Gen 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Let us go to Genesis 1
Financial prosperity is just a small fraction of the blessing that God designs for us as his family. We have salvation, healing, deliverance, protection etc
Today we are talking about finances
I.) JESUS SPOKE MORE ABOUT MONEY IN THE N.T. THAN HEAVEN, HELL, OR ADULTERY!
The Rich Young Ruler
• The problem the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-27
had with following Jesus was not the rules and regulations, he’d kept the law since he’d been a child.
• What kept him from following Jesus was his inability to trust Jesus with his welfare!
17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But at these words [a]he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.
23 And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus *answered again and *said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said to Him, “[b]Then who can be saved?” 27 Looking at them, Jesus *said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
One of the predominating factors of revival was a spirit of giving.
If we are to overcome completely, Our attitude to money must change – “Money is a great servant but a bad master.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ made us to realize the impact of God’s blessing in the feeding of the 5000.
God can multiply what you think is small and non existent.
Having a right concept of the blessing will help to ensure we are never in lack at anytime in our lives.
In other to be blessed, your participation is required.
Prov 3: 9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
2 Cor 9:10
10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
You cannot outgive God.
*** EACH TIME YOU GIVE… you reposition yourself to receive! Consider Hannah
Wrong attitude to the blessing of God
*** Most rich people are very anxious about their wealth.
Luke 12:13-21
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
*** They worry about many things, such as the best way to invest it, how to keep it, how to get more, and they have a fear of losing it or having it stolen.
1 Tim 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
I want to us to do good with our money and to serve God with joyfulness and gladness of heart in the use of them.
GOD WANTS TO BLESS US!
***We are his most precious possession. The apple of His eyes.
Ps 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
Gen 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 27:26-29 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
28Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
29Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
In bible times they understood the power of (blessing) it was coveted and sought after, even if meant treachery to obtain it as with Jacob.
Why Jacob ? = deceiver, subplanter,
God was showing us that just like Jacob we were chosen for the blessing in spite of our old nature,
The blessing was to Jacob prophetically but it came experientially not on Jacob but on Israel = the new nature.
Esau rejected the blessing, because he was too short sighted, he lived for the moment, He is a type of the carnal christian, who lives only by what he sees and what he feels, The natural and temporal
Jacob on the other hand was looking ahead to that which was greater,
In our christian culture today we have lost the meaning of blessing, we think of it as a touch or an experience where we feel good for a few minutes.
They understood it to pertain to their destiny, The blessing established their posterity and future prosperity, for generations to come.
The blessing usually came upon the first born, but we find that many times it came upon the 2’nd born
Why? Because Jesus was the 2’nd Adam.
Why is that important? Because The blessing of God is upon Jesus, ( The blessing is upon us because we are in him and he is in us.
Gal 3:13-14
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Gal 3:29
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So we find that the blessing of Abraham is upon Jesus, and Because we are in him and he is in us, The blessing is upon us.
There was two parts to the blessing, one was the blessing it’self what it promised to the one who received it. The second part was that the blessing would protect the one who received it, even to the point of causing any curse that was sent to come back on the one who sent it.
Gen. 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Prov 11:11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
Prov 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Words can either bless or curse
James 3:8-10
8But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Prov 26:27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Balak the king of Moab hired baalim the prophet to curse the children of Israel, Baalim had it in his heart to do exactly that, but God would not allow it.
Num 23:11
11And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether
Num 23:20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
TOO BLESSED: THE CURSE CANNOT REVERSE THE BLESSING, BUT THE BLESSING CAN REVERSE THE CURSE
Deut 23:5
5Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.
The Lord thy God loves thee today my friend and if you’ll take him at his word, he will turn your circumstances around, (You are too blessed to be cursed). rise up right now in Jesus name
If you want God’s BLESSING, pay attention to the following words: OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY. OBEY! When we willfully disobey, history tells us that we walk out from under God¡¦s umbrella of BLESSING.
In Genesis 12:2-3 the Lord says to Abram, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In other words, Israel that comes from Abraham will be the apple of his eye. God will deal with man and nations on their position of being for or against Israel. (Deut. 32:9-10; Zech. 2:8-9; individually Ps.17:8).
As the Abrahamic covenant was further outworked we find Isaac blessed his son Jacob and pronounced a curse on those who would came against him. Genesis 27:29: “Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”
God is dealing with a nation, a people according to His covenant of law. His covenant was conditional. Obedience brought blessings and breaking the commandments brought curses.
This genealogy also should serve as a warning to us who have been blessed with godly parents. Aaron had some sons who were consecrated as priests, but they did not obey the Lord and He struck them dead with fire from heaven (Lev. 10:1-3). Aaron also had a grandson, Phinehas (Ezra 7:5), who took bold action for God so that a plague was stopped among the Israelites. Israel had fallen into the insidious plot of Balaam, who counseled the Midianite king to seduce Israel into idolatry through intermarriage. An Israelite man brazenly had brought a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of all Israel. Phinehas took a spear, went into the tent, and pierced them both through, probably while they were in the act of immorality!