Scripture Reference: Luke 12:16-21 (MSG); Matthew 6:19-20 (NLT); Matthew 6:19-24 (TPT); Luke 18:22 (AMPC); Matthew 19:21-22 (AMPC); Job 22:24-28 (AMPC); Luke 21:1-4 (CJB); Luke 21:1-4 (MSG); Luke 21:1-4 (TLB); Luke 21:1-4 (NCV); Deuteronomy 28:12 (AMP)
Pastor John:
Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us again today. It’s always wonderful to share the Word of God and we are excited and our spirits are full of joy and full of hope and the wonders of God’s glory and His goodness towards us. So, we trust that as we minister the Word of God to you today by the Holy Spirit that you will receive it and you will receive revelations and insights into the wonders and the greatnesses of God, the purposes of God. You will receive revelations that will set free and give you a liberty and a peace and a joy and a spring in your step regardless of the times that we live in, regardless of the circumstances. And so now may the Holy Spirit touch your ears to hear. May the Holy Spirit touch your mind and your heart to receive and may you leave this session of teaching and sharing the word today, may you leave with a spring in your step and a great hope of the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. Hallelujah. That is our great hope, Pastor Sharon. Our great hope is Jesus, it’s the Word of God, it’s His Holy Spirit. Without any revelation of who God is – that’s what the Bible says – people perish, you know. So, with a great revelation of who God is knowledge comes to us and then we then we grow and we have hope.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, and a great recognition of the time of God right now.
Pastor John:
Yes, exactly because as you get used to receiving revelation and then acting out your revelation, then you stop the perishing component of your life and you start the growth, productivity, eternity component of your life. That’s good.
Well, we are going to jump right into the word and Pastor Sharon’s going to lead us this morning with the passage from the book of Luke. But you want to say a few words before you go to the scripture, Pastor Sharon?
Pastor Sharon:
Well, I just wanted to recap from last week, just a little bit, remind you that we are building for our God. We are actually building spiritually. God is not about church building but the very powerful thing He showed us is that He uses a physical building to build a collective greatness and to build spiritually with us. And again, we just want to remind you that you are not to, please do not take these messages out of context, listen to one of these messages, when actually we’ve been building context. We’re on a message from the Lord journey, and we have been for quite some time already. So, these messages are not to be taken in isolation, otherwise, you’re not going to get the full picture of what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to our churches. He’s saying to us it is a time that He wants to build. It is a time that He wants us, our hearts, to be soft and tender for Him to be able to have access to all of our wealth and all of our possessions that He – it’s based on that prophecy that He gave Brother Jerry; “There is not a lack of money in the church finances in the church. There’s only a lack of obedience, but I am changing that,” says the Lord. “I am moving on the hearts of men and women and they will follow through with what you will tell them to do.” So, all of this revelation came to Pastor John and I on the back of our recognition that Jesus was actually prophesying, the Spirit of God prophesying through Brother Jerry that. Also, Brother Jerry said that God is wanting us to be ready to finance this next move of God and we certainly are ready – smack bang in the middle of the move of the Holy Spirit in our local church, in this time of the local church, an awakening, a mighty outpouring already beginning in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we’re going big and bold with all of it. Hallelujah.
God was just sharing with me that He’s so smart that He will use a physical building to build people together and knit them together and work in their hearts together and anoint them for different tasks. He said, “I did it in the time of Moses, I did it in the time of David, I did it. I always use an actual building or a physical building to build up people spiritually.” How wonderful and this is that time for that.
Pastor John:
If I can connect that to a local family, with a local house. So, we need to live in a house and when you have a family, and you’re a small family, and you’re living in a rented house, you need a place to stay. You might be believing God and have faith to have a job that pays the rent every month. But then there’s a progression of your walk with God when a time comes where you know, in your heart, it’s time to own a house. It’s time to design a house that’s your own house. Then when that moment comes in your heart, a revelation of God’s faith comes, and the family is bonded together under the new vision of building your own house, the new house, designing it for what you want it to look like, not just living in a house but by doing it. This is what God is doing with us. You can be in a church, you can have a church building, you can rent a church building but then there comes a time when God wants to strategically do something, and He wants to move so that in our case, there’s a platform that He wants to create – a worthy platform. And so now everybody’s engaged with the vision and it lifts our faith higher. That’s how smart God is – He uses this, He uses this natural thing to bring us together.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s right, Pastor John. We had a look last week also at the heaps at a time of corporate building. We looked at one Chronicle 29 with David and all the people at that time. We looked at Hezekiah and the people at that time that we’re building, in Second Chronicles 31. Pastor John said that in one short moment, a short moment we’ve got in this life He’s inviting us to invest in eternity and invest in our walk with Him. This is not just business as usual. So that’s just a short recap of where we were last week.
So, this week, this section of revelation that the Lord specifically gave is called – and it’s Jesus speaking here – it’s about storing up treasures on earth or storing up treasures in heaven. It follows right along with all of our contexts and everything that God has been saying.
One of our key scriptures for this preparing for Big and Bold is Luke 12. I want to read out of The Message Bible, from Luke 12, from verse 15. 16-19Then (Jesus) he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Isn’t that just the philosophy of the world? I want to make money quickly, so I can retire early so that I can do this. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’ So I can take it easy and have the time of my life. That’s a worldly way of thinking because the next verse, verse 20, says, 20“Just then God showed up. Well, He showed up in this man’s thinking, and what he was saying to himself, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’ Verse 21 in The Message, 21“That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.” (Luke 12:16-21 MSG). So that’s one of our key scriptures for this series.
But we’re going to go here to the New Living Translation to Matthew six from verse 19. The point here is Jesus is speaking. and making quite a strong statement. 19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. So it might seem a contradiction because this is the same Jesus in second Corinthians that became poor so that we might become enriched and abundantly supplied. So, this does not mean that God doesn’t want us to have things. But He’s talking about treasure here now. 19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Verse 20, look at what Jesus is saying, our Lord, 20Store your treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20 NLT). In other words, make your investments with your treasures in heaven. Let that be your primary heart thrust and mindset, let it be your primary. He’s teaching us here how to seek first the Kingdom, how to build with Him, how to allow Him to have access to all of our treasures here on earth. How to count and esteem treasures on earth very lightly, and hold on to them very loosely. He’s teaching us and transforming us to be like Jesus on earth, to be true sons of God and not to be like the world. He’s training us through Scripture to come out of the worldly way of thinking, worldly way of thinking I’ve got to have more, I’ve got to get more, I’ve got to get more for myself, my investment portfolios have got to get bigger, even though I’m making more, my more is for myself. I must have bigger for myself. God is saying this is not the way My sons and My children ought to be thinking.
Pastor John:
In The Passion Translation on that same scripture says, 19“Don’t keep hoarding for yourselves earthly treasures that can be stolen by thieves. Material wealth eventually rusts, decays, and loses its value. 20Instead, stockpile heavenly treasure (Matthew 6:19-20 TPT). So, I mean, don’t keep hoarding, stockpile for yourself. It’s the same concept. If you hoard for yourself on earth, it will rust and decay and will lose its value. But if you stockpile treasure for yourself in heaven, then it says, it cannot be stolen and will never rust, never decay or lose the value. It’s an eternal investment. So, you know, it’s not as you were saying, Sharon, it’s not a case of the Lord doesn’t want us to have. It’s what our heart attachment is to what we have.
Ps Sharon:
That’s right and where our affection is.
Pastor John:
Because the next scripture, I know you are going to read it now but in The Passion Translation it says, 21For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure (Matthew 6:21 TPT). So this is a condition of the heart, because actually if you say, I want more, I want more, it’s all about you. It’s about your ego. It’s about your pride. It’s about the desires of your eyes and the lust of your flesh for what you can accumulate in life. The pride of life. What you can accumulate in life. Whereas God is saying, “Lift up your heart to the heavens and store treasures for yourself in heaven.” Then the Father will allow you and will compensate and abundantly bless everything that you have on Earth.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, this is a heart condition, Pastor John that the Lord is addressing to our local church specifically. He’s addressing all of the Heritage of Faith people.
Pastor John:
Yes, and anyone else who’s watching this program.
Pastor Sharon:
He is addressing our heart condition like He addressed all of our heart conditions with I will take the children. He’s addressing a heart condition because He wants our hearts to belong to Him completely because He’s taking us into a new era and He needs to know who’s going to repent, who’s going to have a mind change, who’s going to have a heart change, and who’s going to have a lifestyle change in this area of wealth and possessions. Who’s going to love Mammon? Who’s going to love God? Where our heart, the treasure of our heart is going to lay. He needs us to know. He’s requiring a response from all of us, Pastor John, where He is saying, “What is your more for?” He’s requiring a response from us from Scripture that He’s bringing us.
Pastor John:
Right. So this is if I can go to verse 22, in The Passion Translation, and just quickly touch on this, because it follows on 21For your heart will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure. 22“The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. If your heart is unclouded, the light floods in! 23But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place. How profound will be the darkness within you] if the light of truth cannot enter! (Matthew 6:21-23 TPT). So, this is directly connected to money.
Pastor Sharon:
Because look there, Pastor John.
Pastor John:
Yes, 24“How could you worship two gods at the same time?” (Matthew 6:24 TPT). So, the whole message of what Jesus is trying to say, or is saying…
Pastor Sharon:
He’s saying it with clarity with absolute certainty.
Pastor John:
The more you focus on money, the darker your life becomes about the things of God because you focus on what’s important to your heart, what you value. You value money, you value goods, you value possessions, you value what they can do for you, what it means to you, and all of the things that it brings with it.
But if you allow God to use this message to touch your heart, and then you begin to respond to His guiding and He’s leading, then He will deliver you from lack, and He will deliver you from the destroyer in your life. And part of the destruction is darkness. It’s the darkness that you follow after a system that must ultimately fail you and let you down. That’s what Jesus says, it will lose its value, it will fail you, it will let you down. And Jesus is saying, if you let the light of the revelation of God come to your heart, you will access a system that will never fail you.
Pastor Sharon:
Absolutely right. It’s a massive heart change this that God is bringing to us now, Pastor John. It’s no light matter to God.
Pastor John:
It’s what system do we trust the most? Yes, because that’s what I will take the children was all about. Are you going to entrust your children’s future to the world system? Or are you going to trust God’s Word and the life of God to guide your children? And this is the same with money. Are you going to entrust your wealth, your riches to the world system? Or are you going to trust God to be the One who brings light, revelation and wealth and abundance to you? Because you have Light. Yes, it’s about a system.
Pastor Sharon:
And the way that you determine to change your own mind, change your heart, and have a lifestyle change is that you put your foot in this message, and you’re meditating on these scriptures so that they can bring correction to you, they can train you in righteousness and they can be that fire – is not My Word like fire that burns up everything? Is not My Word like a hammer that breaks into pieces? Is by you meditating on these scriptures. There are no ways any of us can have a mind change, heart change, lifestyle change without the power of scriptures, the power of the Word that God is bringing us and meditating in it, day and night so that we can do it and become it and be it.
Pastor John:
We’re leading into this in Job about making Him your treasure, my babes.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes. Here is Luke 18 verse 22, Amplified scripture here that I first want to bring. So, this is the story of the young ruler that had quite a lot of money and possessions, and it is out of the Amplified. This young ruler was telling Jesus, “But I keep all these commandments, so I am a good man. I do this, I honour this and I do this. I go to the synagogue, yes, yes, I am a churchgoer.” When Jesus heard it because this young man was pushing Jesus for something more. Jesus said, Ok, I am going to respond to your push for something more.” It’s like a lot of Christians say, “I want more of Jesus, I want more of God,” and when God comes like this and saying, “Oh you want more.” 22He said to him, One thing you still lack. Sell everything that you have and divide [the money] among the poor, and you will have [rich] treasure in heaven; and come back [and] follow Me [become My disciple, join My party, and accompany Me] (Luke 18:22 AMPC). Now this translation in the Amplified in Matthew, the book of Matthew, John, 21Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character]. That is very important. Jesus said if you will have maturity, if you want to develop more, as a son of God – that self-sacrificing character. Go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]. 22But when the young man heard this, he went away sad (grieved and in much distress) (Matthew 19:21-22 AMPC). Don’t let that be your condition and your response to these messages, saints of God. This is such a time for us to go with God now in our collective greatness, in having recognition of the time of God. Don’t be found sad and grieved that you’re not going to make the switch here, the heart switch, the mind switch and the lifestyle switch here.
Pastor John: In fact, if I can say something about this, Sharon. Jesus said to him in the Luke version He said, One thing you still lack (Luke 18:22 AMPC). In other words, He was saying to him, “You have lived such a good life, you have obeyed the Word of God so well, you are so connected to the covenant laws of Moses and the faith of Abraham that you only lack one thing.” I mean, how many people in the world today would Jesus say, “You only lack one thing,” you know? “You only lack one thing. But the one thing was a big thing.”
Pastor Sharon:
Ja, it was for more maturity as a son of God.
Pastor John:
So, the one thing was, ok; “This is the deal-breaker for you now, this is your crossroad. This is the dealbreaker. You must sell your money and give it to the poor. Now I am wanting you to be a heavenly-minded man here. So, sell your goods, give to the poor and follow Me because then everything you have accumulated on earth will be transferred as a deposit to heaven.” That’s what He says.
Pastor Sharon:
A big investment you’re going to make into eternity now.
Pastor John:
So, here’s your crossroad. “Your lifestyle, your commitment to the Covenant promises, your commitment to the ways of God, the Mosaic law, the Ten Commandments, your commitment to God has brought you to this crossroad, now you are here. Here’s the dealbreaker. All this wealth, let it go, become a deposit in heaven. Let it be a deposit for you in heaven and come and follow Me.” You know, Sharon, he failed at that moment because Jesus pinpointed exactly his location that his life pride, his self-worth, his community status, everything was wrapped up in that money. The investment of his heart was all in earthly stuff and so even his obedience to the law that brought him that stuff …
Pastor Sharon:
… his heart’s trust. He let his heart’s trust go into that.
Pastor John:
… into a law rather than a relationship with Jesus. So, we both know, Sharon, what God is actually doing in this message for the people that are listening, you know, and we pray that they will have ears to hear that He’s bringing all of us to a crossroad. This message is bringing us to a crossroads. Are we going to continue to just trust in a system that will decay and that will eventually lose its value? You know, Pastor Sharon, the thing about it is that even if you own gold and it holds its value beyond your life, your own personal life will decay and die. So, it will still be meaningless to you. Yes, your children might enjoy it and your children’s children might. But you yourself will enter into eternity with no value, with no investment into a heavenly account.
Pastor Sharon:
And because you have set that same example before your children, God will have to bring them to that same crossroad too if they are going to have an investment too. So, you can’t pacify yourself with the fact I’m leaving it to my children. Well, what are your children going to do with it? Are they going to make investments in eternity or are they also just going to live for themselves and get more for themselves? So, then what is the point of that for them spiritually and in eternity anyway?
Pastor John:
That is what that scripture really refers to that the sins of the fathers will be passed on to the children, is that it is not that my sin curses my children. It is that my sin becomes a pattern to my children.
Pastor Sharon:
They watch me and they do what I do.
Pastor John:
And so if I keep trusting in wealth, and I do not come to a crossroad that says I am going to make Jesus first place and I am going to follow Him now, then actually, I show my children – this is the way to live. Whatever the preacher says, whatever the messenger says, do not trust him. Do not trust what the message is. Do not trust what God is saying, you must trust your wealth. So, that is the pattern they learn. And so then when it comes to their own crossroads that they have to follow God, they have seen a pattern before them and then it takes a much greater move of God, and much greater anointing to break that bondage over them.
Pastor Sharon:
And there would have to be a real press in the heart of those children, to God to want more like this rich, young ruler and then when God brings them to that point, then they have to be at their own crossroad with that. It is very, very strong things that the Lord is speaking to us about because He loves us so much. He really wants us entering into His new era. – mature. At a maturity level.
Pastor John:
Pastor Sharon, I have this, since the beginning of our conversation on air, I have had this testimony I have felt to give and I believe that now is the right moment. You know, that we used our faith, the new system of God, the Kingdom system of sowing and reaping and believing God to deliver us from real poverty and He brought us into a measure of prosperity. Then we made bad decisions.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, you shared this with them last week about how we got out of debt by giving.
Pastor John:
Yes, but I want to share what happened was that I turned back to God. I was reading a book under an oak tree in Cape Town about becoming debt-free. When I read that book – which was full of scriptures, full of revelation from our word of faith people – about becoming debt-free, I received a revelation by the Holy Spirit on how to be debt-free and how to get myself back to a strong position. My sons watched me. It became something in our family, they watched us sell the possessions that we owned, convert it to cash, put the money in the offering. So, our sons watched us transition from and make sure that the system of the world does not get a hold of us, and that we lived in the system of God. And so both our sons and their families now live in a system where they trust God. They trust God, they give.
Pastor Sharon:
They trust God to be debt-free.
Pastor John:
They trust God, they give money that they earn. Their first instinct of their heart is to give to God of their time, of their substance, and to give their whole life to God.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes. Yes, their tithe, their offerings
Pastor John:
And so the result of that is that we see now in our grandchildren. We have seen that they have been teaching them, in the grandchildren, in little things, you know, Sharon. Where the grandchildren learn to share sweets with each other, they learn to share food with each other. And it starts there.
Pastor Sharon:
That is right. That is right, John. So, that was a big point that the Lord wanted us to bring out here about that children will if parents chase until they have their own confrontation with the Lord. God has told us to come out of Babylon, come out of the world system. Be My people like that, and I will be your God.
Here in Job 22, from verse 24 to 28, we’re going to read from the Amplified Bible. It says here, 24If you lay gold in the dust. It’s a scripture that’s spoken to me for many years, many decades, actually, 24…lay gold in the dust, lay your wealth, your possessions and things, lay it in the dust. Just hold loosely onto it, just consider it to be dust. even if you have it, 24If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir, it was of the most beautiful gold that you could find in the earth, among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth]. 25And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure, 26Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God. 27You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. Those things in your heart that you want to vow to the Lord that you will do, you know, you will pay your vows. 28You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favour] shall shine upon your ways (Job 22:24-28 AMPC). So, there are quite a few things the Lord showed me in this portion of Scripture that when we lay gold in the dust, and we consider our possessions and our material wealth to be of little worth, and we make the Lord our gold and our special silver treasure, then there is a delight that you have in God from having made that shift in your heart, from having changed your whole way of thinking and living. And you will lift up your face. There is a place of a lifting up of your face to God when that thing has happened between you and Him and you’ve cleansed your heart of that love of money, you know, and you will make your prayer to Him. There’s an authority here in prayer that comes now. And He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. And here’s your authority in verse 28, and 28You shall also decide and decree a thing about your life and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favour] shall shine upon your ways (Job 22:27-28 AMPC).
So, there’s a thing about not just lightly, glibly confessing God’s favour when actually you have not laid gold in the dust. You’re actually clinging to it, you’re actually chasing after it, and in the same breath confessing the favour of God over this business deal, because I’m chasing after more. “But I want Your favour, Lord.” But He wants this heart change. As you said earlier on, Pastor John, it’s all about our hearts. He wants our hearts.
Pastor John:
And that scripture in verse 26 that you’ve already read, says, 26Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God (Job 22:26 AMPC). So, when you lay down your treasure, then the delight rises in your heart. It is just the way that God works. Don’t hold on to your treasure, don’t make it your most important thing in your life. And when you come to that crossroads, and you get through it, then God becomes such a delight to you and that revelation can only come once you lay the treasure down, Sharon.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, once you obey this message that is coming to you.
Pastor John:
Yes, you can’t hold on to your money and say, “But show me Your delight.” No, because your delight is in holding on to your treasure because that’s your treasure. “I’m delighted, but I want to see Your light, Lord, show me,” while you want to hold on to it – you can’t. You’ve got to let it go before you can have a delight in the Lord.
Pastor Sharon:
And so you know, this verse here that says, 24…lay gold in the dust (Job 22:24 AMPC). I had this, like working of God in me, you know, that every time He blesses me with something, not I’m chasing after it, I got it for myself. Every time He blesses me, I just say to that blessing, “And another one, and another one, and another one bites the dust. So, yes, blessing, thank You, Lord. But you, blessing, will bite the dust. I lay you in the dust immediately because You are my treasure, Lord. You are my gold. You are my special treasure, Lord.
Pastor John:
We are thankful and we are grateful for all these blessings, but we hold on to it very lightly.
Pastor Sharon:
Thankful, but I, my flesh and my soul, I make it bite the dust. I lay it in the dust. I consider it of little worth, even though I’m grateful.
Pastor John:
You can’t really get to this amazing delight of the Lord and have this delight relationship while you’re still holding on to the money because it is about a system.
Pastor Sharon:
No, because revelation Iight can’t enter you if you’re focused on money. So, I think we’re probably going to finish with this last point here today. This point is that Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit; God, the Holy Trinity God, one God, Three-in-one, The see what we all bring to His Treasury. They look, They see, They know. Jesus, who watched people giving into the offering when He was alive on earth is still the same Jesus and He came to show the Father’s character on earth. So, the Father watches everything you give. Make no mistake about it; Jesus and the Father God and the Holy Spirit, watch everything that Pastor John and I give. They watch everything you give personally. Everything. It’s the same Jesus that watched then, that watches now. And here’s the – I think it’s the Christian Jewish Bible. This is Luke 21 from verse 1 to 4. He wants it to come out through many different versions because He wants you to get the point. He’s belabouring the full impact of this Scripture.
21Then Yeshua looked up, as he watched the rich placing their gifts into the Temple offering-boxes, 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small coins. Now hang on, don’t liken that to two cents. Just hang on here now. And 3He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more. More – what’s your more for? She knew what her more was for. 2 … has put in more than all the others (Luke 21:1-2 CJB).
Pastor John:
Than all the others. What others, Sharon?
Pastor Sharon:
The rich people.
Pastor John:
All the other rich people. All the stuff that all of them were giving.
Pastor Sharon:
Ja, much more than she was giving.
Pastor John:
She’s put in more than all the others together.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s right. That’s right. Because Jesus goes on to say in verse 4; 4For they, out of their wealth, have contributed money they could easily spare. 4For they, out of their wealth, have contributed money they could easily spare. So God doesn’t only look at what we give, He looks at what we keep. 4But she, out of her poverty, has given all she had to live on (Luke 21:4 CJB).
Recently I was speaking to someone that’s quite a scholar of the Word of God and she said to me this was a years’ wages according to the Bible commentaries. It was a years’, she could have lived off it for a year. Something happened in her heart. Change of mind, change of heart, change of lifestyle.
Listen to the Message Bible, 1Just then he looked up and saw, Jesus looked up and saw, the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. 2Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. 3He said, “The plain truth is… this widow has given by far the largest offering… 4All these others made their offerings that they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford – she gave her all!” (Luke 21:1-4 MSG)
Here’s the Living Bible; 1As he stood in the Temple, he was watching (Luke 21:1 TLB). That’s my Jesus. He’s standing, watching me giving. He’s watching you giving.
Pastor John:
Every time there’s a giving thing going on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are watching because Jesus said He never does anything without the Father doing it and He only does what the Father does.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s right. So He saw His Father watching therefore He was watching. They have not stopped watching. They are watching more now than ever. So He was watching – so this is the Living Bible, 1 … tossing their gifts into the collection box. 2Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small copper coins. 3“Really,” Jesus remarked, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them combined (Luke 21:1-3 TLB).
Pastor John:
That’s what I was trying to make the point of.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s what you said, yes. 4For they have given a little of what they didn’t need. Oh, Jesus knows how some rich people give, Pastor John. That they give 4of what they didn’t need, and a little of what they didn’t need, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has (Luke 21:1-4 TLB).
The New Century Version says this; 1As Jesus looked up, he saw some rich people putting their gifts into the Temple money box. 2Then he saw a poor widow putting two small copper coins into the box. 3Then He said again, “I tell you the truth, He is speaking truth here, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. 4They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had to live on” (Luke 1:1-4 NCV). It was a transaction in her heart going on between her and God as a covenant child. All these rich people were also covenant people.
Okay, so, there’s the point that God wanted to make to you and me today. He sees what we keep and why we keep it and why He doesn’t have access to our more.
Pastor John:
So, the two stories that we have used out of the Bible that Jesus spoke about today, Sharon, the rich young ruler comes and says, “I want to know what else I’ve got to do to get to spiritual maturity”. And Jesus says, “All this wealth that you have, give it to the poor and come and follow Me. Your riches will be transferred to eternity.” While Jesus is watching these people, He’s talking about wealth and He’s saying she already has wealth beyond anything that they could give because she’s given everything. So, He’s trying to say, I mean He’s definitely saying in both cases it takes a lot for rich people to invest in eternity because they have to give a lot and they’ve done so much to get the lot that they think that, “What is my life going to be without it, so, I’ll only give this.”
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, out of my lot and it is a lot because other people don’t give as much as I do and they think about it.
Pastor John:
That they are giving that much.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, and they think God sees it like they’re seeing it.
Pastor John:
And is impressed with that much money that they are giving.
Pastor Sharon:
Exactly, they think that God is thinking like them.
Pastor John:
Yes. I’m impressed.
Pastor Sharon:
And God sees it completely different.
Pastor John:
I’m impressed, I’m impressed. You’re giving a lot of money. In the meantime, He is saying, “Actually, you are still holding onto so much that you can’t enter into the eternity mindset cause you are holding on to so much.”
Pastor Sharon:
It’s a serious Word that God is bringing to us at this time.
Pastor John:
It is a serious moment. But I, certainly you know, Pastor Sharon, I have had this happen to me, I know you have had many times in the ministry, that you have a person who is touched by the move of God and wants more of God in their lives and they come up to us sometimes and they’ll put a note in our hands and it’s not a lot of money, in actual value, it’s a little bit of money, but we know that this is all the money they’ve got. This is all the money they’ve got. You and I have, because of the understanding that we’ve had, we’ve never taken it lightly. When someone with little, little amount of money.
Pastor Sharon:
It’s like the Holy Spirit shows us in our heart, how much he values that.
Pastor John:
Yes. Because it’s the all.
Pastor Sharon:
It’s the all, it’s their best.
Pastor John:
Yes and so God is really challenging us to transfer our wealth into eternity. Because the minute we take this approach, right now, and it’s no coincidence that it’s happening at a time when depression and world economies are taking strain. He’s wanting us to be free of the system so that He can bring the wealth of eternity, the wealth of heaven, the wealth of what God owns in the earth – which is all the wealth of the earth – He wants to transfer it to us. But before He can transfer it to us, He’s got to know that we’ve transferred our heart to heaven.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s right. And this abundant overflow is for those that are going to make this switch in their hearts now because we’ll sum it up with this last scripture because Jesus was not trying to bankrupt the rich young ruler. He was taking him into another realm, a spirit realm of occupation in the Kingdom of God and God was going to show him what true wealth He could bring to him but He needed to have his whole heart first.
And so the Lord has a treasury in heaven for us. Deuteronomy 28 verse 12 says, Once we’ve made this switch, then 12the Lord will open to us his good treasury. Yes, 12He will open to us, His good treasury – the heavens, to give us the rain of our land in its season and to bless all the works of our hands (Deuteronomy 28:12 AMP).
Pastor John:
Wow. And that’s what He wants to do. He wants to open His treasury in heaven. He wants to bless the work of our hands. So, if you don’t have work, this is a way to do it. Give God something even if it’s time, talents, skill – to your local church – give something and God will fill your hands and bless it and then He will begin to open his treasury because you give Him from what you have on the earth. Pastor Sharon, our time is up and we need to close the message.
So, I just want to pray and I want us to agree that this message will, as we have agreed from the beginning, it will transform your mind, your thinking. It will transform the way your heart is and then you will have an affection for the things of God and a delight in the Lord because you do not hold your treasure so dearly that you’re unwilling to let it go out of your hands.
Please respond to God, in whatever way you can and whatever level you can, please respond to God. Allow your treasure to be transferred from earth to heaven so that He can abundantly bless the work of your hands. However, God makes this revelation real to you, obey Him in that. Obey Him in the way that He reveals this to you.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes. Respond to Him personally.
Pastor John:
Respond to Him and act on it.
Pastor Sharon:
That’s right, talk to Him
Pastor John:
And do something that shows that you are obeying the Word that He has planted in your heart, then more revelation comes and more freedom comes and more abundance comes.
We pray also, Pastor Sharon and I, that you are safe and secure and covered by the Lord Jesus, His Word, the blood of Jesus and the angels. We give His angels charge over you, that no weapon formed against you will prosper and that all that you do in your life is blessed – your going in and your going out, in Jesus’ Name.
Pastor John:
Yes, thank you for joining us. God bless you. Bye.
Pastor Sharon:
Bye.
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