REVIEW
So we have started out this new year with a new teaching series on the subject of finances, and I am calling this series, “financially faithful,” because God requires faithfulness from His people in every area of our life, including our finances & possessions.  
We’ve started off looking at what I consider to be the most important part of faithfully stewarding our finances, and that is, the way we think about these things.
You see, I’ve come to find out that our lives will oftentimes reflect the way we think. In other words, as the Scriptures teach us, as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Therefore, we need to correct any wrong thought patterns concerning finances because if we’ve got some “stinkin’ thinkin’” in this area, it will impact our financial lives.  
For example, there are certain people out there who have the mentality that you spend all you have, you run up those credit lines, and live for today’s pleasures. This is why, statistically speaking, people who win the lottery don’t hold on to that windfall for very long. The same goes for some young professional athletes who come out of very poverty-stricken situations and get signed to huge contracts. A lot of them also go broke. Why? Because of how they think about money.
Therefore, our attitude, mentality, and way of thinking about finances can greatly determine how much of it we attract or repel, keep or lose, etc. And this works both naturally and spiritually – meaning, not only does it work in the world, but if one has a wrong belief system about Christianity & finances, then it can also greatly impact this area of our lives. 
So a couple of weeks ago, we started off this renewal of our minds concerning the spiritual side of finances by looking at the subject of prosperity and asking the question – Does God desire for us to prosper? And we discovered that it is clear in the Scriptures that God indeed has pleasure in the prosperity of His people. In fact, we saw how He told us to continually say this about Him in order to magnify this aspect of Him (See Psalms 35:27).
And it’s simply logical as we made the point that there is no parent on this planet who doesn’t want for their beloved children to be successful, thrive, or flourish. No, we all what our kids & grandkids to prosper in every area of their life, including their vocation, finances, and possessions. And our Heavenly Father is no different.
Now as we saw in Third John 2, the Lord certainly wants our soul prospering, first and foremost. Kind of like you and I want to have a good relationship with our kids more than anything. So if they started prospering in this life and then didn’t have any more time for you, then you might not be too pleased with their prosperity, right? But if they are doing well in life and they maintain good fellowship with you and aren’t hurting themselves or others with their prosperity, nothing could be much more pleasing than this to any good parent. Amen?
Therefore, our hearts need to be okay with this truth that God wants His children to prosper – especially when there are so many Scriptures that back up God’s will to bless the financial lives of His children – because if we don’t embrace this truth, our lives can reject it. Amen or Oh me?   
Then last week, we looked at some of the Bible verses that many of us have heard over the years in church that seem to contradict this way of thinking that God desires for His children to prosper.   
We covered the story of the rich, young ruler – the guy who came to Jesus asking how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus eventually responding with telling him to sell all he has and give it to the poor.
Well, we learned from that story that Jesus was just getting to his heart in telling him to do this. In fact, we don’t see Jesus asking anyone else to do this during His ministry. So it was apparently just a thing where Jesus knew that this guy loved his possessions, and this was keeping him from fully giving his life over to God.
But this isn’t the only stumbling block from the Bible that people use to disarm the teaching of financial prosperity. We looked at another section of Scriptures that has been used to counter the prosperity gospel. These are where those sayings come from like – “Well, the Bible does say that money is the root of all evil” or “I mean, the Bible speaks of being content with just having enough.”
So we looked at these verses in First Timothy chapter 6 and discovered that they are not speaking of a Christian’s calling to be poor, but rather of a sober, balanced view of money as believers.
We learned that money is not the root of all evil, but rather, it’s the love of money. In other words, it’s not money in and of itself that is bad; it’s the way people can misuse it and think about it that is bad. In one verse, we saw how it was those who desire to be rich that the Scriptures condemns.
You see, wealth and prosperity can either be a great asset or a great enemy. If we would not serve money but rather let it serve us by being a blessing to others with it, then wealth would not be able to choke our spiritual development. It is only when we allow money to deceive us into thinking, for instance, that we have to have it or that it is going to make us happy that it becomes error. Therefore, it is trusting in riches and mishandling it in other ways that will hinder our growth and fruitfulness.
So we defined what true prosperity is, what it means to be content with such things as we have, and how to use money for the advancement of the kingdom – which is all beautifully described in verses 18-19 when Paul exhorted those who have money is to make sure they are using it to do good, and to give & share. Why? Because of the reward and how it affects us throughout all eternity! Amen!
Therefore, there is a general, right way to think about money in order to be good Christians who properly handle our finances. Amen?
                                                       REDEEMED FOR THE BLESSING
Now today, I want us to continue our emphasis on how the way we think & our belief system are super important to becoming more financially faithful. This week, I’d like us to look more into how we see ourselves, how we think in our hearts, etc.
So let’s talk today about the mentality that we need to have regarding ourselves and financial increase by looking at an extremely powerful passage of Scripture – Galatians 3:13-14.
I for one, have spent a lot of time in the past talking about these verses and how we have been redeemed from the curse of the law, and we can see how this certainly included poverty & lack. But in verse 14, I want you to notice that not only do we see how we have been redeemed from the curse of the law; we also see how we have been redeemed for the blessing of Abraham. That means that the same blessing that was on Abraham’s life has been given to every born-again believer. Amen!
 
Galatians 3:9 says, “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Some translations describe him as “faithful Abraham.” So all of us who are of faith are blessed along with the father of faith, Abraham. And again, this is not just any blessing; this is same blessing that Abraham was blessed with. 
 
So what is this blessing of Abraham? Many read this to say, “the blessingS of Abraham” – thinking that being blessed is just having a lot of stuff. But this is something that we need to renew our minds on because there is a difference between being “blessed” and having “blessings.” Being blessed is the empowerment to prosper and obtain blessings, but the blessings are not the root of the blessing. They are simply the fruit of the blessing.
 
We are told in Proverbs 10:22 - “The Blessing of the Lord makes one rich and adds no sorrow to it.”Notice that in this Scripture, the blessing of the Lord is separated from riches. We, likewise, need to separate the two because the blessing is not wealth; it is the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
 
You see, the blessing of the Lord is an intangible thing. If our house were to burn down today, we are still blessed. Abraham’s blessing is not a donkey, a camel, a tent, etc. It is the root of the things he possessed. So the blessing of the Lord is an intangible thing that affects tangible things. To the Jews, they understood the blessing because they grew up in it. We here in the United States don’t understand it as well. We like to label blessings as things, but they did not see it that way. 
 
A great example of the blessing is found in the life of Joseph …
 
In Genesis chapter 39, after Joseph was sold by his brothers, it starts off in verse 1 by saying, “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.”
 
Have you felt like you are “down there?” So picture what was happening here … Joseph was in his lowest state. He had just been betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery for 20 shekels of silver. Now he, being stripped of his tunic of many colors, was standing stripped of his coat that represented his favor, being sold into slavery. So for all intents and purposes, Joseph looked as though he had been stripped of all favor and had hit rock bottom, being sold into slavery.
 
But then in Genesis 39:2we are told that the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man! The King James Version translates it that he was a “prosperous” man. Mind you, this statement was on the heels of him being in the lowest place of his life.
 
This seems to echo to me what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:28before she would give birth to Christ, experiencing the manifestation of the favor. He said, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.”Again, this was told to her before she even had a clue what God was going to accomplish through her! So what we need a mind renewal of is that it is still the truth even if none of our current circumstances line up with it yet. 
 
So here is the lesson we need to learn from this: Even if everything in our life seems to be falling apart and we are in our lowest state, God is still with us and, therefore, He still sees us as prosperous! Amen! Therefore, we need to see ourselves the same—as blessed and prosperous! Our circumstances do not determine whether or not we are blessed; God’s Word determines that we are blessed! Amen!
 
In fact, the Greek word for “blessing” is eulogia – which is derived from the word logos which means “word.” So you cannot separate God’s Word from His blessing. And until we learn to receive God’s Word, we won’t be blessed. His Words are what blesses us—that is, us putting faith in His Words! The blessing of the Lord works in our lives as we mix faith with it. Like we have seen in Galatians 3:9, Paul taught that ultimately those who are blessed with the father of faith, Abraham, are those who are “of faith.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BLESSED?
So what does it mean to be blessed? To be blessed describes “divine empowerment.” It means to be favored, empowered, enabled, and destined to succeed.
In the Bible, there are several words that are usually translated as “blessing” or “bless.” The Hebrew word most often translated “bless” is barak, which can mean to praise, congratulate, or salute, and is even used to mean a curse. Genesis 1:22 is the first occurrence, when God blessed the sea creatures and birds, telling them to be fruitful and multiply in the earth. Likewise, in verse 28, God gave the similar blessing to Adam and Eve, adding that they were to exercise dominion over creation. When God called Abram to go to the Promised Land (Genesis 12:1-3), He promised to bless him, make his name great, and through him, to bless all the families of the earth. The blessings here are plainly associated with happiness and welfare, both for Abram and others.
God is not the only one who pronounces blessings. When Rebekah left her family to become Isaac's wife (Genesis 24:60), her family blessed her by saying “may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” When Isaac was ready to die, he pronounced this blessing on his son, Jacob: “May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed” (Genesis 27:28-29).
In the New Testament, there are two primary Greek words translated as “blessing.” The first being makarios, which carries the meaning of happiness. The Beatitudes of Matthew 5 and Luke 6 describe the happy state of those who find their purpose and fulfillment in God. As in the Psalms, the best life is available for those who love and fear God and order their lives according to His Word. Romans 4:6-8 ties this happy blessing to those whose sins are forgiven, for they know the relationship to God has been restored. Eulogeo focuses more on good words or the good report that others give of someone and also describes the blessing that we say over our food (Matthew 26:26). This word is where we get our English word “eulogy,” in which we speak well of one who has passed away. Ephesians 1:3 blesses God for all the blessings that He gives us in Christ, and First Peter 3:9 instructs us to bless those who mistreat us, because we were called to receive a blessing from God.
Tying all of these threads together, we see that a blessing is a statement of goodwill and happiness that is said about another, as well as the condition that fulfills those good words. God's original design in creation was for His creatures, including mankind, to experience prosperity, peace, and fulfillment, but that design was ruined when sin entered the world. Statements of blessing are a wish for God to restore His favor on others or a declaration of His inherent goodness. The ultimate blessing that God has given is the new life and forgiveness that comes through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The material blessings we enjoy from day to day are temporary, but the spiritual blessings available to us in Christ encompass time and eternity, as well as material and immaterial things. As the Psalmist said, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psalm 146:5).
Now while it is hard to nail down one good synonym for the word “blessing,” I think the perfect antonym for the word “blessing” is a curse. Being blessed is the opposite of being cursed.
So what does it mean to be “cursed?” It means to be damned, doomed, jinxed, to have bad luck, bedeviled.
Now be careful about becoming too educated on the curse and curses. Some groups of Christians are so curse minded that they end up living in the curse. They are highly developed in faith for curses. There are these groups who always emphasize different kinds of evil spirits, curses, etc. And while I understand that there is a time where we need to talk about these things, they should be few and far between. If you and I spend more time focusing on and talking about all these evil spirits out there than focusing on and talking about the Holy Spirit, guess what kind of spirit you are going to have show up at your meetings? That’s right—those evil spirits who are being celebrated. No, saints, all you need to really know about the curse is that you are redeemed from it!
 
But a point I want you to see here is that the blessing is primarily transmitted through words. This part is clear when we study the way God blessed people & things. In fact, we see the same in the blessing of Abraham because this is how God blessed him ...
 
We see in Genesis 12:1-3that when he called Abram— “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 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.’”
 
Now a lot of these promises certainly included Abram being blessed financially too. Let’s not over-spiritualize this. Yes, it was God’s blessing on Abraham which is what caused him to increase financially.  And this did not hurt his relationship with God either. Even though he was “very rich” (See Genesis 13:2), His commitment to following the Lord did not wane.
 
Notice how Genesis 12:1 says, “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you…”
 
These words “had said” are very significant in this respect: they were words given well before there was ever even a blade coming up out of the ground! And do we not see this throughout Abraham’s life? God would give him grand and glorious promises of what He was going to do for him and then, sometimes a quarter of century later, he would see the manifestation of them.
 
You see saints, God “has said” many things to us! He has promised us that the blessing of Abraham is on our lives, that He wills for us to prosper in all things and be in health, that He has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants, etc., etc., etc. But like it was with Abram, we will not see the manifestation of them until we start seeing ourselves as blessed!
 
You see, Abram had to have his name changed from Abram to “Abraham” and then the fruit of the blessing began to come into fruition in his life. In other words, God had to change this man’s identity before he could receive the promise! Likewise, we need to change our identity as well! We need to start seeing ourselves as a blessed, highly favored, and prosperous man or woman of God. Then when that new identity is formed within us, we change our confession: no longer am I just “Lonnie Willis Dickerson III,” identifying myself by my old name; now I am “Trey Blessed Dickerson!”
 
Saints, this is how real this needs to become to us—that just as we are Trey, Robert, Minton or Shannon; we are blessed! It is who we are! We are just as much blessed as we are who we are! Amen!    
THE ROOT OF THE BLESSING
So like Galatians 3:13 says, we have received the blessing of Abraham. Now you can see the fruit of this blessing throughout his life, but if you want to see a specific description of what it entails, you need look no further than Deuteronomy chapter 28 where both the curse of the law & the blessing of the law are described.
 
Now one might think that the blessing of the law was different than the blessing of Abraham, but I don’t believe there is – for as Romans 10:12says, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” Yes, just like He is the same God to the Jews as He is to the Gentiles, He is the same God to the Jews as He was to Abraham. On top of that, this “same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” In other words, He’s the same to all who call on Him, from Abraham thousands of years ago to the church in the 21st Century – and if He’s the same, then His blessing is the same. Amen?   
 
So let’s take a look at this blessing that God promised to the sons of Abraham in Deuteronomy chapter 28…
Beginning in verse 1, the Lord through Moses said, “Now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today…” Then he goes on in verses one through fourteen to describe the blessings that will come upon them and overtake them.
 
Then if you look at verse 15, notice what He says then – “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these (what?) CURSES will come upon you and overtake you.”
 
So in verse 1, the Lord said that if they would diligently obey His voice and observe carefully all of His commandments that all these blessings would come upon them and overtake them, but then in verse 15 he said, if you do not do these things then all of these curses would come upon them and overtake them.
 
But what I want us to do here is ask a legitimate question – because people will read these passages in the dark and not through the light. How many of you know that it’s really hard to comprehend what you are reading if you are reading without the proper lighting?
 
And while I do not subscribe to some of the preachers’ teachings out there that say we need to throw out the Old Testament, I do believe, however, that we need to see the light of the New Testament in order to truly comprehend the Old Testament. In other words, by truly seeing the Light of the world—Jesus— through the New Covenant, we can then begin to see Him in the Old Testament. As it has been so well put – The Old Testament is Christ concealed; the New Testament is Christ revealed.
 
You see, the reason I say this is because people will read verses like this in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and they will say, “Ok, so if I will just obey God’s voice and observe carefully all of His commandments, then I will be blessed and not receive these curses.” But how many of you know this is not what God was trying to teach us here.
 
Answer this for me: According to Galatians 3:13, Who is the Redeemer? In other words, who paid the price and ransom to free us from the curse of the law? 
 
Now I know that if you asked this question to a thousand Christians, you would likely get a 100% of them responding with the obvious answer – Jesus Christ. However, if you listen to them over an extended period of time and ask them pointed questions like how do we walk in our forgiveness, righteousness, healing, deliverance, prosperity, you will get the vast majority of them telling you all the things we must do to receive these blessings.
 
Well, what does Galatians 3:13 say again? It says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.” So notice how the apostle Paul here specifically says that it is Christ who has redeemed us.
 
You see, how could Jesus justifiably become the curse of the law for us? It was because He perfectly fulfilled this stipulation – He completely obeyed the voice of His Father and the Holy Spirit, He totally and carefully observed ALL of God’s commandments and His statutes. So because Jesus perfectly, totally and completely fulfilled these stipulations and then hung on the Cross and willingly took the curse of the law anyways, then we, who could not keep all of the law and deserved its curse, can justifiably be redeemed from the curse of the law. Now that is shouting ground right there! Amen!
 
So the way Deuteronomy 28:15 needs to be understood is from the New Covenant basis of Galatians 3:13—that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, not we ourselves.
 
So again, this verse was coming from the standpoint that, yes, you must do these things – obeying the voice of the Lord and observing carefully all His commandments and statutes – in order to be blessed. But if Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, then the cost is not laid on our shoulders. He paid the ransom for us to live free from the curse. Amen!
 
Therefore, Christ, and Christ alone, has redeemed us from the curse. It’s not Christ PLUS something else. It is Him and Him alone. So when we mix faith with this instead of trying to accomplish it like the Jews were supposed to, then we will start seeing more of the fruit of it.
 
THE FRUIT OF THE BLESSING
Now as we begin looking at the different examples that the Lord used to describe how they were going to be blessed in Deuteronomy chapter 28, we need to understand that He was referring to the specific things they could relate to because they were primarily farmers and shepherds. Therefore, we will have to look at the specific things He said, and see how they relate to our current lifestyle & culture.
 
So let’s look at this first example from that perspective: What does it mean to be “blessed in the city and blessed in the country”? (Deuteronomy 28:3)
 
This basically just describes whether we are in one kind of area or another, we are to be blessed. Now by understanding who it was that He was referring to, you can tell why He said this. Why? Because these farmers and shepherds by trade might have been able to see themselves as blessed “in the country,” but they might not have been able to see themselves blessed “in the city.”
 
You see, some people just seem to have a hard time if they are in a particular situation and cannot see themselves successful in something that is outside of their familiarity or comfort zone. While they might do well if they are in the “city” which is where commerce, people, technology, etc. surround them, they don’t do well in the “country” where things operate a little differently. On the other hand, some people just seem to be “cursed” no matter what their situation is or where they are at. They fail in the man-made places, and they fail in the God-made places.
 
The Bible tells us that Isaac sowed in the year of famine and reaped a hundredfold harvest (see Genesis 26:12). This was in the worst economic situation imaginable, and he didn’t just “make it,” he actually prospered and prospered greatly!
 
I am reminded of the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot: When the strife came up between their herdsman, Abraham gave the choice to Lot which land he would take. Of course, Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom (i.e. the city) while Abraham took the lesser land. Do you know why? First off, because Abraham loved Lot and preferred him above himself (this is the way the blessed man or woman will act), but also because Abraham knew God’s blessing was upon him and it didn’t matter who had the better land. He was going to be blessed no matter where his “lot” was (pun intended). Amen!
 
Someone will say, “Well, I just have a tough time if I work out of town where I don’t know people, etc.” No, don’t say that! Rather say, “I’m blessed no matter where I am! I’m redeemed from failure no matter where I am positioned! Amen!”
 
You see, this is why you see the strange inconsistencies in people who win the lottery going bankrupt within a short period of time. How is that possible? Well, it’s because prosperity is not just having more stuff; true prosperity begins on the inside, not the outside. So until we see ourselves as blessed and act like a blessed person acts (i.e. being a wise steward, etc.), we will not keep it on the outside.
 
Then this verse says, “(Blessed shall be) the produce of your ground!” Now, again, the Lord was using the terms that the Israelites understood because they were farmers and shepherds.
 
Their “ground” was the place where their increase and provision came from. So this would describe our workplace—the “ground” by which our increase comes from. Since this refers to our ground, this could also refer to our own business, etc. Regardless, the place where our provision comes from will be blessed! Amen!
 
Did you know that the place you work for is blessed simply because you work there? It sure is – whether you know it or not. We see this in the life of Jacob – how the Lord blessed Laban for the sake of Jacob. Laban himself said, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” (Genesis 30:27) We also see this in the life of Joseph that the Lord blessed the house of Potiphar because of Joseph. (See Genesis 39:5)
 
Saints, this is the kind of blessing that we should carry into our workplace!
 
Now notice verse 5: It says, “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” I know that these two examples don’t mean a lot to us today, but let’s look at what they represent…
 
The “basket” was what they used to collect their harvest from the fields (i.e. it was what they used to contain and carry their increase). Amen! So what would this be for us? How about our bank account, investments, purse, or wallet? That’s where you put your increase, right?
 
I can’t help but think of Jesus feeding the multitudes and how, after He had given thanks and blessed the bread and the fish, he gave them to His disciples to distribute to the crowd. Now I envision that if they were feeding thousands of people, the disciples distributed the loaves and fishes in something – maybe in the baskets that they used to collect the fragments, right?
 
But can you see what was happening here? These five loaves and two small fish actually began multiplying as the disciples were distributing them. Now I don’t personally believe that they even physically saw how they were multiplying; but that after they took some out of the baskets to give to people, it just seemed like more was there the next time their hand went to grab some more.
 
Saints, this is how the blessing works, glory to God! Your basket is blessed! So as you become this “distributing disciple” – that is, that believer who sees themselves as a sower – God will supernaturally multiply your account’s bottom line, Hallelujah!
 
Saints, if you are living in such a way that seems like you have holes in your basket and it disappears just as quickly as it you put it in there, that’s the curse, and you are redeemed from that! Jesus paid the price for you to be redeemed from having holes in your pockets! Amen!
 
Now for the kneading bowl: This was the device that was used by the women of their day to knead dough for the purpose of making bread. So our “kneading bowl” would be described as the thing that we use to make our bread. No I am not necessarily talking about your crock pot; I’m talking about your money maker, or you could say our “kneading bowl” is the thing that creates our increase. Amen!
 
So our basket and our kneading bowl describe the things we use to carry our increase and the things we use to create our increase.
 
Deuteronomy 28:6 says, “Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out.” (Compare Psalm 121:8)
 
This means that we are blessed when we start out, and we are blessed when we go out—from beginning to end, we are blessed! 
 
Now being blessed does not mean that we will not have challenges – where it does not seem like we are blessed. You will have times and seasons where you will have to operate by faith and not by sight. Job did.
 
The Scriptures teach us that he was the greatest of all the people of the East, living in the land of Uz. And the Bible describes his “greatness” as him, first of all, being “blameless and upright, one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) But then it goes on to describe his possessions- 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and a very large household. (Job 1:3) Yes, this man was super blessed coming in!
 
But then everyone seems to get hung up on the trials of Job and miss one of the greatest historical points of his story …
 
Although he suffered more than any man should have to suffer—losing his family, his health and his possessions, the Bible tells us in the last chapter of the Book of Job that “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10) Also, verse 12 said, “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. (Sounds like He was blessed going out, huh?) He also had 7 sons and 3 daughters (Job 42:13). Lastly, we are told – “After this Job lived 140 years, and saw his children and grandchildren for 4 generations. So Job died, old and full of days.” (Job 42:16-17). This verse reminds me of Psalm 91:16 – “With long life I will satisfy him, And show him my salvation.” Saints, we should become so old that even old people call us old—living out fullness of days and experiencing the fullness of His salvation all the way!
 
We should be blessed coming into this world and blessed going out of it too! Amen! 
 
So those are just a few of the fruits of the blessing that is on our lives! But we must choose this blessing, and how do we do this? Let’s look over at one more important passage of Scripture …
 
CHOOSE BLESSING!
 
In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 & Deuteronomy 30:19, the Lord set before them blessing and cursing, life and death. In other words, He set it before the nation of Israel. He was not choosing it for them! Now He, in His great goodness, gave them the answer by saying “Choose life!” but He was not going to do it for them.
 
Why is this important to understand? It’s because the majority of the church believes otherwise. Most Christians believe God is the One choosing who’s blessed and who’s cursed. Wrong! I said, wrong! God has given us the option whether we will have blessing and cursing, life or death!
 
And how do we choose life and blessing? Well, Proverbs says that life and death is in the power of the tongue! Amen! So we choose life and the blessing by our faith filled words – by the spirit of faith, believing and therefore speaking (Second Corinthians 4:13)!
 
This is how Paul said that we pull down strongholds & cast down imaginations in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5…
 
The words “pulling down and casting down” come from very similar Greek words that, when broken down, literally mean to “choose down” – indicating that the element of choice is involved in bringing down those strongholds and wrong thought patterns that are contrary to God’s Word.
 
You see, the way that you are going to pull down those strongholds of “I’m just jinxed, If I didn’t have bad luck then I’d have no luck at all.” Stop it! I’d rather curse than speak those things over my life! Plus, that is speaking completely contrary to Scripture. Amen?
 
No, we need to choose the blessing today! And how are we going to choose it? We will choose it with our tongue! Our tongue has the power to choose blessing, life, and grace! Amen?
 
So choose to start being more blessed minded today! Adopt a new way of thinking about yourself that is based on God’s Word. Once we start thinking this way, it will change our behavior. Once we have this mindset, it will change our experiences. Amen.       

REVIEW
Last week, we started a new teaching series on the subject of finances, giving, and God’s attitude towards it.
And I do understand that this subject is a very controversial one in the Body of Christ as there has been much “unhealthy” teaching on the subject. You don’t have to watch Christian television too long to find that preacher out there who is just trying to get in your pocketbook to pad his or her pockets. So, yes, I acknowledge this is a problem and always has been a problem. And this is why a lot of Christians don’t like hearing the “preacher talk about money.”
But just because there are abuses on the subject and those out there who preach about it for self-gain, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Bible has a lot to say about this subject. So let’s not let the misuse and abuse of these things spoil the riches of the revelation of this subject. It will change your life when you start letting God be first in your finances and you learn to seek first His kingdom in this area.
Nevertheless, the fact that a lot of Christians don’t like hearing this in church is not just because of the unethical teaching revolved around it. What I have found is that the majority of people who have a problem with when preachers talk about money are those are aren’t “doing” it in their lives. In other words, they are not practicing the biblical principles of being good stewards of their finances.
Yes, one of the main reasons people don’t like to hear about this is because they are not doing it. For example, if you are living in sin, you don’t want to hear someone tell you the need to clean your act up, right? Well, we might need to clean up our act in this area. It’s quite possible that people need to do what the Bible says in this area. Amen?
So I’m calling this series “financially faithful,” and while to most believers this concept doesn’t mean a lot, it really should – because God requires faithfulness from His children in every area of our life, including our finances & possessions.  
You see, when one gives their life to Christ, they are committing to be faithful to Him in every area of their life. It’s a lot like a marriage – Sure, we are supposed to have fidelity with our spouse, and yes, the Bible teaches us that even your body is not your own when you get married, but when we become one flesh with our spouse, being faithful means more than just the sexual things. It means that all that is mine is hers, and all that is hers is mine. Therefore, there’s not my money and Shannon’s money. It is our money – it doesn’t matter if I earn it or if it is given to her. Everything is ours.
Well, our covenant with the Lord is the same. It is not our stuff and His stuff. He has promised to give us everything that is His. In exchange, He wants everything that is ours – including our finances.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Lord expects us to give away everything that we possess. He understands that we have needs and desires. But this mentality that it’s “my money” needs to be erased. Our body is His. That means if he needs me to be present somewhere, then I’m there. Or if He needs my hands laid on someone, then I do it. Likewise, our finances are His. So that means that if He tells me to give someone a certain amount of money, then I do it. And if he told me to give it all away, I do it. In fact, this is not just with our body or wallet; this is with our entire life. Yes, our life is His. And what He expects out of His Bride is that we are faithful to Him in every area of our life. Amen?   
And what is so powerful about this truth is that when we see things this way, it is not quite as difficult to be faithful with our money, because, again, it’s not our money. It’s His! I’m simply stewarding the money He has allowed me to be blessed with. (We will get more into this in the coming weeks).
Now we started off last week looking at the way we, as Christians, think about money and what we believe that God thinks concerning it.
You see, I’ve come to find out that our lives will oftentimes reflect the way we think. In other words, as the Scriptures teach us, as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Therefore, we need to correct any wrong thought patterns concerning finances because if we’ve got some “stinkin’ thinkin’” in this area, it will impact our financial lives.  
For example, there are certain people out there who have the mentality that you spend all you have, you run up those credit lines, and live for today’s pleasures. This is why, statistically speaking, people who win the lottery don’t hold on to that windfall for very long. The same goes for some young professional athletes who come out of very poverty-stricken situations and get signed to huge contracts. A lot of them also go broke. Why? Because of how they think of money.
Therefore, our attitude, mentality, and way of thinking about money can greatly determine how much we attract or repel, keep or lose, etc. And this works both naturally and spiritually – meaning, not only does it work in the world, but if one has a wrong belief system about Christianity & finances, then it can greatly impact this area of our lives. 
So last week, we started off this renewal of our minds of the spiritual side of finances by looking at the subject of prosperity and asking the question – Does God desire for us to prosper? And we discovered that it is clear in the Scriptures that God indeed has pleasure in the prosperity of His people. In fact, we saw how He told us to continually say this about Him in order to magnify this aspect of Him (See Psalms 35:27).
And it’s simply logical as we made the point that there is no parent on this planet who doesn’t want for their beloved children to be successful, thrive, or flourish. No, we all want our kids & grandkids to prosper in every area of their life, including their vocation, finances, and possessions. And our Heavenly Father is no different.
Now as we saw in Third John 2, the Lord certainly wants our soul prospering, first and foremost. Kind of like you and I want to have a good relationship with our kids more than anything. So if they started prospering in this life and then didn’t have any more time for you, then you might not be too pleased with their prosperity, right? But if they are doing well in life and they maintain good fellowship with you and aren’t hurting themselves or others with their prosperity, nothing could be much more pleasing than this to any good parent. Amen?
Therefore, our hearts need to be okay with this truth that God wants His children to prosper – especially when there are so many Scriptures that back up God’s will to bless the financial lives of His children.  
THE ANTI-ADVOCATE
However, there is another side to this that we must address – because there are a lot of New Testament Scriptures that seem to take the opposite approach of this.
We covered one of them last week in talking about the rich, young ruler – You know, the story of the guy who came to Jesus asking how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus eventually responding with telling him to sell all he has and give it to the poor?
Well, we learned from that story that Jesus was just getting to his heart in telling him to do this. In fact, we don’t see Jesus asking anyone else to do this during His ministry. So it was apparently just a thing where Jesus knew that this guy loved his possessions and this was keeping him from fully giving his life over to God.
Not to mention, we learned from the Book of Proverbs that when one gives to the poor, that they are lending to the Lord, and He promised to repay them. So this rich, young ruler was not being called into a vow of poverty like so many have taught. No, Jesus was simply targeting an issue in his heart that needed to be dealt with. Do you see that?
But this isn’t the only stumbling block from the Bible that people use to disarm the teaching of financial prosperity. There is another section of Scriptures that I would like to address today – and these are found in First Timothy chapter 6.  
You see, people will use some of the truths from this chapter to say things like – “Well, the Bible does say that money is the root of all evil” or “I mean, the Bible speaks of being content with just having enough.” Let’s look at the verses of this chapter and see what Paul was teaching us about these things …
Now it’s important to note that last week, one of the verses we used to describe how God is pleased to prosper His people was also in this chapter where the apostle Paul said in verse 17, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”
So we saw how this verse teaches you and I that our Heavenly Father desires to give us, not just some things; no, He wants to give us all things. Not only that, but He desires to give us not just all things, but richly all things to enjoy.
But what I want to draw our attention to this week is the context of this wonderful verse. In fact, some of the verses preceding this one seem to indicate that God does not want us blessed and that we are wrong in thinking that God desires to prosper us.
But unless we think Paul was schizophrenic, they obviously cannot mean what many have interpreted them to mean when you look at them through the light of First Timothy 6:17. So let’s take another look at verses 5-10 and see what Paul was teaching us through them …
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?
You see, like I said, one of the favorite go-to quotes from the Bible when it comes to this subject of money is the one found in First Timothy 6:10.
Now there are many who incorrectly quote it as saying that money is the root of all evil, but that is not completely true. Paul said that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. It’s like people say in our world today, “Guns kill people!” Well, that is like saying, “My fork made me fat, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk” No, it’s how we use these things that causes problems.
Many Christians have a great misconception about these things – thinking that prosperity is evil. But actually you can look at biblical accounts of those who walked with God and are today considered heroes of the faith, and they were multi-millionaires. Go study the lives of Abraham, David, Solomon, etc., and you will find that these guys were super wealthy but, most importantly, for the majority of their lives, were super godly. So for us to think that prosperity is evil in and of itself is just simply not true. Money is a tool! It is as simple as that. For example, if I have a flathead screwdriver and use it to fix things around the house, that tool is a good, useful thing. But if I start using that screwdriver to break into people’s house by prying open doors, etc. then I (not the screwdriver) am a transgressor. That make sense? So it is only the misuse of tools that is evil.
You see, wealth and prosperity can either be a great asset or a great enemy. If we would not serve money but rather let it serve us by being a blessing to others with it, then wealth will not be able to choke our spiritual development. It is only when we allow money to deceive us into thinking, for instance, that we have to have it or that it is going to make us happy that it becomes error. Therefore, it is trusting in riches and mishandling it in other ways that will hinder our growth and fruitfulness.
DEFINING TRUE PROSPERITY
Now back up to verses 5-9 here in First Timothy chapter 6 because, here, the apostle Paul gives us some good words of wisdom on the subject of money and the prosperity message …
Verse 5 says, “…who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.”
Now it is important to realize who Paul is referring to here. He is talking about false teachers “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” So what you see here is that the apostle Paul is exhorting Pastor Timothy that he needs to withdraw from those so-called ministers & ministries out there whose motives are no different than people who are working a job to see their own needs met and to prosper in life.
You see, these ministers still exist today! You can turn on Christian television and not have to look too far to find those out there who are simply looking to get into our pocketbooks. These are those whom Paul is warning Timothy against.
But lest we become too critical of them, do we do this in our lives? Is our motivation in life mainly to have more money and possessions? Someone will say, “No money is not important to me!” Really? Well, then why do we spend most of our waking hours trying to get more of it? Most people do! They work 40 hours a week for their needs to be met and to have more than the guy next door.
Now sure God understands we need to work and these things are necessary, but let me ask you this question: What does the Bible say that our motivation should be for working at a job? Ephesians 4:28 gives us the answer – It says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”     
On a side note here: Do you see how Paul refers to “stealing” in the same breath as working hard? Did you know that many people are stealing from their employers simply by not working hard? You see, when we are employed, our employer expects us to put our best foot forward and do our job functions as well as we can. But so many do the minimum at work that they possibly can do just to get by and keep their job.
How do I know this? Because I used to do it! For years in banking, I just showed up, did an adequate job and stayed exactly in the position that I was at. Then, through a chain of circumstances, I was put into the position where I needed to start busting my tail to prove that I was a worthy hire for a local bank here in Macon. Well, guess what this did? It created promotion in my life. Then the Lord showed me that when he told Israel that He would bless the work of their hands that this implied that their hands were actually being set to something and they were working heartily as unto the Lord. Amen!
You see, if our hands are not being set to something and we are not working with the most integrity, God has nothing to bless. So if our hands are not working, He has nothing to increase. A hundred times nothing is nothing! But a hundred times something is a whole lot of something. Just like it was with the miracle of the feeding of the thousands … Jesus had to break the bread with his hands before it multiplied. His Father blessed the work of His hands. Amen!
But again what did Paul say here is to be our motivation for working with our hands? “That he may have something to give him who has need.” Wow! Now that’s a revelation, isn’t it? God wants us to work, not just so that our needs our own needs are met, but so that we can be a channel to meet other’s needs!
Do you see the focus God expects us to have regarding our finances? He wants our focus to be on meeting other’s needs, supporting various ministries, etc.—namely, seeking first the kingdom of God! And, glory to God, the promises we have for doing this are extraordinary! And one thing I can assure you of is when you do this – You cannot out-give God! He will bless the work of your hands and your seed sown! Amen!
But Paul says here that regarding those preachers who are motivated by self-gain etc.— “From such withdraw yourself.”
Now you would think that this is common sense, but it isn’t! How do all those televangelists stay on the air with all of their various methods of financial manipulation? Because people keep sending them money! This is when we need to do what this passage of Scripture says, “from such withdraw yourself.” In other words, stop supporting them! Withdraw your support from them!
Herein lies a good principle regarding who we give to …
If we would just give to the ministries that are feeding us and we know are feeding others, we would eliminate a lot of these bad apples – because the reason they are continuing to minister is because people are evidently supporting them. So just ask yourself the questions: Am I being ministered to here and are others being ministered to? Not giving “grudgingly or of necessity” or, as the Message Bible says, giving because of their “arm twisting and sob stories.” Amen?
Then in verse 6, Paul goes on to say, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”
What Paul is saying here is- This is the definition of true prosperity (i.e. great gain)! It is:
a)“godliness” (i.e. being a well-worshipper or being a good God-fearer) Godliness is not an easy trait to define. In fact, it is only used a few times in the New Testament. In short, it can be described as being godly or Christ-like. So “godliness” is actively imitating Him—in love, peace, goodness, kindness etc. How many of you know that God is truly prosperous? And this isn’t just because of all that He has, but because of who He is. This is what makes us “truly rich” as well—not all the things they possess, but possessing true love, joy, peace etc. This is the sign of a prosperous soul.  
b)“with contentment” (i.e. “a perfect condition of life in which no air or support is needed” (BLB).) So contentment is not a complacent mindset but rather a person who is independent of circumstances, not needing anything else to be happy
So the truly prosperous Christian is the one who is godly—that is, actively imitating God and displaying His divine characteristics—while certainly being content (i.e. not needing anything else in our lives to show forth that genuine joy and peace.)
Now in verse 7, when Paul says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that can carry nothing out,” what He was basically saying was – “You’ve never seen a hearse carrying a U-Haul.” Amen!
So no matter what we accumulate and have here in this life, we can’t take it with us anyways. So we would do good to lay up the true riches and treasures in heaven, which is what we do now for the kingdom of God. Amen! This is a mentality that takes our money from being a thorn that chokes our ability to bear fruit and makes it a tool for even greater fruitfulness.  
Then Paul goes on to say in verse 8 that with “food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” In other words, we should be satisfied simply with just having our basic needs met. 
You see, the moment we get to feeling that we have to have this or that to be happy, is the moment we are not drawing our strength from Christ who alone can satisfy us.
The apostle Paul taught this in Philippians chapter 4 when he said that he had learned that in whatever state he was in to be content (verse 11). He knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, he had learned to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need (verse 12). But the key to how he learned how to be totally “independent of circumstances” no matter what his circumstances were is found in verse 13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
You see, it is only through Christ that we find true joy, satisfaction, and contentment. The flesh is fickle. It will tell you that you will finally be happy if you get this one extra thing, but then after the newness wears off of it, the flesh will need something else. This is part of what makes the “deceitfulness of riches” so deceitful – because money has a way of lying to us, telling us that if we get some more of it, that we will be happy. That is just a lie! Friends, if you cannot be happy with how things are in your life right now; you won’t be happy if things change. Contentment is learned, not earned!
The contentment that Paul is speaking of refers to us being satisfied with our own basic needs being met, but this does not mean that we should be ok with having just enough to meet our own needs. There is a big difference between those two mentalities. You see, we ought to not let our own financial situation affect our joy, peace, and happiness. This is what the apostle Paul is teaching. But we should also not be ok with us just barely scrapping by, because we have a heart’s desire to be more of a blessing to others financially. Amen?  
Now let me recount a conversation I had one time with a Christian friend of mine … We were discussing the law of sowing and reaping and how when we sow finances into God’s kingdom, we will reap our needs being met in fullness and abundance. Well, he agreed that the law of sowing and reaping is a reality, but he said that he was content to have just have what he had and didn’t feel the need to believe God for more than that. Well, in the most loving way that I could, I looked at him and said, “Brother, you know I love you, but you’re selfish.” He looked at me like I had slapped him across the face! But then I went on to say, “Why? Because you are only concerned with having enough for you. If you are happy with what you have right now, great! But believe God for the harvest that is rightfully yours because of the seed you have sown and then give it away to those who need it!”
You see, saints, this is the purpose of prosperity! This is why God wants us blessed in our finances—so that we can have an abundance for every good work (Second Corinthians 9:8)! Yes, we should be content! Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean we should be content to not increase so that we can be more of a blessing to others now! No, that is the purpose of us being free from debt and having more than enough financially.
But it has to start somewhere … And that is where the principle of tithing comes in. God is setting us up for having all our needs met in fullness and abundance by us giving Him the first 10% of all our increase! Amen?
But going back to what we discussed last week regarding how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God, I can guarantee you that if someone does not give at least this first 10%, they are NOT trusting God with their finances.
It’s easy for us to say, “Oh yeah, I trust God with my finances” but if we do not practice the principle He laid out in His Word about giving Him the first 10% of our increase, then we are not trusting Him – because we are not trusting that He can make 90% of our income go further than 100% of it. It’s tight but it’s right!
Then, in First Timothy 6:9, Paul brings in that element of Jesus describing these thorns as the deceitfulness of riches even further. He says, “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.” This is why Psalm 62:10 says, “If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”
But the key here is found in the words “desire to be rich.” The word “desire” literally describes someone who “wills” to be rich – meaning, they are “disposed” to being rich, they “intend” to be rich, and are money “minded.” These are those who fall into temptation and a snare. Not just those who are rich and have an abundance of possessions.
This is why Paul goes on to say what we began with here in First Timothy chapter 6 – “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.”
Being “pierced through with many sorrows” sounds a little like these people fell into a patch of thorns, doesn’t it?
And this is exactly what the love of money and the desire to be rich does to people. It pierces and it chokes. It ensnares and it hinders. This reminds me of Mark 4:7, 18-19 where Jesus taught us that the thorns of this world entering into our hearts will choke the production of God’s Word. But, again, it is not being rich and having money that does this to one; it is how most people tend to misuse it and how they view it.
We see this later on in this chapter when Paul addresses specifically those who are rich …
In verse 17 he says, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty (that indicates that a temptation that comes with wealth is pride and to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think), not to trust in uncertain riches (that sounds a lot like what we said earlier) but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”
Now that last little statement there should correct some of our views on wealth and prosperity because Paul describes the living God, whom we are to put all of our trust in, as the One “who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” In other words, He gave these rich people their wealth. And for what purpose? To enjoy it! So God is the One who gives us richly all things to enjoy, not necessarily the devil. Do you see that?
So evidently God does not mind us having things. In fact, He evidently doesn’t mind us “richly” having “all things.” He just doesn’t want things having us! And that is what makes “riches” a hindrance in our lives.
This is why Paul went on to say in verses 18-19- “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.”
So Paul’s exhortation to those who have money is to make sure they are using it to do good, good works, to give and to share. Why? Because of the reward and how it affects us throughout all eternity! Amen!