this part of the story, what's he say to her? "Bake me a cake as fast as you can. Bake me a cake, bring it to me that I might eat of it." Can you just see the Tampa headlines? "Prophet of God Takes Last Meal from Widow." You don't want to be an Old Testament prophet. I know they got to dress kind of cool and everything, but I mean, other than that, why on earth was, was Elijah doing this under the inspiration of God? Where was this widow putting her trust? A little bit of flour and a little bit of oil. And he knew if he can get her eyes off of the resource and onto the Source, supernatural supply could flow into her life. Guys, 99.999% of the pastors are not after your money. God's not after your money. He doesn't need it. What God's trying to do is get your eyes off of the resource and honor the Source so that supernatural provision can flow into your life.
I'm going to give you a 10-second sermon. Everything I'm going to say is true. You've heard it before if you've been around the church for a little while, and yet it's not working for most Christians. I'm going to give you the key. Who in here needs more finances? Yeah. Operator, I need more finances. And big and teach how poverty and lack are not God's will. Absolutely true. How if you will sow generously, you'll reap generously. It's actually a biblical principle in giving. How you can reap 30, 60, yeah, even a 100-fold return. All those things are biblical. All of them are in context of finances. Why isn't it working for most Christians? Because the spirit of Mammon reverses your relationship with God. So now I'm using God to go get me more money. We did a conference in Tampa called Supernatural Finances. Many believers would show up thinking, "How can I get God to give me more money?" They're looking for principles. "Just give me the principles." Principles without the Prince is more like witchcraft than kingdom. Formulas don't work for any other area of the Christian life, but Christians, they seem to ignore it with finances. "If you'll just sow into this Jubilee anointing offering, if you will just..." It's like, just cut the crap. Sorry, I didn't mean to say crap. It's, uh, from the Greek, krapas. And so [Applause] Jesus actually teaches against sowing and reaping to get your needs met. Look at the next verse, 16, Matthew 6:26: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor store in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they?" God provides for you because He loves you more than birds. You've never seen a bird having a panic attack. You've never seen an anorexic bird. Why? Because their heavenly Father provides for them. They have something on the inside. They just know nobody can take better care of me than Dad. You step out of the spirit of Mammon and into the kingdom when you recognize nobody can take better care of the Dad. You put on that lens of everything that comes in your way. There's no problem that comes to you that doesn't come to the Christ in you. It never comes to you alone. You live like an atheist when you try to deal within your own strength and you're worrying and you're fretting. Imagine your future with God.
I used to work in a psychiatric ward. And so it's great training for ministry. And so, uh, bad joke, bad joke. I did, I worked in it for about three years. Terrible joke. We're gonna edit that part from the live stream. Anyway, the, um, I hate live TV, man. Yeah, this is stinky. I'll never be a senator. Anyway. And so, um, so I, I got to close this thing here. Yeah, I'm almost done. Yeah, I'm circling for landing for those of you whose butts are hurting. And so, um, I worked in a psych ward. And so one of the things we had to do there was when patients got violent, we would have to, um, like take them down and take them to the...
timeout room and put them in the five-point leather strings, arms, legs, chest, and so it usually involves some physical contact, which isn't really my love language. Okay, I'm not really, I kind of have a low pain threshold. I cry easy, like those type of things, you know, I'm not into that.
And so, but we had, um, so we had this guy named Big Rick. Big Rick was 6'8", 320, played football. His love language was physical contact, and he was just an intimidating guy in every way. And, uh, I think that's the whole reason he worked there was for the timeout room, anyway.
And so there was this, um, there was this guy who was, was, you know, we'd get a report from the nurses and they're like, like, we don't know what happened. They turned out this guy was the son of a warlock in the city, and he just looked wicked. Like, yeah. And so, um, we get the report and she's like, I don't know what happened. She said this guy had supernatural strength and he was picking, picking up the employees and throwing them across the room. I'm like, oh my god, could you repeat that again? Like, first time I thought you said he was picking up human beings and, yeah, yeah, that's what he was doing. I'm like, oh man, I hope this shift ends quickly. Hopefully give him something, you know.
And so, um, and so, uh, so I'm on the shift, I'm at the nurse's station and I hear this ruckus and I'm like, oh no, it's coming from the demoniac room. Are you gonna be kidding me? So like, Baker, go check it out. I'm like, are you kidding me? Come tie my bow tie. I'm praying in tongues. I should have bought a Hyundai, bought a Honda, you know.
So, so I get to the door and, um, he's picking up the bed and he's throwing it back and forth in the room. And I said, "Hey, stop it." And he looks at me and this guy is full-on demonized. He's about this tall. His hair was crazy. He'd been on the streets for a while and he's looking wild. And I said, "You better stop it. I'm taking you to the timeout room." And all of a sudden, he gets this look of fear in his eyes. And I was like, man, he must be sensing my authority in the spirit. This is, I've been waiting for this moment. I'm like, expecting like an angel to come, like change my name. You are no longer Jim, from now on you'll be Warrior. I'm like, yes, I've been waiting for this.
And so I'm like, what's happening here? And I, I feel like someone's standing behind me. And I'm looking, it's Big Rick. I can't even tell you the confidence that came over me from knowing that Big Rick was there. I'm like, yeah, you better settle down. You don't want any of this stuff. I mean, not obviously.
[Applause]
I was filled with an unbelievable level of confidence because Big Rick was in the room. I've got some really good news for you. You've got someone in the room with you, with me, way more resources. And to simply shift from that fear and anxiety to a position of faith is to imagine reality, to step into reality that Jehovah Jireh is in the room, and you're His room.
So if we could pass out those cards, let's just do an exercise. So we, we've got some index cards. We're going to pass out for you guys. And so if you need something to write with, you just give me a quick thing. But I want to break the spirit of Mammon off you guys. Does that sound good? And then we'll get you to lunch. We won't beat the Baptists to lunch, but we'll get you to lunch.
Everyone's going to get a card. As you guys are getting in the cards, I want you to, uh, just take on a picture of the scenario. I'm not sure if you've ever seen it, like when you're, there's a, a line of people to get prayer for healing, and maybe there's just like a couple of people praying. So it's gonna be a long line. And so my wife and I, we've had that situation lots of times where it's like, not enough prayer people, more need, you know. I've never had this thought happen when I'm praying for somebody. I've never thought, "Oh no, what if my healing anointing runs out?" I've never had that thought because I'm super aware that I'm not the source of the healing anointing, right? And I'll be honest with you, there's times when I feel challenged to give a check that's bigger than my comfort level, where I think, "Oh no, what if the money runs out?" So I just want us to all recognize, guys, that God wants us to get to the point where we can trust Him when we're not thinking, "Oh no, what if the money runs out?" He's that good.
Here's what we're going to do with this exercise. You guys ready for this? We're going to take up an offering of your worries. I like to pause there just to let the offense send. We're going to take up an offering. I knew it. The debt cancellation anointing. If you sow right into me. No, we're not. Some of that stuff. When Jesus said, "Sell everything, give it to the party," and say, "Give it to him." Anytime a preacher is inferring that you need to sell stuff and give it to him, it's called a cult. Run. If you give away all your money and God hasn't told you to, you're a bad steward and you will not be rewarded. Don't do things out of emotion, but I always lean on the side of generosity. God will get your back, but don't, don't get into foolishness. All right, all right. That wasn't for anyone in here. That was for the live stream. Yeah, there's nobody here.
Here's what we're going to do is, um, I'm going to ask you to do an exercise with the Holy Spirit. And just take a moment. And Holy Spirit, here's the question I want you to ask Him. He's going to give you just, you're going to have a knowing, you're going to have some thoughts, or you're going to get some word pictures. Holy Spirit, what am I worried about that You don't want me to worry about? And I want you to write those things down. And we're going to, we're going to tear it up like an offering. No one's going to see this. This is between you and the Lord. But this will be an exercise. We're going to literally cut that spirit of Mammon off your life. So just take a moment. Uh, Holy Spirit, what am I worried about that You don't want me to worry about? And we're going to give this over to Him. We're going to cast our cares on Him. So just take a few seconds here. Wow, some kid just did a glory shout out. You guys hear that? Holy Spirit, what am I worried about that You don't want me worried about? If you need another card because you have so many worries, we're gonna have some extra prayer for you afterwards. So it's okay. Just write smaller.
All right, here's what we're going to do. It's, um, look, I'll call you. There's a couple people right now. Wait a second here. All right, just hold that thing in your heart. God, I'm done with the spirit of Mammon. Just pray it in your own words. I'll just kind of prompt a phrase, but you don't have to repeat it necessarily, but just between you and God. I am done with the spirit of Mammon. I renounce the spirit of Mammon. I'm tired of looking to money for permission. I'm tired of money being my master. I declare nobody can take better care of me than You. I'm free from Mammon. Lord, I thank You that You want to prosper me with more than enough. So Lord, I'm open to ideas. I'm open to learning. I think of it, You have good things for me. But I break off the spirit of Mammon in the name of Jesus. First Peter 5:7 says, "Cast your cares on Jesus because He cares for you."
Here's what I want to do. On the count of three, I want us to tear these things up. We're casting them on. We're cutting ourselves off from these worries because we're not going to bow our knee to a lesser god. We're not going to bow our knee to fear and anxiety. We're going to begin to imagine our futures with God, with Big Rick in the room right here with us. So why don't you guys stand up for this? And I want the sound of this tear to be just a sound of worship up to the throne of us aligning ourselves with Him. Are you guys ready? Just again, Jesus, I'm done with this. One, two, three.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for listening to this podcast from The Resting Place Tampa. We hope you feel honored, empowered, and full of faith because of what you hear. If you're looking for more, check out thejesuslab.com. The Jesus Lab is a nine-month facilitated encounter with the finished work of Christ, and applications are open now. Check it out at thejesuslab.com.