The Joy of Revival Giving II, Poverty Or Prosperity

This is North Way tape number 448 This is the second message in the series on the joy of revival giving This message was delivered by Pastor Jay Passamant of North Way Christian Community on November 17 1985 Mark the sixth chapter and I believe there's Value in just reading God's Word, so I'm going to take the time to read it Even though it's going to take a few minutes because we're going to read beginning in verse 30 about 15 verses The Apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught and he said to them Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while all who would like to do that say amen For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves Or so they thought Now many saw them going and knew them and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them And as they went ashore He saw a great throng and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep Without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things And when it grew late his disciples came to him and said this is a lonely place and the hours now late Send them away to go into the country and villages roundabout and buy themselves something to eat But he answered them You give them something to eat They said to him shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them how many loaves have you go and see and when they found out they said five and two fish And then he commended them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass and so they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties and Taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and Gave them to the disciples to sit before the people and he divided the two fish among them all I mean, you know, those weren't little pieces Okay, and they all ate and were satisfied And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish and those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men beloved As we have opened this topic of Learning to give in a joyful way the joy of revival giving I Find it very fascinating The way in which tension immediately arises in the body of Christ over this subject there are really strong feelings on both sides of The issue of how God wants us to live in terms of his provision of an abundance there are things that are being said on this particular issue that are really staggeringly hard and in many cases dividing and and destructive but Do you believe that God is just as concerned about the material in your life as he is the spiritual one is? couple Think about that. I'm saying something important here is God is concerned about your material Well-being as he is your spiritual well-being you see to think anything else is to divide man and It to separate the spiritual from the physical and I believe that God wants us to be one and wholeness in him He has concerned about you He's concerned about your body and your needs and he doesn't separate that from the spiritual well-being Listen, that's the beginning if you buy that premise that well I care about the spiritual and God does too, but the material is just my domain That was the beginning of heresy of Gnosticism back in the early church that splintered off a whole segment of believers and got off in this mystical thing and pretty soon began to be indulgent and licentious and all the rest God cares about whole people And that's why is I think Fred mentioned some weeks ago The number two topic in the Gospels in terms of just volume of Scripture a portion to it is on Giving and money and material concern So it's no wonder to me that Satan then comes in in that area and creates all kinds of furor and division Someone recently gave me a book called the seduction of Christianity I Want to refer to it because it to me it unfortunately symbolizes the kind of Intensity that gets mounted on this issue where this particular author says that the whole issue of Prosperity and the teaching of prosperity in the kingdom of God is the Trojan horse of the enemy to get in the church Well, that's a heavy thing Because many of the ministries today that are abounding in fruitfulness Teach a very clear message of prosperity And so I believe Satan would want to stir up and create a sense of confusion and distortion in this issue And I found myself a few weeks ago. I shared with a number of the brothers sisters Uh, you know, this is not an easy issue to separate Does God want us to prosper or does God want us to be in some sort of a a flow of stuff? But that well, we just get more and more so that just like Abraham We have more cattle and sheep and whatever would be the 20th century counterpart of that in suburbia or is God really more interested in in just causing us to get by so that we can be spiritually minded and not concerned with the fleshly and the material and the financial And I wrestled with this Because there's a number of messages going out about how many you know what I'm saying You turn on the TV if you if you're a TV watcher of Christian TV There's a lot of messages out there and I believe that God wants us to come to terms with what is a proper stance today toward material things prosperity God wants to speak to us About whether or not we are being seduced by a lie of the enemy Is there a Trojan horse in your thinking and in your heart? Is it here in the church? I'm concerned about that. Aren't you? I don't want to get into a situation where suddenly we turn around and we're being Undercut and and destroyed in our faith because we've adopted a lot the seduction of the enemy Is this author calls me? I want to ask the question. Can we please God and have things? Or is God interested and somehow Just teaching us what it means to do without So that we will only look to him and never think about the things that were We have around us Now last week when I started on this subject, it was interesting how some people related to me afterwards You know I brought a friend last week and they didn't even last through the introduction because they said you see I knew that I was gonna Go to church in this They weren't talking about money because that's where I came from They used to put my name in a book and everyone could see in the book what I'd given during the year They do that here Well, they don't do that here I Just need to say to you that if you are visiting and Strange as it may be. This is your second week in visiting And once again, we're talking about money. I Believe that if you'll just examine the last four and a half years of teaching if anything beloved I need to say In terms of my responsibility in the teaching ministry. I've been remiss. I really haven't done enough Because people are confused What is right? They're saying what what am I to do? What does God expect of me? Help me to discover in the word what God is saying and I that's my purpose in sharing with you today Now one of the things that precipitates so much confusion is in this take a look at Mark 6 And I want you to see if you identify with this today First of all notice in beginning in verse 30 and following there Particularly in verse 33 people were coming out everywhere to hear what Jesus Christ was saying and to see what he was doing. There was revival everywhere. Jesus went do you believe that? there was always something being stirred up of holiness and love toward God of of cleansing and purity of healing and deliverance and setting free and There was always look at the words there now great crowds Great crowds, look at that verse 34 When you drive into the parking lot here at North Way Just remember wherever the Spirit of God is there's going to be a crowd And so even though you might murmur when you walk through the puddles and everything else Remember it's because the Spirit of the Lord is moving that there's a crowd And I'm happy about it, aren't you I'm willing to walk across Some puddles to get where the Spirit these people ran for miles to get where Jesus was By his grace. He's here moving among us And so just expect that now if you don't want a crowd I can tell you a lot of places to visit And so the disciples were facing the reality that there was in this crowd now listen beloved tremendous tremendous need and Anybody that's in ministry in this place will tell you That as God adds to our number day by day those who are finding salvation more and more needs Are coming to the surface Unfortunately, perhaps but in reality we don't come to God just all shined up and beautiful do it Maybe you did You know many people think they need to wait to come to God until they are shined up We come with all these needs and all this baggage and who we are of our past and all of that needs to be healed and set free Now good reflection of this is what you get in the mail How many of you get mail from Christian organizations the only hands that didn't grow up are people that are really new Because the rest of us are on list after list and you know I've in past Messages pulled out my bags of mail that you know in two or three weeks time you can accumulate a hefty stack But it's getting more intense now. You know it's some of the organizations are turning up the heat. I mean we're talking registered letters Here I thought one of these guys was writing me pray. Hey, this is assignment All it was was just a registered letter appeal Since you are a one-time $10,000 giver they said No You know as I do that many of these appeals come and beloved do they touch you I mean some of the things they can put in those letters. I'm just I'm weeping you know God this is unbelievable but like the disciples We look and see All the need around us, and you know what comes up in my heart great compassion particularly for the ministries that are out there on a cutting edge reaching You know the destitutes of the cities and and the poor around the earth those ministries. I mean it just breaks your Doesn't it aren't you touched by that the compassion that God stirs up in us, and I know myself beloved that All of that can just lead to one big emotional guilt trip They're right you find yourself. God. I just there's no way like the disciples notice how the disciples Jesus said you give them something to eat and what they say Where are we gonna get the money for this? You ever feel that way You know what some believers do they say well. I'll give five bucks to each one of these ministries How long does that last did you know that there's a five dollar? mailing list that organizations can buy You can buy a list of donors of five dollars who? If you want to get in tap with them you just buy the mailing list and you're pretty much assured that they'll send your Organizations five dollars a month if you request it from there's that kind of thing out there in the kingdom And so you know it doesn't work to try to get out there and just satisfy everyone a little bit We need to see that we've got choices to make and that there's no way in our own Power that we can reach them. Are you willing to say that? Lord there's no way in my own strength that I could possibly meet the need that's all around me And so that's our concern Secondly, what's our choice? What is our choice What are we going to do? I want to talk about two words today, and this is all I'll be able to do this morning What choice do we have when we see these needs around us? the beginning point of of understanding how God wants to deal with us in terms of Issues of money and supply and abundance and materialism is to see that we cannot meet the needs we cannot Do it in any way that's going to be satisfying or effective now? There's two words that have really Focused in on this whole fewer that I referred to in the body of Christ the one word is poverty Would you say that poverty and the other word is? Prosperity say that word prosperity now Poverty is not a very popular word in 20th century America And in fact, it's something that that we in many respects are so removed from That we can't even really identify with what it means to be impoverished and the scale that most of the world knows But how many of you know that through the ages of the church there was a time in which poverty was held in pretty high esteem? That vows were taken by church leaders of what were the two things? poverty and Chastity now neither of those two words are very much in vogue today But it was seen to be really spiritual to be poor Now listen don't write me off yet because many of us particularly those of us who've come up in traditional Christian Environments have been influenced by this thinking after all Jesus said blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, right? No wrong Blessed are the poor in spirit and Paul said that money was the root of all evil. We know that right The love of money Paul said was the root of all evil, but beloved I'll tell you something for most of us Maybe just a few years ago We would have bought both of those scriptures the way I said them initially because that's what we thought and somehow to be Really right with God meant that you had to be clear of money. I Mean Jesus did talk about the rich man and Lazarus didn't How the rich man was the one that had his good things now and when he died and went to hell then he was going to Pay for and some of us have bought a picture of God that that somehow says if you're rich I'm gonna get you if you're rich. You're getting what you want now, but in the end it's over for you But you know and it's just it's reinforced by the fact that Most of the rich people we know are just kind of ugly. Anyhow the way they treat other people And I don't know about you but I believe that there is in the body of Christ an idea that somehow poverty is the way that God really intended now in today's With a center the core of what's being spoken today? Let me say this. It's really not quite so black and white It's a little more gray. How many of you saw the press today? Came in yesterday in my home. There's a nice big story on the style section on together by choice okay, and it's it's a lovely story of a few families and a single or two and some children that are Living together in a Christian commune These are local people Let the Grove City College and a few other things and it's an interesting article. It's worth reading and down in the end. It says Well, we've all we all have the same goal to live the Christian way of life in every facet of our lives Says Bill Perkins a self-employed contract the way of life of the culture We live in materialism and other isms is quite opposed to Chris the Christian way it is advantageous for us to live together because it's important to be faithful to God in a society that alienates people from God and Beloved it's there's a very real thing that somehow would say that this is really the only way that's faithful that sharing your resources pulling it together is the way that God would have us to live and Nobody really has more than the other person. We're all kind of sharing it together Now don't put your hand up, but I bet I bet there's several hundred people in this room that have kind of seen this as being Really what God wanted if we were really being faithful. This is the way we live. There's a whole It's a scheme of authors that have come on and said this is what God wants. No, what is what God wants? Poverty is one way to look at the way that God has intended for us to live But I don't believe that and I don't believe you do I Want to define poverty in a way that I think will help us Because I think that once we see what really poverty is It'll be clear to us what God intends in that poverty is When your only resource is what you have You say that again poverty is when your only resource is in yourself That's being poverty minded You say well, I have a lot more money than you think In fact, if I pulled away all my assets and pull them together, I'd have a quarter million dollars I'm not poor But beloved take that quarter of a million dollars and look at the needs How far will it go how far will it go to meeting the needs around us In comparison with the need it's minuscule. It's nothing you're poor and Anytime your only resource is what you have beloved you are living in poverty mindedness. I want to say the again Anytime the only resource that you have is what you own you are living in poverty mindedness now Do you know what goes along with that? If you're poverty minded you're also generally caught up in covetousness Covetousness is Wanting getting and keeping What it means I See it and I want it. I've got to have it and once I have it I've got to keep it and beloved it is a very pervasive spirit Friday night at the concert of prayer We had a wonderful time and prayer for missions and for many different things that God let us in We prayed over the stronghold of greed and covetousness You say well, I don't really want other people's things, but you know something it's so subtle How we want to clutch things hang on to them because our resource is just what we know of ourselves Let's just think of a couple other illustrations beside money to show you. You know think of a situation for example when maybe some of you young people are taking a test and You find a place where you can go in the library, and there's this resource book over this in seminary Fred and You're the only one in the class that found it and it right in there It's just the most beautiful outline of it's gonna give you a paper. That's gonna, but you know, but ten miles above everyone else's Like everyone else's sweating drops of blood for this thing and you walk in it's really you're just yeah I'm really on to this and someone comes over to you and says Where did you get that? Oh, no. Oh No That's for me How many you find yourself reluctant to give away things that to you seem Important to secure your identity and your success Ladies how about recipes Bring this lovely thing to a covered dish dinner and everyone's Wow can I get the recipe? Well, you know, I just don't know where it is. I Misplaced it. I remember the time and this all goes back books there was a little bookstore in Pasadena that that would every about once a year have a book sale and They were very low-key and they hardly ever announced it and so on and when one of the students at the seminary found out about It when he did over there at 6 in the morning, you know, it opened at 8 he wouldn't tell anybody Why? Well, because he thought if he didn't get there and he told someone else about it He'd be left out. He wouldn't get what he needed He'd be diminished in some way and you see that's covetousness it's the idea that unless you take it for yourself, you'll never get it and If you give away of yourself, you'll never have anything to keep I'm gonna know what I'm talking about Beloved there is a fear that comes with covetousness a fear that somehow I'm going to be diminished If I give away How about boyfriends? Girls or girlfriends guys Hey, would you introduce me to him? Hey, no way the fear that somehow if I give It's all over because all I can go back to is what I have in my own little resource pool. Oh Beloved Beloved I just believe that we need to see that that is a world-minded spirit. That is a poverty mentality I'll have so much less if I give One of the brothers was telling me reminding me this story that we heard some couple years ago about a guy that was tithing $5 a week because he went to his his pastor and said Well, I'm making about $50 and I think the Lord wants me to tithe. What should I do? He said well, you give $5 a week. God prospered him and blessed him He began to increase and the flow of money in his business and he began to make five hundred dollars a week And the tithe of that would be what $50 and Well the first time he wrote that check. He said this just isn't right. He went back to the pastor He said I can't tithe $50 a week. I just can't do that Pastor said well, I guess we better pray They sat down together and the pastor said Lord Just thank you for what you've done. And now we just ask you to Take away the five hundred dollars a week. So the brother so-and-so and get back to giving is five dollars How many of you know the more you have it doesn't get any easier to write out that check does it? because What because we're afraid of losing of having less of being diminished What God wants for us now beloved if your only resource is yourself You're in poverty Because God wants for us to live in Prosperity mindedness and I'm going to conclude with just defining what I'm saying and we'll pick it up next week God wants us to live not in a poverty mindedness of our own resource where we covet and hang on to but in a prosperity mindedness which sees God as our source in every area of life Prosperity is not what you accumulate to yourself. But prosperity is knowing that your source of supply is in God alone and When you are prospering it just means that you know how to move your tap from your own little puny resource pool Whether it's puny of a hundred dollars or puny of a million dollars to God's vast and limited overflowing resource pool And I want to share with you next week just what that means and how you can move the siphon out of your own and into God's So that what flows through you isn't just some agonizing little drip That you really don't want to give any help but enables you to be the kind of giver that God wants hilarious and joyful Next week we're going to change the sign over the offering box and put ha ha ha All right Because God wants us to learn the joy that when we learn to give in him and touch his resource Beloved it changes our lives puts a new security and identity in us and gives us a new liberty and that's what it's all about Amen, let's pray together Lord I just pray these moments knowing that they've been brief In complete in some ways Lord that that many seeds are being sown right now Lord and that you are tearing down many strongholds of poverty mindedness people who've been living simply in their own resource and the Lord you begin even this week as they Study those outlines and read those scriptures to see how you want to pour resource Out of your own limitless supply you who say that the earth is the Lord's in the fullness there That you will supply all of our needs according to your glorious resources in Christ Jesus Lord we'd want to do that today Begin to move us in that direction father in Jesus name Hallelujah, man Our beloved Wednesday night. I'm trusting that many of you who normally don't come out you missed a wonderful time Wednesday night Jack Sullivan brought the men from the prison ministry and Paul Lisa And shared with Bill cupids about the touch of child folks You've got to come and hear what God's doing and I'm trusting that you'll honor blame Wednesday night and not withhold your presence Your money is not in so that's incidental But your presence means a lot. I'll tell you that so make time to be here Wednesday night at 730. Would you? We're praying each morning seeing God do great things Let's stand together and if you responded the elders are going to come now and the ministry over here And we're going to just come together and come forward right now as we sing one more time Jehovah Jireh our provider Oh Before we go on I want to make it clear again if you raised your hand 40 minutes ago and said hey, this is a day of a new beginning Now is the time it's so important that you come follow up on that decision if you're mature enough to say seriously This is me you come on up as many of us are waiting on you we want to serve you and love you and help you to get on in your walk with Jesus Christ and those who need ministry as The words told us come over here the counseling and healing. Let's sing it once again Oh a Beloved two things two things need your attention this number one If some of the 100 people that responded last night are here today And many of you over the last several weeks that responded to the Lord Wednesday night Just at the very beginning of the evening Dave Lloyd one of our elders is going to be Getting together with those of you who've responded to Jesus in these last weeks and tell you how you can begin moving along It's an important time together make a point of being here Wednesday night And how many of you were part of that 150 people that came up two weeks ago on mission Sunday put your hand up Come on Okay, next week right after the service. We have something for you I want you to plan to stay an extra 15 or 20 minutes We the Lord's given us something for you to follow up on that commitment together. God bless you love one another I Just had a vision as we were worshiping the Lord that there are some people here that Are like little chicks who are pecking out of the egg today? In it there are for others It's as if they're going through a veil or even through cobwebs and they're coming through because they see the light And your hearts are ready to burst forth and say I believe And I sense that you love me today, and I'm coming through and I'm coming out And it's Lord just impressed me that the way it felt for me ten years ago in this very room to come out And that miracles taking place in your heart today, and the Lord is just saying come on Come on. I love you. It's gonna be wonderful and brand-new I believe in in line with that vision that God was fashioning a word in my heart and and as we kneeled knelt before him that he was saying to to us that That is we've bowed the knee before him it is the knee of our wills that our father desires for us to bow to him that And I'm just gonna let him speak My children You've come to your father and you've bowed down You've called upon me and you seek who I am children bow the knees of your wills Come unto me and you shall find rest my children The desire of your heart is to know me and the desire of my heart is to reveal myself to you My children as you come to me know that I am indeed your father I am your creator. I have done things for you that you do not understand And I shall reveal them to you as you come to me, but my children It is not just a knee you bow it is your heart and your soul is your mind and your wills It is the purpose of your life you bow unto me And I shall reveal to you the purpose of that life that purpose is not just what you see But are those things I fashioned for you that place I have made for you Come on to me my children believe and you shall have your rest Allow a moment of response to both of those words and particularly who's here today Just the the worship that we've just experienced together and the life that you've heard given testimony to over the last hour in the time of prayer and as our brother Was just a moment ago saying you feel like you're for the first time in your life coming out of a dark place out of a point of having no Reference to God and no understanding of who he is, but today you're beginning to see the light If that's you I'm not gonna embarrass you or in any way set you apart I want to agree with you that today is a day of beginning and if that was describing just how you've been feeling Just put your hand up and down and let me see it. Okay, just go Let me agree with you right now. Today is the day you do. Yes. Okay. God bless you right here Today is a day of a new beginning. Yes over here, sir. Okay Right here miss you too. Okay All right Anyone else? Let me see. I'm on this side over here. Yes, sir. Okay. Yes. All right. God bless you right there I see your hand. Okay Anyone over on this side over here? Yes in the darkest area. I see you but God bless you right there All right, anyone else? the day of coming out. Seeing the light of God in Jesus Christ, you know Perfect love casts out all fear and there's no greater love than the love of God and God right now is breaking that fear down for those of you that have never known the Lord that are making that Breakthrough and he's breaking down the fear of those of us that do walk in the Lord And we've got to go further and God speaking to us now and saying he wants his will to be imposed on your will and we're Saying I'm afraid I'm afraid there's something out there I don't know but that's perfect faith to reach out and know that there's perfect love and the perfectness in God He'll never impose anything on you other than perfection and to be feel free. Now that fear is being broken and let it break through right now in the name of Jesus. Your heads not your hands don't clap just go ahead and lift up your head and thank him verbally Lord, I thank you right now for breaking down strongholds and opening the prison doors That have helped many in bondage Jesus we worship you and thank you Lord. You are lovely and pure and perfect in all of your ways. The mighty name of Jesus is that to which we call Hallelujah Lord that many yield today according to the power of your name. I Bless you father. Thank you in Jesus name Amen. As We address the fear that sometimes holds us captive this morning I Believe the Lord laid it on my heart to to talk to that one or to those that. Because of that fear it has kept you from taking that step Even those this morning that are believers that are lonely in heart To those that are lonely this morning you stand with people to your right and to your left and You know that Jesus Christ is real and yet that fear has held you Captive and has not allowed you to step out To make your faith make a difference in someone else's life. And I believe God would show you this morning that he has made available Through the body here to you many vehicles One the home group and many types of ministry and what you need to do is just to come forward and to speak out Of your loneliness and ask that God might resurrect you to the place where you would be used he delights in. Using the gift that he has already given you. Just a little while when we conclude beloved those of you who acknowledge that today was a day of a new beginning in Christ for Want you to come up and they'll be elders and women ministering right up on my left, and Those that just would respond to what Carl just shared would be over in this side and they'll be ministry time Available to you.