The Family Blessings Worth Fighting For

All right. So, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. And I know a lot of people know that. And a lot of Bible believing, God-fearing, churchgoing, amen shouting believers know that verse, but they're not living it.

So, if the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and you're not rich, what's missing? And that's not an accusation. That's not me attempting to make you feel good. That's just I mean make you feel bad. That's just I'm I'm I'm like I really want you to think about it. Like if if indeed the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and his blessing is on my life and I'm not rich, what's missing? Cuz you have to agree that something's missing.

And I believe that I know what's missing. I believe that what's missing is a whole bunch of people who believe the Bible and love God and go to church and sing songs and sing on the praise team and and put money in the offering plate, but they don't get up every day and prepare for battle. And poverty is always the result of spiritual warfare. In fact, poverty and wealth are the opposite sides of the spiritual warfare occasion equation. They're not the only things, but they are definitely on opposite sides of the spiritual warfare um equation.

And so if we are going to in some way inherit the blessing that God has proclaimed in his word and God it's not that God doesn't lie. It's not that God doesn't lie. It's that God can't lie. Which is kind of amazing. A God who can do anything creates for himself in the way he created everything a constraint. And the constraint that God created for himself is that he cannot lie. Which means his promises are yay and amen. So if he says the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. He wasn't confused when he said it. He wasn't lying when he said it. And there were not he he wasn't saying that that only applies some days for some people in some ways. It just is what it is.

So where's the blessing missing? That's what I want to know. Cuz the blessing make the rich. So if the blessing's there, the riches are there. And if the riches aren't there, then maybe it's because the blessing is not there. Not that he didn't give it, but when he put it down, we didn't pick it up.

Now, what does that look like? Well, it looks like this. Because over in Psalms chapter 1, verse number one, it says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful." I think I think we would do well to notice that often times when God is giving us a proclamation, when he's when he's telling us something, when he's giving us instructions, often time often times when he does that, God gives us the don'ts before he gives us the dos. Why? Because it's not good enough to put the dos on top of the don'ts. We got to don't the don'ts before we start doing the dos. Oh. By the way, this is a theme throughout scripture. He said he he said God didn't say, "Blessed is the man who does this." He said, "Blessed is the man who doesn't do these things. Blessed is the man that walkth not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful." But then he starts doing the dues.

So maybe the blessing's missing because there's some don'ts you're still doing. Oh snap. there's some don'ts you're still doing. And what we do is we hold on to our don'ts because we're used to them. And we refuse to leave the land of Thran when God says, "I want you to leave your country. I want you to leave your kindred. I want you to leave your father's house to go TO SOME PLACE I WILL show you." Which means you got to leave where you are to head towards someplace you don't know where it is. In fact, you won't recognize it till you get there. But we're like, "But but but but I don't want to leave. I know these people. I know this place." Are y'all picking up what I'm putting down?

And so he says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standth the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord." There's the blessing. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Now, the law of the Lord in general is the word of God. The law of the Lord in particular is the Torah. It's the it's the first five books in the Bible. So, one of the things you'll notice about God is that he doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, how he started the thing is how he going to finish the thing. Did you ever think about God knows the end from a be from the beginning? Did you ever notice that in a circle the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. All my musicians get that, don't you? Right? Because when you do an octave, the one is the first note and it's also the eighth note and eight is the number of new beginnings. So the one is a the one is a one and the eight is a one. It's a circle. God does things the way God does things. He's not going to change it cuz we showed up and don't like the way he does it.

And so when we begin to see how God does what God does and we decide I'm going to go back to the beginning and line up my life with the law of the Lord from the beginning, my life starts working in ways it's never worked before. See, fortunately for me, when I came to Christ, I was a teenager and I didn't know anything because I had never read any books that weren't comic books or karate books. I only read comic books and karate books. I didn't read books for school. I didn't read books for fun. People say, "Reading for fun." I didn't read for fun. Reading wasn't fun for me. I'm a remedial reader. You remember when you were in school and the teacher would have you come up in front read in front of class and everybody like they have student come up and read and then some of these students they couldn't read very well and everybody started laughing at them. That was me. So I I'm I'm I'm still to this day I read I've got a lot of fixation and regression and lack of concentration and read really really slow but I just read a lot even though it takes me a long time.

And so when I came to Christ, my friend, we were in I was in 10th grade. He was in 11th grade. He led me to Christ. He said, "Now that you're saved, you need to start reading the Bible." I was horrified. No, I I was horrified. This big thick book, little bitty words, two columns, no pictures. I need to start reading that. I had seen a Bible, but read one. Okay, if that's what I I ain't fixing to play with God, so I'm gonna start reading this Bible. I started reading the Bible and I started finding stuff in there that said if you do this, you can expect this. I said, I bet you I know how to find out, man. I now I didn't do well. I I did I'm one of those kids who did well in school all the way through the third grade. And um it went downhill from there. But but like one of my favorite gifts that I ever received as a child when I was in elementary school was a chemistry set. I love doing experiments. I made my own toothpaste cuz I loved I love I love figuring out how stuff works. I love putting model cars together. I love going to work with my dad. My dad was a plumber and he taught me how to measure within 1132 of an inch before I was 10 years old. I love that stuff. I love figuring out how stuff work. And I read in the Bible, if you do this, you can expect this. I said, I bet you I'm going to find out. And I tested it. It worked just like I was like, oh my goodness, that was amazing. And then I found something else. I tested that and it worked. I was this is amazing. Like like this is like this IS LIKE THE ULTIMATE UNLOCK. I MEAN, we didn't use words like unlock in the 70s, but or yeah, in the 70s, we didn't use words like unlock, but that's what it was. It was like, this is amazing. This is like all the answers to all the questions. I mean, I've got answers for which I don't even know what the questions are yet. This is going to be amazing. This is going to be fun.

Then I started noticing as I went to church, but other people didn't seem to see what I saw. I was so fascinated and bewildered and dumbfounded and stupified and wondered like why are you doing that when the Bible says you ought to be doing this. I was just confused but I don't know it was working for me. I'm going to keep doing it. So the blessing is in the book and when the book is in you the blessings are in you but when the book ain't in you well then you got to find your way. And what my recommendation would be find your way to the book.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law does, watch this now. He meditates day and night. So that means you're thinking about the word of God all day. Like you wake up thinking about the word, you wake up, you see the sunshine. So, oh man, that reminds me of Jesus. He's the morning star. Huh? I go downstairs. No, I go in the bathroom. I wash my face. Oh, that water reminds me of Jesus. He's the living water. I go downstairs, eat a piece of toast. Oh, Jesus, the bread of life. Like, he he's everywhere. It means you get a passage of scripture in your mind and you don't know what it means. I had a lady come to my Bible study a couple of about a month and a half ago and she's like, "Myin, you know the story about the unjust steward." And then at the end of the story, the unjust steward um it says, "Then the Lord commended him in saying um you um that uh that he was wiser because he went and told the people to pay him lean." I said, "I don't understand either." I said, "But I'm going to go find out." And guess what I did? I started reading it. I started studying it. And I wouldn't stop thinking about it until I discovered what it meant. That's what the the Bible's like a treasure hunt. The the money ain't the treasure. The money's just the bonus. The truth is the treasure in the treasure hunt. Oh. Oh, it No, it it about to get good. Cuz cuz it says his delight in the Lord and his law does do he meditate day and night. And then it says he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters. That means because he's by the rivers of waters. Well, first of all, he's going to be planted like a tree. I'll talk more about what all the implications of that later. Bible has so much to say about trees. Have you ever noticed how much the Bible says about trees? Trees are like really important. Okay. Anyway, so planted like a tree but by the rivers of waters. Why? So it's got plenty of moisture. So when the storm comes it's pliable like a tree. So when the storm comes it doesn't break but it can bend with the wind and not break. Plant by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in the season going to be productive like a tree. By the way the river of water is the word of God. Going to be productive like a tree. Bring forth your fruit in your season. His leaf also shall not wither. You'll be protected. You'll be protective and pretty like a tree. Cuz leaves make a tree protective and leaves make a tree pretty. And then it says leaf also shall not wither. Now, don't miss this part. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now let me help you understand whatsoever in Hebrew. You ready? It means whatsoever. Did I leave anything out? See, the scripture says when the law of the Lord, when the word of God is your daily meditation, everything you work on works. I don't like I'm never like when I launch something, I'm never worried about if it's going to work. I already know it's going to work. Why? I've saturated my soul with the word of God. It can't not work. It can't not work. And I know that's not good grammar, but it's good Texan. If you ever go to Texas, they say can't not a lot. And so it has to work.

Now I think what we have to discuss because remember I said that poverty is always the result of spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is fought in the battlefield of the mind. And the reason the blessing of the Lord hasn't yet made you rich is because you haven't gone out on the battlefield of your mind and conquered with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And I'm I I'm I'm I'm going to I'm going to hopefully I'm going to shake some paradigms because there are people in this room and I would say probably most of the people in this room, certainly many of the people in this room who still have some internal conflicts with whether or not wealth is even a good thing. And I know I know you want to believe that it is, but you don't know how. You re you do real realize there's a difference desiring to believe something and actually believing it. Right? You all do realize that, right? So, you want to believe it, but there's something inside of you that says, "Yeah, but what about, you know, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." I I'll teach you what that means tomorrow. But whatever it means is not going to contradict the rest of the Bible. But I will teach you what it means tomorrow because I studied it. I and I I didn't listen. I didn't I didn't hear somebody talk about it, hear somebody preach on it, hear somebody teach on it and then just go and repeat what they said. No, no, no. I went and studied I studied the whole thing for my own self. And you got that in there and you got all the warnings about wealth. And by the way, the Bible has warnings about wealth. Don't mistake that. The Bible that wealth comes with warnings, but so does poverty. And one of the problems with modern-day Christians, believers, followers of Christ, is we are very familiar with the warnings about wealth and almost totally unfamiliar with the warnings about poverty. Warnings like the rich man's wealth is a strong city, but the destruction of the poor is their poverty. Wow. It's in the Bible.

And so what I'm going to do tonight in the next 30 minutes or so, I want to share with y'all God's original design for wealth. Like why is wealth on the earth? Why does it even exist? Is that a good question? I I think since God put it here, maybe that's the first question we should tackle. And if we understand God's original design for wealth, then maybe we can break off the bondage of the lies that have been sold to us by Satan and his minions. And so like I mean money is not even the objective. It's just the bonus. It's just one of the bonuses.

So when we're if we're going to do proper biblical interpretation, we have to apply some principles. And we're going to we're going to talk about three principles primarily this evening. How many principles? Everybody talk to me. How many? Okay. The first one is the law of first mention. So write that down. The law of first mention. And and the law of first mention states however God first mentions anything in scripture, that's his original design for that thing. In fact, in fact, the rabbis teach that whenever we find a letter used as the root of a word, the first time in the Torah, that is the meaning of that letter. That's how important the law of first mention is. Why? because it's establishing something that God doesn't change and his plan was perfect from the beginning. Are y'all tracking?

And so like if you take the letter olive for instance like it's the first letter of the Hebrew albe etc etc. So alf is the first letter. Well, the letter alf represents God. You know what word it's used as the root of for the first time in the Torah? The word Elohim. Rashe Elohim. That's the first time the letter ol is used as the root of a word in the Torah. Which means the letter Elo the letter ol represents Elohim or represents God. How cool is that? So, by the way, what else is cool is an olive is made of two other letters. It's made of a yode. Two yods and above. Do you know what a yode is? A yode is a hand. It's made of two hands. What's above? Above is a nail. The letter that represents God is made of two hands and a nail. This is how important the law of first mention is.

So, I'm walking through my house one day and I think to myself, I wonder how many times gold is found in the book of Genesis. And then I thought, well, it's got to be in there 500 times. That's what I thought, right? Not having looked. Then I looked and it wasn't in there 500 times. It wasn't even in there 50 times. It wasn't even in there 20 times. Gold is not even mentioned in the first book of the Bible 10 times. Do you know how many times it's mentioned? Exactly eight. Gold is mentioned eight times. Now, why is that important? Well, because every number has significance. One is the number of unity, the unity of God. Two is the number of separation or the holiness of God. Three is the number of God, father, son, and holy spirit. Four is the number of the earth. There are four directions on the earth, north, south, east, and west. There are four seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall. There are four elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. Four is the number of the earth. There are four levels of value. There are four levels of teaching for four levels of learning. There are four levels of parenting for four levels of child development. Things when we find them to be true in the earth realm, they often show up in fours. Five is the number of grace or a gift. We have five hands, five fingers on our hand with which to give a gift. We have five fingers on our hand with which to receive a gift. Five is the number of grace. Six is the number of man. Man was made on the sixth day. But did you know that 600 is the number of falsehood? And 6 plus 0 is 6 plus 0 is still six. So six is the number of man. Also the number of falsehood probably because man believes Satan's falsehood. Seven is the number of completion. Eight is the number of abundance, infinity, eternity, and the new beginning. In fact, if you take the number eight, you turn it on its side, it looks like the symbol for infinity. And the substance that represents wealth is in the first book in the Bible eight times. GOD IS SUCH A MASTERFUL DESIGNER.

But it gets better. So when God made everything, after he made everything, he said, "Ztov, zetto, it's good. It is good. It is good. It is good." God used the adjective good to describe what he had made in Genesis chapter 1 exactly seven times. How cool is that? Why? Because it's finished. It's It's perfectly good. Why? It's finished. He's done. The eighth time God used the adjective good. The eighth time was in Genesis 2. Genesis 2 11-2 says, talking about the Garden of Eden, and there's gold in that land. And the gold of that land is good. That's the eighth time the adjective good was used. God's putting some a beautiful masterpiece together for us to go and discover. So that's amazing in itself.

See, some people think that wealth is inherently evil. Other people think wealth is inherently neutral because they're afraid to say that it's good because people might judge them. Some people believe that wealth is inherently evil. Other people believe that wealth is inherently neutral. God says it's inherently good. I believe wealth is inherently good. Why? Because that's what God said the first time he ever talked about it. So, it probably hasn't changed. In fact, I know it hasn't because God doesn't change. So, wealth is good even though some people use it for bad. Just because somebody uses something good for bad doesn't make the good thing bad. Is is what I'm saying helping anybody?

Now, here's what's really cool. Wealth is mentioned eight times in the book of I mean, gold is mentioned eight times in the book of Genesis. Can y'all handle the rest of this? Cuz we about to go there. Every time gold is mentioned in the first book in the Bible, which time it's always mentioned in connection with God's people. What you say? The first time it's mentioned, it's mentioned in Genesis chapter 2 in the Garden of Eden before man sinned. Okay, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How many people were there in the Garden of Eden again? How many? That's right. There were only two. How much did food cost? Oh, it was free. How many stores were there? Oh, that's right. There were none. What was for sale? Oh, that's right. Nothing was. What was the relationship of the two people? Husband and wife. So, there are two people. Everything's free. There's nothing to buy. There's nothing to sell. And God puts gold in the Garden of Eden and then make sure he tells us he put it there and then make sure he tells us it's good. Why is that a good question? Seems like it. I believe because God wants us to understand that opulence and abundance are natural resources in the environment for the children of the king. They didn't even need the gold. They didn't even NEED THE GOLD. BUT GUESS WHAT? GOD gave it to them. And God made sure he told us to give that he gave it to them.

Now, here's what the scripture says. The scripture tells us in Romans that the things were written before time were written for our learning. that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. When I saw that God put gold in the Garden of Eden, that gave me hope cuz they didn't even need it. They had it anyway. I I don't even care if it was just decorations. That's the first time it's mentioned. Y'all ready? Fasten your seat belt.

THE SECOND TIME GOLD is mentioned mentioned in Genesis 13 verse number two in conjunction with a man named Abram. Now Abram was an interesting guy. His life his life is a is like a type of what our lives are supposed to be. This is a man who grew up in a family of idol worshippers and his father was an idol manufacturer. And God says and and by the way his name was Abram. So I I got to tell you this. So, his name was a The Bible is such a fascinating book and it's got so many beautiful colorful pieces that we miss because we're in a hurry to get through it instead of being in a hurry to let it get through to us. And so, it's got all these beautiful pieces and and so this man named Abram, his name means high father, exalted father, but his wife was barren and could have no children. So, he was the high father who couldn't have children. And by the way, in in the Old Testament, names were not just what you called somebody. Names were a description. So if your name is high father and you don't have any children, that's the ultimate imposttor syndrome. Here's the high father with no children. And so God comes to this man. He says, "Here's what he says,"Abram, here's what you do. I want you to leave your country. I want you to leave your kindred. I want you to leave your father's house and go to a land that I will show you. Abram goes to his wife said, "Baby, we leave it." Wives have questions. Can I Don't be scared, brother. Can I get a witness? Wives have questions. Sisters, how many of y'all know husbands don't always have answers. Can I get a witness? Okay. I don't know. I never thought of that before. That's my I I must say that seven or eight times a week. I don't know. I would have never thought to ask that question. I don't know. No idea. Wow, that's a fascinating question. Who knew? Okay. So, so she says, I would imagine cuz she's a wife and they have questions. Where are we going? I don't know. God said he going to show us when we get there. She said, "God, which one?" She got questions. He said, "The one that made everything talk to me. We leaving." Okay, they leave.

Now, why does God want them to leave where they live? Because when you're in the land of the familiar, you're not just familiar with the land, but the land is familiar with you. And they're familiar with your identity. And your identity is all the things all the people all your life told you you are not. You're not strong enough. You're not smart enough. You ain't good enough. You you're not talented enough. You're not athletic enough. You ain't pretty enough. You don't sing good enough good enough. You sure don't dance good enough. You ain't going. And so they won't let you forget who you aren't. And God said, "I've got to get you out of this environment of familiarity so I can take you to a place of faith."

You know what it says? So Abram departed. Ain't that beautiful? The next chapter, chapter 13. Oh, and by the way, God said, by the way, if you leave and go where I'M TELLING YOU TO GO, he said, I'm going to bless you in ways you can't bless yourself. I'm going to get you something you can't get yourself. I'm going to make you something you can't make yourself. I'm going to take the source of your shame, which is your name, Abram, high father, no children. I'm going to make you a father of many nations. I'm going to make it the source of your fame. Those that bless you, I'm going to bless. Those that curse you, I'm going to curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Abraham said, "I'm out of here." Next chapter, chapter 13, verse number two. Here's what it says. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Was Abram rich? Oh, no. He was very rich. I love the fact that it says that. I love the fact that the Bible tells us how rich Abram was. He wasn't kind of rich. He wasn't sort of rich and he wasn't almost rich. What was he? Very rich. You know what I found out about very rich? is better than just plain rich without a berry. And then it didn't just tell us how rich he was. It told us how he was rich. Abram was very rich in cattle and silver and gold. You know why? Because if God would have told us how he was rich, people would have said, "Well, that's not talking about money. That's just talking about a godly heritage." But it says he's rich in cattle and silver and gold. He was very rich. The next chapter shows us how rich he was. He was so rich that when the five kings came and fought against Sodom and Gomorrah and took the all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah captive, including Lot, his nephew, and not Lot's family. Abram said, "You didn't take my nephew." And he went said, went to his 318 servants born in his house. Saddle up, boys. We going to get my nephew. And he had enough wealth to go fight against five nations and win. We can't even influence our local school boards. You know why? Because we don't have any money. And you say, "No, that's not the reason." It's what the Bible says. I'm not I didn't make that up. Bible says in in in Ecclesiastes, it says there was a little city and few people therein. And a great king besieged this little city and set up bull works against it. Yet there was found in this little city a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city from the mighty king. Doesn't that sound like a beautiful story until you get to the end? You know what it says at the end of the story? Yet no one remembered that same poor wise man. And then Solomon said, ' And then I said, wisdom is better than strength. Watch this now. But a poor man's wisdom is despised. You know, one of the reasons I decided a long time ago that I was going to get rich because I wanted to have more influence with my children than drug dealers and athletes and actors and rappers and whoever else might want to get their attention. I want I wanted my children to think that all those people are poor compared to my dad. They don't have no man please. So wealth brings influence with it. The Bible tell anyway wealth brings influence with it.

So Abram leaves. That's the second time gold is mentioned. The next time gold is mentioned, it's in um Genesis chapter 24 where where Eleazar uses gold as proof of God's blessing on God's people. So I want you to think about this now. In the first book in the Bible, every time gold is mentioned, it's always mentioned in conjunction with God's people. You know what that tells me? The reason God put abundance on the earth is for his people. Well, then why do all the evil people have the wealth? I'll we'll cover that tomorrow. We got to turn over one stone at a time. So it says that when Eleazar came looking for a wife for for um Isaac, he says uh hey he goes to this well Lord give me good speed if this if somebody if I ask for water and the young lady who gets the water says let me get water for your camels also. Let that be the one. So that happens. He goes back and tells the story. And so he gives gifts. He puts gold bracelets on her arms and gold chains on her neck and tells the story. My master's ve God has blessed him greatly. He's very, very rich. He has one son and he's leaving everything he has to that one son. And I'm looking for a wife for that son. And I asked God to bless me. And your daughter, your sister was the answer. And we need to go. so my master can see his son get married to your daughter. But he used the wealth of Abraham as proof of God's blessing on God's people. Now Rebecca's mama and her brother said, "Baby, don't you want to just wait another week?" He said, "Mama, did you hear what the man said? He got one son. He giving him everything. He looking for a wife for You want me to wait a week so he can go find somebody else?" Mama, I got to go. I got to go. Mama, I got to go. I'll come back when I can, but right now I got to go. So, proof of God's blessing on God's people.

I'm going to cover one more. I'm going to cover one more and then I'm going to show you some unlocks so you can stop walking around feeling guilty. Like I used to when I first got rich, I was so almost embarrassed. I was almost ashamed that I was making all of this money without hard labor. No, I was I'm I'm serious. Like in fact, like when I first got rich and I wasn't even that rich, like making 30 40,000 a month and I was like I was giving all my money away because I felt guilty because I got all this I'm like, "Wait, THIS IS CRAZY. HEY, WHAT AM I DOING? ANYWAY, so it's not the last time that it's mentioned, but it's one of the last times it's mentioned is in um Genesis 41:42, and it talks about the fact that this is Oh, the first time I I I So, the first time, providence for God's people. God put in the Garden of Eden before he put the people in the Garden of Eden. Providence to provide in advance. Second time, provision for a possession by God's people. That's that's uh Abraham or Abram as his name was then. Then proof of God's blessing on God's people. That's Eleazar. Then we get down. The only time we see somebody who's not a person of God having wealth, they're handing it over. Genesis 41:42. It says that Pharaoh took the chain off his neck, the gold chain off his neck, put on Joseph's neck, took the ring off his finger, put it on Joseph's finger. Provision for God's people. God put wealth on the earth for his people. That's I I mean and we and we're just starting in the first book in the Bible. And we're and and we're wondering why. We're wondering why. I'm wondering why why why do I feel so stuck? You feel stuck because you're not doing it the Bible way. you're doing it. See, we've been we've been programmed by the world system to believe things that are not true. And so therefore, when we hear the truth, there's no space for the truth because we're our minds are all filled up with lies and truisms that aren't true. Things that sound true but ain't true. Like if it sounds too good to be true, it must not be true. So this building is not really air conditioning. Air condition. This is This is Air Conditioning is too good to be true. I was in I woke up in Florida this morning. How do I get here? Air No, airplanes are too good to be true. They must not be true either. Cell phones are too good to be true. Text messages too good to be true. Almost everything we do almost all day, every day sounds too good to be true. And here it is. And yet here we are. We've got to get to the place where we trust what God said the most. We trust what God said more than we trust what somebody else says. God is not a god of lack. Jesus said, "I'm come that you might have life and that you might have the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy."

Okay, you ever think about this? I'm I'm going to sit down and talk to y'all because you know I'm a grandfather, so I can do that now. Um, did you know that Satan, demons? Did you know that there are parasites? You know what a parasite is, right? A parasite is something that cannot exist without a host. See, the truth does not require a lie to exist, but a lie requires the truth to exist. By the way, that's why one of Satan's names is the Lord of the flies, cuz flies are parasites and they breed parasites. So, they need a host. And so what we have to do is we have to do a mental cleanse and get rid of the mental parasites that have been program that have been programmed into us by what I call the cultural hypnotic societal mechanism. Because there is in our culture a hypnotic rhythm that programs us to be sick, broke, misinformed, and fearful. You know why? Because people who are sick, broke, misinformed, and fearful are easier to control than people who are healthy, wealthy, well-informed, and strong and rich. It's easier. So, what we have to do is we have to take God at his word. Satan's a parasite. The thief doesn't come but for to steal, kill, and destroy. Which means he's only coming to get something he can't get unless he takes it from somebody. Well, he's been taking it from God's people since the garden. He had nothing. He had nothing except have a bunch of other losers following him. Bunch of fallen angels following the lo the following the chief loser. He's like and then God creates man in his own image puts him on the earth in the garden of Eden. You know, people ask questions like, "Well, but if God didn't want man to eat off the tree of knowledge of good and evil, why'd he put it there? Well, because if there's no opportunity to do wrong, there's no opportunity to do right. There's no opportunity to do wrong. Then right is not right. It's just default. It's the only thing there is. God didn't want a bunch of default people to just love him because they had to. Do you want your wife to love you because she has to? Baby, do you love me? Yeah. God told me to. You don't want your husband to love you cuz cuz he has to. Am am I right about it? Well, why do you think that you have a desire for someone to love you because they love you? Because you're made in the image of God and you want somebody who has a choice to not love you to love you. That's what makes the love valuable. Is what I'm saying making some sense?

And so God gave us everything. And so Satan said, "I got to take it from him." And he's he's he's such a masterful deceiver. Satan only tells lies that sound like the truth. Do you realize the serpent got Eve to believe she was doing something good? Y'all do understand what I'm saying? Okay. He got her to believe she was doing something good. If she thought she was doing something bad, she wouldn't have eaten the fruit off the tree of knowledge. She couldn't eat. She said, "Okay, that's why he's neck. He's a He's a serpent. He's a snake. He twists things, connives, distorts, perverts. And so while we're talking about wealth and Satan and the deception and the beautiful abundance that God has given his people of gold on the earth, did you ever notice that the very first temptation in the history of the world, the first temptation was the temptation to focus on lack. What does that mean? No. What it was was to eat the fruit. Yeah. Okay. Read a little slower. Let's Let's treat the Bible like a school zone instead of like an interstate. Let's slow down so some learning can take place. Watch this. Genesis chapter 26-1 17. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every," everybody say every. Every, of every tree of the of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely, everybody say freely. Freely. Everybody say, "Every, every freely." Freely. Every freely. Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Does that sound like abundance or lack to you? Every and freely. Does it get more any more abundance than everything for free? I don't think you can have more abundance than everything for free. Okay, cool. The next chapter it says, "Now the serpent was more subtle than a beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, ya hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden." Not what God said. Satan, the serpent, the snake, that old serpent, the devil, as he's referred to in Revelation. He took out a word and added a word. He took out the word freely and added the word not. Yay hath God said, "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden." Does that change the meaning? Does that mean something different than every freely? Seems like it. God said Genesis, "Of every tree of the garden, not many freely eat, but of the tree of the tree." What tree? The Everybody say the. Now, I'm going to ask you all a really difficult mathematical equation question. How many is the? Okay. So, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. So what y'all telling me then is Adam and Eve had everything for free but one thing. Adam and Eve had the abundance of everything and lacked how many things? One thing. They had way more abundance than they had lack. But not only that, it tells us that what they lacked was in the middle of the garden of every tree. P of every tree, coconut trees and and pear trees and peach trees and and and apple trees and plum trees and and trees and more trees and olive trees and walnut trees and and trees and trees AND TREES AND TREES ALL AROUND THE GARDEN. BUT THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND evil is in the midst of the garden. Which means they had TO WALK PAST ALL THIS ABUNDANCE OVER HERE AND ALL THAT ABUNDANCE UP THERE. ALL THIS ABUNDANCE, ALL THAT ABUNDANCE OVER THERE. THEY HAD TO WALK PAST ALL OF that to get to the one thing they lacked.

You know why? Cuz Satan's a masterful liar. And he can make you think your friends are your enemies. And your enemies are your friends. And he can make you for what's against you and against what's for you. The devil's pearls are paste pearls. They have no value. His diamonds are luster's plastic. His nectar turns out to be hog slop. And if you eat the devil's corn, he'll choke you on the cob every single solitary time. The first temptation in the history of the world was a temptation to focus on lack. Why? Because Satan knew something that Adam and Eve didn't know yet. And that is that focus on lack perpetuates lack. It's your expectation of lack that perpetuates your experience of lack. What does an expectation of lack look like? Asking myself the question, what if it doesn't work? I mean, keeping it real. See, if you wouldn't if you had been asking yourself the question, what if it doesn't work? You'd have bought Facebook stock when it was $21. You'd have got Bitcoin when it was $12, at least 1,500. But what if it what if it goes down? Nothing perpetuates lack like focus on lack. Like I Most people are not aware of this, but you if you're focused on God and he's the God of abundance, where do you have room for lack?

Okay, this is why I say that poverty is always the result of spiritual warfare. Because and this is what it says. The god of this world has blinded their eyes. That's what he does. That's what Satan does. He blinds our eyes to the truth so that we believe a lie. And that's how we end up in lack. That's how he steals from us. That's how he kills us. That's how he destroys us by getting us to believe a l a lie that's based on lack. Oh, but but if but if I start living righteously and I start living for God, look at all the stuff I'm going to miss out on. Yeah, that's the point. I I pro you may not want to miss out on it on the its first day, but on its last day, you going to wish you had missed out on all of it. All I'm doing tonight is attempting to break up a little ground so you can make some room in your mind. See, and here's why. Because if you have an internal resistance to wealth because you think there's something inherently wrong with it, you will never work to produce something that you despise. You can't put your whole heart in it. In fact, you one of the problems you have is that you desire the wealth but you on a conscious level but you despise the wealth on an unconscious level. You know what that's referred to? Doublemindedness. Now, you remember what the Bible says about a double-minded man, don't you? UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. See, we are to be single-minded. Where did the singleness of our mind come from? It comes from the word of God. Like, can I share something with y'all that's so beautiful? When you are intimately familiar with the truth, you never have to be afraid of a lie. Okay? Like, let's say somebody's a racist. I'm just going to use that as an example, right? They don't like black people. You know, black people are less than. Okay? You know how much time I'm going to spend having an argument with that person about that? You know why? Because that would make as much sense to me as going outside and seeing someone yelling at the sky, "The sky is green and the grass is blue. The sky is green and the grass is blue." I'm like, "No, bro. Look, the grass is green. The sky is blue." Trust me. And I think there's something wrong with me because he thinks the sky is green and the grass is blue. One of the reasons racism bothers some people so much because there's a part of them that feels like you don't believe it, but you feel like it's true. Somebody says, "Myron, that is such

"a beautiful black suit you have on." Okay, I'm not GOING TO GET OFFENDED BY THAT. WHAT DO I care my you know, you know, white people are smarter than black people. Okay, if that's what you want to believe, do you, boo? I don't care.

Oh, and by the way, Mark Twain was right when he said, "Never argue with an idiot. They will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience." I'm not I don't I I'm never worried about what somebody believes that's if it's not true. If it doesn't line up with the word of God, I don't I don't some.

If somebody says to me, "My we want you to come speak at our conference. We'll pay you $250,000 and we'll, you know, pay for your jet and get you there, but you can't talk about the Bible." I'm staying home. You don't want me. I can refer you to some people who won't talk about the Bible. But if you want me to come and don't want me to talk about the Bible, then you want something I don't know how to be.

And I don't need the money and I don't want the money that bad. And I like MY HOUSE. I LIKE BEING AT HOME. Let me tell you something. Then I'm I'm going share one more verse with you. I'm going tell you something. My desire for all of God's people is for us to wake up and realize what it means. When Jesus said, "If you continue in my words and you're my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." It didn't say set you free. It said make you free. Which means the truth is the active participant in the emancipation of the man and the woman and the boy and the girl. The truth makes you free.

Which means any area of my life that I'm not intimately familiar with the truth and I'm not practicing the truth. Better yet, any area of my life in which I'm not free is an area of my life and in which I'm not intimately familiar with the truth and not not intensely practicing the truth. When I'm intensely practicing it and intimately familiar with the truth. I'm free. And let me give you what I believe is the best definition of freedom that I've ever heard. H I've got nothing to gain. Got nothing to lose. Got nothing to hide. Got nothing to prove. I've got nothing to gain. I don't want something from you.

If I meet you, people say, "My what's your elevator pitch?" I don't have one. When I meet people in an elevator, I'm not thinking about pitching anything to them. I want to know how their day is going. Even when I'm selling to people, I don't care if they buy, buy or don't buy. I I trust that you're smart enough to know if I'm selling you something whether it's good for you or not. And you're also smart enough to know if it's not. So for me me I'm not going to spend 116th of one second trying to talk you into it. Why I don't have an agenda. My agenda is to please God and serve people. That's my agenda. I got it from the word. So I know it's the right one. So nothing to gain. I've got nothing to gain. I'm not trying to get something from somebody like when ever I don't care. Okay.

So nothing to gain, nothing to prove. I don't need people to believe something about me. I just am who I am and I do what I do and I do my best to please God and serve people. If somebody doesn't like that, I can't fix that for them. But I'm not going to change it for them either. I'm just going to keep doing what I believe that God told me to do to please him and serve people. So I got nothing to gain. I've got nothing to prove. I've got nothing to hide. I'm not doing some little dirty underhanded deed in the booth in the back of the corner of the dark hoping they don't find out. There ain't nothing for them to find out. Okay, I'm gonna behave.

I've got nothing to lose. You know, my you got millions of dollars to lose. I got millions of dollars I manage. I'm a steward. It all belongs to God. In fact, the one who has it belongs to God. I'm God's. It's God's. We're God's. He can do with us what he pleases. I got nothing to lose. I'm not walking through life, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Is AI going to be like the end of the world? Probably. No, I No, I use AI. Like I use AI at a very very high level. Like a very very high level. Is it going to is it going to be utilized by the the in end time prophecy? Absolutely 100% positively without a doubt. But I'm not afraid of end times. I read the end of the book. Guess what? We've already won. I know how this thing turns out. Afraid of what? A beast, a mark, an antichrist. Child, please.

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. So, I'm going to read one last verse to you so that y'all can know that when I say that God put abundance and wealth earth for his people, I'm not just making that up. And that's not just in one isolated place in the Bible. It's all throughout the Bible. But I'm going to read a verse to you that you've probably never noticed before. I remember the first time I saw I was like, "What did you just say, bro?" Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Verse number 26 it says, "For God giveth to the man that is good in his sight." Who gives it to the man? Okay. Which man does he give it to? Good in his sight. God gives to the man that's good in his sight both wisdom and knowledge and joy. God gives to the man that's good in his sight, both wisdom and knowledge and joy. And then it says but. It didn't say and because and would be something similar. But is something different. But to the sinner he giveth travail. What's travail? hard labor to gather and to heap up, hustle and grind. Why does God give the sinner hard labor to gather and to heap up? right there in the Bible that he may give to him that is good before God. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

By the way, ju just in case you're wondering what that part means, I'm over time. Can I can I have one two more minutes? Is that okay? I'm I'm sorry. I never go over time. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. So the theme of the book of Ecclesiastes is if you live your life for life under the sun, you've wasted your life and tortured yourself. It's the lesson that Solomon learned too late in his life. When Solomon was when Solomon was um a child, he was a loving prince. He loved his father. He loved God, but he disobeyed God. And in the middle of his life, he became a lentious pro prodigal who wandered away from God and let his pagan wives draw his heart away from God. But that at the end of his life, he was a lamenting preacher and he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. You know what he said at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes? Something that would do us all good. Here's what he said. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. After I wasted my life and tortured myself, this is what I've learned. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. Can I make a recommendation for us for the rest of our lives? Let's just take God's word for it. Whatever he says.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your people. Thank you for this church. Thank you for Pastor Freeman. Thank you for bringing us together. Fill our hearts with your spirit. Open our eyes, guide our lives, and help us to have supernatural resolve to obey your word. And we thank you for what that will do in the name of Yeshua Hamashiach, our savior. Amen. Pastor. All right.