Bill Winston - A New Way of Living
On Proverbs chapter 10 we've kind of used this somewhat of a little bit of a jumping off place, if you will, because we keep coming back here to this and into this whole idea of rest. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 10 verse 22 at first in the King James translation, the blessing of the Lord, It maketh it rich and he addeth no sorrow with it. Now what we said, we want to look at that in the NIV translation. The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. I didn't misread, that brings wealth without painful toil for it.
We said, let's look at that verse and go back to the beginning and see how that verse fits in with the beginning and also with what Jesus preached in Genesis chapter one verse 26 and God said, let us make men in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of sea, over the fowl of the air of the Cattle and of all the earth and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Right there tells you, scripturally, you have dominion over creeps. No, I'm just kidding. That wasn't what scripture said. So, this dominion is giving mankind authority over all the earth.
So for God who gave this to mankind, he set up this such that mankind would have the authority and he'd supply the power. So we see that God is saying that, wait a minute, I've got the power, but I don't have authority. And because I set up the rules, I can't break my own rules here. I'm having to make it so for me to get involved in your situation, you're going to to give me permission. And that's what we call prayer. You have prayer meeting. The people don't show up. You have meetings about giving away hot dogs, people show up. My point to you is... Now I know that doesn't happen in his church and in church. I know, but somewhere it happened. Praise the lord.
Alright, so let's go to Genesis chapter two verse one and in two verse one he goes further. Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all what? Work. Which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. All right. So now God is making everything in six days, six days, and he made everything in six days. And the end of the sixth day, he makes a man.
Now this man, we went over this whole idea of what is man out of Proverbs chapter eight it's something that angels never seen before, that the devil has never seen this. You see something coming up here looking like God and, and, and, and this is radition is, this is... Folks, this has got everybody's attention, but he came out of God. That's like a baby comes out of the mother. So he was both created and made God created him but made his body right.
So now it says here that all these things that were made were made before mankind because they were made to serve him and he was made to have dominion over them is supposed to have dominion over the plants. Plants dominion over plants, cocaine, plant dominion over the plants, not the plants have dominion over him. Then God goes in chapter two go all the way down to verse 15 and the Lord God took the man, put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it, and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely what? Die. This death thing is not what mankind was supposed to suffer. He was not supposed to die, he's like God. Eternal being.
Now death. When we say death, we think of it just on the natural side of a person ceasing to breathe. They're gone. But that's not what God was talking about first. His death meant to be separated from God because you and I were never designed to be separated from our creator, just like a plant was never designed to be separated from the soil or the fish was not designed to be separated from the, from the water. So now this coming over here to Genesis chapter three and verse one.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, yea has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees, of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die. Did God say anything about touch? Alright, so she's adding something to the word right there. And the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. Now what is that? That's doubt and treat doubt like dope, Stay away from it.
Now what did they do? They sinned and she ate first gave it to Adam. He ate. The Bible says she was deceived. So she didn't volitionally do that. I mean she, she didn't know what she was getting into. Adam did know, but he ate it anyway. So now what happened with that is that God now comes into the coolness of the morning and goes to the garden and said, Adam, where are you? Well, it wasn't talking about his location. Are you you in Chicago or Philadelphia? No, he was talking about his position that he had lost his headship over the earth. He had lost his authority that he had over everything. And now he's under authority, not of God, but under the devil. And so now the enemy is running this thing.
Now Adam, you know, of course he said Adam why did you eat...? Woman you gave me...! You know, that whole thing. So he lost something that got restored back to him. It's all found over in profit. The Proverbs, pardon me, in Psalms chapter eight verse five and the Bible says, for thou has made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory, come on, and honor. Now the glory happened to be from God having to be the anointing. And that's a power of God that's radiating the blessing that's radiating from Adam.
Now the honor is his position. And so what happened when he lost that? Now Satan tries to counterfeit everything. So now he makes the the honor, pride pride lifts him up and puts him on top. And the glory is money wealth. So he takes the wealth and uses that for a counterfeit anointing. Glory to God? So now here is Genesis chapter three verse 17 and Adam, he said, because you have listened and given heed to the voice for your wife and have eaten of the tree, which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, the ground under you is cursed because of you and sorrow and toil show you eat of the fruits of it all the day via life.
Now let's just stop right there. So sorrow and toil is what the man going to have to have or endure to be able to get provision sorrow and toil. Now let's take that and go right back the Proverbs and chapter 10 verse 22 this is what Jesus preach and this is what Jesus came to do. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 22 the blessing of the Lord brings wealth without painful toil for it. So Jesus came to restore mankind back to a place where he no longer has to toil for his provision. And what I said is no longer do you have to bear the responsibility or the weight of your own provision. You don't have to go get something. The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. Glory to God.
Alright, now I won't go through anymore in Genesis chapter three. Now what are we saying here? Adam broke God's laws and because he did, he aborted his potential and his seeds potential meaning that all that came from Adam. See, everybody was in Adam. Everybody was in Adam. So when Adam sinned and his nature changed, every seed produces what? After its own kind. So all sinned Romans please chapter 3 verse 23 here's what he says, for all have sin and come short of the glory of God.
God the creator, so all have sin. So when one man sin all sin, are you following what I'm saying? Why? They came out of Adam. They came out of Adam because the Bible says we were born in sin and, book of Psalms, and shaped in iniquity. I think it's Psalm 51 so here you and I, when we are born into this earth, we've got to be born again because anybody born in this earth has a first adamic birth. But then when you're born again, you're born out of Jesus. And he's the last Adam who didn't sin. Isn't this wonderful?
So he said the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So Jesus bore that and he made it so better covenant that even if you do sin, you won't be immediately cut off from God. You can confess your sin because God's still looking at Jesus and the blood that he spilled for you. Now, I'm not going to go into that. Alright, so let's talk about potential for just a moment. Because when you're talking about potential, basically your abilities are defined by God's abilities. Jesus said this in John chapter 14 in verse 10 he said, it's not me. It's a father in me. He's doing the work. So who's doing the work? The father is.
Now Jesus has got the authority because he's got a body and he's got the authority. But he says, I'm not doing the work. Who's doing the work? So the father's ability is being used with my authority. What is this potential thing? Potential is a very simple definition of potential is hidden abilities, hidden abilities. So he said here that he's crowned him with glory and honor. And this word glory in the Greek is doxa, D-O-X-A, where we get our word doxology. In the Hebrew, it's the word Cabowd, C-A-B-W-D, Cabowd. And this word in Hebrew means splendor. It means heavy. It means rich. It means abounding.
Over in Genesis chapter 31 in verse one, this is when, um, Jacob, uh, had taken everything that Laban had because Laban was a trickster. He had deceived the Jacob out of his wages and God gave Jacob a revelation. And because of it, Jacob took everything that Laban had. All the livestock, everything, but he took it fair and square. And he said that his sons were overheard saying this. And Laban son saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our fathers and of all that which is our fathers, has he gotten all this what, Glory, glory, the heaviness, the richness, the abounding.
If you've ever heard anybody say, you know, that guy is loaded. That's what he's talking about over in Haggai chapter two in verse nine, he's talking about the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the form of you. Go up there and look at some verses before that. He's talking about gold and silver. So it's interesting here when he's talking about Cabowd in the Hebrew is talking about this whole idea of having this uh, uh, uh, this glory, this his train filled the temple, all the riches and all the wealth that travels with him and his glory.
And so when you talk about it in the new Testament, he says in Colossians chapter one, verse 27, he said that Christ in you, the hope of glory. Why? Because we're talking about the full essence of a thing in the Greek. We're talking about the full ability of something, the full potential being manifested. It's Christ. In you for you to manifest your full potential, you will have to have Christ in you. In other words, you gotta be born again. Why? So that Jesus can come in you the anointed one and his anointing will be on you. For you fulfill the full potential of what God made you to be. That's a good reason to be born again today.
The Bible says over in first Corinthians chapter 11 verse seven that a woman is the glory of a man. Glory to God. Say amen to that. Now my point to you is, is that this glory is this potential and that's what you want. Because before you and I were born again or born, pardon me, that God already had plans for our lives. So, and he had a purpose for you being born. So you were not just a mistake. Well, I was born out of wedlock... I don't care how you were born. You can't come into this earth without a purpose and without a plan for your life. Same amen to that.
So you have been given special aptitudes so that you can fulfill the plan that God has for your life. So you have aptitudes and abilities that are in your life. The Bible says in Romans chapter 11 and verse 29 he said that gifts and the callings of God are without repentance. So you have gifts according to God's plan for your life. So whatever his purpose is, he enabled you through gifts and talent to fulfill that purpose, to accomplish everything that he intended for you to fulfill while you were here in this earth. Say amen to that.
Now, you don't need to be jealous of my talent because you have talents that I don't have and I have talents that you don't have. Why? Because you got a purpose that I don't have and I've got a purpose that you don't have. The problem is when somebody tries to imitate somebody else and then get jealous cause they imitating them. And I'm just saying that you don't need to be jealous of anybody else's talents cause you got talent too that nobody else has.
Now, once you come into understanding the fact that you've got a purpose and you got a potential, no longer will provision be the highest priority, the highest priority for your life should be your purpose. Because if I can get in my purpose and I can develop my gift, my gift will make room for me and bring me before a great man. Now, who's got a gift? Everybody has got a gift. Folks in the darkest part of Africa has got a gift. Folks in India where I'm going, all of them on the street begging, they got a gift. Folks, it doesn't make any difference. They've got a gift.
Well, the problem is when a purpose of a thing, is not known, abuse is inevitable. And so what happens is people been abused in their lives because they didn't realize that God had a plan for them before they were even born in this earth and they came in this earth and thought that they were less than somebody else. So forth and so on. Are you following what I'm saying? Now? What has happened is people have been working for a living and you're not working, earning a living, cause once you come into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God has all the provision that you'll ever need to fulfill your purpose here in this earth. Say amen to that. It's got enormous wealth in it.
And so when you're talking about why am I working, so why do I work? One of the main reasons why you work, it's a manifest your potential because potential needs work to be manifested. I'll say it again. Potential needs work to be manifested. Look what Jesus said over in John chapter five verse 17. Glory to God, John chapter five verse 17 Jesus answered them my father, what worketh hitherto and what happens? I work because he's got to bring out the fullness that is in him. So the glory or the fullness that is in you is manifested through work.
And somebody said, well, why do I work? Well, one reason you work as a serve your fellow man or your fellow woman. That's why you work while you work. Another reason you work is fulfill your assignment. What God has called you in this earth to do. Why do you work to develop your gifts and talents? Because your gifts and talents don't come out except you exercise them except work takes place. Why do you work to provide leadership for a dark world that people will see when you work? He said that you will demonstrate your good works and it will glorify your father. That people will see that you've been called by the name of the Lord. Say amen to that.
Why do you work to establish the kingdom of God on the earth? Why do you work? It's through superiority and skill and principles. Can you change the world? Why do you work to bring his heaven, government, earth? Why do you work? None of those have I said why you working is to earn a living. And that is not in there. So I'm telling you, you don't have to earn a living. Your living has already been earned by Jesus Christ. He's stacked it up for you and all you have to do is learn how to tap into it. Say amen to that.
Now, most people have this attitude, "I want to work so I can stop working". Now let's think about that for just a minute, I want to work so I can stop working. Now what are we talking about here? They're trying to find rest from the toil and hard labor and tension of it all that they've been going through. They looking forward to retirement. Notice the word tired is right in there, so they're looking forward to that work and matter of fact we built things around it. TGIF, all that, "Thank God Is Friday". And then we call Mondays, blue Monday. So I'm just saying our... Lord have mercy! But anyway, my point to you is we've built restaurants and everything else around it because we're designed to be motivated by vision and not by provision. Lord have mercy.
Now, What am I saying here? We're designed to be purpose minded and not provision minded. So Jesus had to come and he had to teach and bring people into that. Here's what he said in Matthew's gospel, chapter 11 and verse 28, coming to me all who labor and are what? Heavy Laden and what'll I do? I'm going to give you rest. Now rest is what we looking for. Rest is what we looking for. That's the lure of the lottery. When people can get that lottery and hit that number pow! Whew, Lord Jesus. I can go on vacation. Hallelujah. Why? They're looking for rest.
Now think about it, suppose you had a job that this job was so good, and you were so motivated by vision until you said, my Lord is it five O'clock already? Not, boy it's just 4:30. You know what I'm saying? There's a whole big difference, there's a shift there because we're in that job for something else other than being motivated by vision. You follow what I'm saying?
See, this working is supposed to bring something out of you. You supposed to be creating something, something supposed to be coming forth to the point that you say, man, I got to go to sleep, I need to stay up another hour because if I can just... do you follow what I'm saying? I'm saying, man I got to eat. I don't need to take time to eat today. I'm working on something now. And I'm saying sometimes I get in that word and you know, working in the word is labor. You labor in the Word of God. And I'm in it. I'm telling you, I get in at four o'clock in the morning. Next thing I know is 1:30 in the afternoon. What did I do? I'm excited. I'm hunting. I'm finding stuff. I'm digging. I'm drilling. I'm striking oil down there. I got a gusher going. Praise God.
So this is an idea of vision and provisions supposed to follow vision, that God has provision for every vision you might have. And so he gives you this creative ability inside that you continue to bring forth a new visions and so forth like that. Say amen to that. Alright, so what I'm saying is Jesus began to preach this, put it back up there, please. And let me just finish reading that. He said, coming to me, all who labor and heavy Laden, and I'll give you rest. Now take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find what? Rest for your souls.
Now, what is Jesus doing? For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So what is Jesus doing? He's taking us back to the place where he is no longer... We will no longer have to labor and bear the weight of our own provision. He came up with called the Sabbath and the Sabbath is a picture of the restoration of the provision that Jesus was, and praise God, was making possible to mankind. He was taking us back to the garden, back to the place of rest. Back to that seventh day. Back to the time that Adam didn't have to be worried about what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to drink, what I'm going to put on. How's this going to happen? So forth and so on.
So look what he says in Matthew's gospel chapter 6 and verse 24. We've gone through this, but I'm going further. Look what he says here. He says, no man can serve how many masters? Two masters. Either he's going to hate one and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and what? The god of money. So most people in the earth are in a survival mode. They are mastered by money. Money is telling them what to think, what the emotions going to be. Money is dictating some of everything, but God has taken us out of that system. And he's put us over here in the kingdom where there is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And so as we're in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God has enormous wealth.
So we're not even to be concerned about what will happen to us and what we going to eat and drink. Look at the next verse. Therefore I say to you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor your body, what you shall put on. Take that verse and put it up there in the amplified translation please. Let's see if we can get another degree of understanding of that particular verse. Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy, anxious, and worried about your life. What you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, or about your body what you shall put on. Is not the live greater in quality than food? And the body far above more excellent than clothing?
In other words, stop chasing after these things, because these things are designed to chase after you. Look what he says starting at verse 31, therefore do not worry and be anxious saying what are we going to have to eat? Or what will we have to drink? Or what are we going to have to wear? For the Gentiles, a heathen wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things. And your heavenly father knows that you have need of all them all, but seek ye first seek aim and strive after first of all his kingdom and his righteousness, his way of doing and what? Being right.
So his way of doing and being right, let's take a trip now to the prodigal son, let's go over to Luke's gospel chapter 11, please. The prodigal son in verse 11, it's at a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, give me the portion of goods that follow me. And he divided unto them his living and not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey until far country. And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all that he had there, that he spent all, there rose a great or mighty famine in the land. And he began to be in want. Unaligned, mighty famine, in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, joined himself. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. And no man gave to him. Say no man gave to him. When this prodigal son went into this far country, it's a picture of Adam and how Adam left his place with the father and ended up joined to a citizen of another country.
Now in this another country this was the world's system. And this world's system, the Bible says a famine came in it. And because of this famine, this son gave out of everything and nobody gave to him because in that system, everybody's concerned about themselves first and only. So now he gets a job and finds himself feeding hogs and would have eaten the hogs food. Now, what does that hog food represent? It represents things that other folk don't want. This relationship with a father has been broken and this son is now suffering.
But it's an interesting thing what happens to him that in verse 17, when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants in father's house have bread enough to spare and I'm perishing with hunger? I'll arise and I go to my father and I'll say to him, father I've sinned against heaven and before thee. I'm no more worthy to be called your son, make me as one of the hired servants. All right, let's deal with this. When he came to himself, this is interesting. Came to himself. I believe that God can't do much with you until you come to yourself.
Now, what he had invested in is a world system. And you and I pretty much have been brought up in that system. That system is a way that we think. One of the first thing that Jesus said is repent. That means to change your belief, that means, think something different. And you can't think anything different if you getting it from the same source, you gotta switch sources. Because the enemy has perverted God's system and told you the way that you get ahead is to keep everything you got. That's not that new system. The kingdom says, the way you get ahead is to give it.
Now notice nobody gave him and he ended up feeding hogs. Now, he came to himself and I truly believe that there's three things that must happen for you to come to yourself. The first thing is that you've got to have, most people that has got to come to the place where big momma won't loan you another dime.
Now, I'm coming home now with this. You gotta come to a place where all the credit cards are at the limit. There is no more. You got to come to a place where you're tired of being tired. You gotta come to a place where you don't have another person you could put the spank on to get your needs met. You got to come to a place where they evict you and your cousin. You got to come to a place, cause see you you're not tired yet. You haven't come to that yet. You still got doors and people you can call on. You still got, you can go down and get $500 from the bank or go over here to one of these high interest places and give them a car title. You still got that. But you ain't come to yourself because when you come to yourself, you going to be willing to switch the system and watch this, faith is not a formula. You just can't throw a nickel up here and think you're going to get a hundred fold back.
Faith is not a formula. You can't just look at me and say, well, this is what he gave and this is what he got so forth. Hey, thank you. You can imitate me, you're supposed to imitate God. You gotta have a revelation of what you're doing. And Jesus said this, you made the Word of God none effect because of your tradition. In other words, because of your tradition, meaning that you come to church on Sunday, you say hallelujah, praise the Lord, so forth and so on. But nothing really changed in your life. That means you got a hold of something that ain't real, because the gospel will change your life. It will change your life. You will never be broke another day.
I know when it happened to me, when I meditated that word about leaving IBM, thank God for the company it blessed me and so forth. But God is saying it's time for you to go in full time ministry. I tried to step out, why? Boom, and baby need a new pair of shoes. So I had to change the date again. Try to step out again. House snow came. Something came up, popped up, so I said I can't leave right now. Why? Because I'm trying to go ahead without seeing anything. And you ain't designed to move forward without what you can see, you got to see to go. And so I had to understand, wait a minute. I can't see anything yet. So I jumped the that word and begin to meditate it.
So your labor is not in over time, it's in the Word of God. Let me tell you, God is ready to change your life. See you don't be trying to perform for people anymore. Don't ask big momma for nothing else, don't be trying to run nothing else on that credit card. What you need to do is say, wait a minute, I'm going to put my flat feet on the ground and I will believe God. Boy, you got me preaching here. I'm going to believe God Now you can trust him. You can trust him because God is the one that can be trusted. As a matter of fact, if you look in the scriptures, y'all don't mind if I say this do you? No person, this is a tweet, no person on this planet can say no to God.
See you're under the same covenant as Abraham. You're under the same covenant. And once you're under covenant, you locked in. I said, once you're under a covenant, you locked in. And the covenant doesn't work because you cry. The covenant doesn't work because you're hurting, the covenant doesn't work because you pray long. The covenant doesn't work because you fast. The covenant only works when you step into it. You've got to have revelation of what you're doing. Say amen to that. So what did I say here? I'm saying here because a lot of people think they can't trust God, see, but what this man did here is he said, wait a minute. The people in daddy's house have more than enough to spare the servants do. And I'm perishing with hunger.
Notice what was sending him back home. Provision, provision, provision can send a man to church, but if he comes to church and everybody in there broke. Say amen. God never intended for a bunch of broke people to be in church. He didn't expect no poor among you. I can show it to you in the scripture. Sure enough you might come here broke, but you ain't going to be broke long. Jesus is saying, come to me all that labor and heavy Laden and I'm going to give you... Rest!
Let's go over to Hebrews chapter four, please. But let's start looking at the first verse of chapter four. Let us therefore fear... The word fear there is kind of an interesting word, it means believe. Lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it. Underline the word rest. Next verse, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
So when I preached to you this morning, I'm going to give you something, but it's going to be in seed form. So you have to receive it as a seed. Jesus teaches on this in Luke chapter 17. But you have to receive it as a seed. And when you do and swallow it and put it in the soil of your heart, it begins to grow.
Now, what does it begin to grow and produce? It produces, first of all, an image of your redemption. It produces the way God sees you. Come on now. God does not see you inferior to cancer. He sees you seated together with Jesus in heavenly places and everything under your foot. He doesn't see you in lack, he doesn't see you broke, He doesn't see you sad. He doesn't see you... I'm talking about the way God sees you. And the way you can get the way God sees you is to get to seeds of the word of God. And what does a seed do? It roots up everything that's in your soil, in the sight of you and that root, which happens to be sadness, which came from an experience that you had before you got born again. And that root is inside of you, keeping you sad sometimes.
Now the word of God is going to rip that thing out. And the joy of the Lord is going to come on you and everywhere you go, you'll have a smile on your face and a song in your heart for we which have believed, do enter into rest. So believing will bring you to rest. How many of you know faith is a rest? Glory to God. When you're in faith, you're at rest. When you're not in faith, you're tense. You're you're, you're you're subject to come loose at any moment. Come on now, you can't sleep at night so forth because you're not at rest. As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of world.
What works? How do you work towards what he wants you to do? Everything he wants you to do. Everything you would need in this earth according to life and godliness has already been done for you. I said, it's already been completed. Let's take a quick trip over to Psalm chapter 22 in verse one. Look what he says here. Now this is that rest. My God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me? Where did you hear that said? On the cross. Who said it? Jesus said it. He said that on the cross hundreds of years after this was written. So God saw what he was going to say and said it before he said it. God saw what you're going to need and prepared it before you got there.
And let's go back to Hebrews for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest on the seventh day from all his, what? Works. Now, wait, wait. Let's let's let's do something. Let's take a little trip to the seventh day. Let's go to Genesis chapter two, verse one, thus, the heaven's and the earth we're finished. This is God. And all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God ended his what? Work. Which he had what? Made. And he rested when? On the seventh day. Come on. From all his work, which he had made.
Now God calls it work. Understand all we're saying, let there be light. In 24 hours, 16 billion miles of light, 16 billion miles of universe. Let the trees come forth. I'm talking about God said this, but he calls it, what? Work. Cause work... No, wait a minute. You've been made in his image to function just like him. When you going to start working? Not toiling. Working. Watch Peter. Now watch, watch it. Turn Luke chapter five, verse one. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the Lake of Genessaret. Jesus did. And he saw two ships standing by the Lake. But the fishermen were gone out of their net, pardon me, were gone out from them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, Simon-Peter. And he prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
Now, when he had left speaking, he said to Simon launch out into the deep, let down your nets for a draught. For a great increase. And Simon answered and said to him, master, we have what? We have what? We have what? All night and taken nothing. Nevertheless, come on, at thy word, we will let down the net. Watch this. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. And what happened to the net? the net broke and they beckoned to their partners, which were in the other ships that they'd come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships until they began to sink, watch us. And when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying depart from me, I'm a sinful man, Oh Lord. For he was astonished and all that were with him at the drought of fishes that they had taken without hard work. Without toil, without hard labor.
You're working, yes, you're going to work, but you're going to work on another level. The world works in toil. The world hopes that something will happen. They do trial and error. They hope that this answer is right. They hope that this will work out okay. They work and work. And when the money is not there and they get another job and work, and then they beg for a promotion and the promotion is not going to give them but 3% and they want that.
And so my point is, understand that's there. But all of that is over here in Babylon, all of that is over here in a failing system that you and I were born in at first. But now we've been born again. No more lack in your house. If you have a need, all you got to do is? Sow a seed. No, no. He doesn't want you to work for a living. Now you're trying to earn something. You're trying to earn what? Earn what God has already done. You don't earn it. It's all by grace.
Now, why do you work? Because without it, you cannot fulfill your potential in the kingdom, without it. Inside of you is potential. What's potential, hidden abilities. Where are they? Inside of you. If I take an acorn, there's a tree in that acorn. Come on. That's not only a tree. That's hundreds of acorns in that acorn, not only hundreds of acorns, but those acorns can produce hundreds of trees. There's a forest in this acorn. There's a forest in you. Don't think it's going to get in you. It's already in you. You came loaded. How do you get it out? Work, work.
Look it up in a Greek ergo where we get our word energy, work it out. I'm going to work. What does the job give you a paycheck? What does the work give you potential? So the way why work, because it's a way you can give something of value to the world. Why work? It's my way of giving something of value to the world. Notice I did not say yet, I'm working to earn a living. That's Babylon. They have to do that. Who don't know God, they better earn it. They don't earn it they won't have anything. I got to look out for me, man. I got to look out for number one. That's that system. This system, God looks out for you.
Adam had not even created the thought of his own provision. That thought had never occurred. Only time it occurred is when they fall, why do I work? Because it's the way talents and gifts are developed and revealed and increased. When I listen to the sermon that I preached when I first started preaching way back when I listened about two minutes, I had to turn that thing off. Lord, have mercy. Turn that off. If I played that for you, you would say, is that pastor Bill? No, no, no. That can't be pastor. Yes, it was because through my working, I worked it out. Say work it out.
Why work? Because it keeps us mentally healthy. That's why you work. I'm not earning a living now. Because my living has already been earned by Jesus. Jesus, he did it all for me. And I just gotta believe that he did it and stacked it all away so that I can be concerned about number one! what's number one? My assignment from God in terms of getting his kingdom established throughout this earth. That's number one. How am I doing? Why work? It's the means by which we manifest dreams and ideas and goals. It's how they come to reality. Somebody has got to work.
George Washington Carver. I got the write up at home. I read it yesterday, I was teaching in the business class. Business school. He said this, I don't ever have to grope for methods. Quote unquote. Meaning he never has to struggle. He said, I go in my laboratory and I locked the door. And once I locked the door, God pulls back a curtain. He tells me how to take the peanut apart and put it back together. And I've got 300 products from face cream to children's crayons. From a peanut, never once trial and error. Come on. Believe me, when Peter's operating on that word. No longer profit and loss. Only profit. Whole way of thinking. Now you got to think differently. And that's what you have to do in the kingdom. Everything changes when the kingdom comes.
Why work? It makes us a blessing to other people. Everything changes when the kingdom comes and the kingdom has come inside of you right now. Isn't that wonderful. You feed them. What people don't realize is that God leads you past what's possible on purpose. This is not just coincidence that he gives you something beyond your bank account. He wants to show you who he is. A lot of times we're trying to stay comfortable. You don't change when everything's comfortable. Sometimes there's a divine shaking of the nest. Amen.
So next, why work? It makes you a blessing to other people. Why work? It allows us to become co-creators with God. See every, every, every human is is, is created to accomplish something. That's why we are all gifted. We had the recent passing of our dear friend, Dr. Miles Monroe. here's what he said. Don't you dare die with my stuff. Cause you're meant to serve me. And my gift is meant to serve you. What does the enemy want? To cap our well. To make us think that we're insignificant and have nothing to offer, but watch this. You can't come into the earth without a gift. Those guys incarcerated. They got gifts.
Come on. The woman out there or the prostitute out there on the sidewalk. She got a gift. Well, we've got an enemy. That's a thief. He's a deceiver. Trying to make you think you've got nothing. I just read yesterday in the class, an account of a woman in Costa Rica. And what happened is the pastor was a little bit fed up with the way that the country was going and all the lack and the poverty so forth and so on. So he decided to do something about it. So he preached a message talking about the goodness of God and God blesses all of us and so forth and then he was going to to demonstrate.. So he had a fist full of money. No, it wasn't a hundred dollar bills. It was small amounts, small denominations. And he started giving it to different people and said, all right, here's $17. Make something out of it. Here's $13 make something out of it.
So he walked to this lady and had about, I don't know, between $14-$15, and he said, now use your gift and make something out of this. She said, I don't want it. He said why? She said, I don't have anything that I can do. What do you mean, you don't have anything? She said, well, I can't. I got three kids. My husband left me. Then I'm trying to take care of them. I don't have anything I could do. He said everybody has something, take it. No, I'm not going to take it to. And he was so forceful. She kept stepping back. And pretty soon she took it.
She got home and something started talking to her, speaking to her. And she called the pastor to communicate with him. And she said, only thing I can do is make pancakes for my kids. He said, well, that's a start. He said, make pancakes. He said, the group of people that come down to the marketplace every morning, they don't, most of them need something to eat. So make pancakes and try to sell it to them. She made pancakes, sold it to them, sold out the first day. She came back to the pastor, said, well, I sold out. He said, all right, continue to do that. But as she continued, the pancakes got better. Come on.
Now I'm talking about flipping your gift. I'm saying, as she worked that gift, those pancakes got better. Pretty soon she opened up a big catering business. And pretty soon the other people from the area in Costa Rica came and began to want to start their own businesses because that, that business sense began to catch fire. But not only that, now that whole area, which was in famine, began to prosper. And now the president of the country called her and said, can you do the same thing for the nation? I'm telling you, just making pancakes.
What do you have in your house? I'm saying if you can get some seeds of God. Everything changes when the kingdom comes. Look into somebody else to help and give us what we need. But one of the things we need to do is come back to God. Because he's already given us what we need. It's all image, whatever you are inside creates the outside. So if I can destroy that image inside, you have a whole new way of acting outside. That's all it is. It's really simple. The devil knows it. He's just trying to keep threatening you with your credit report. I remember this guy, high priest himself and he remembered the church and he said, me and my wife went down to get us a car. And you talk about, you know, God can override anything.
And he said, we went down there, we sat down, we picked out a car. I walked around and saw it on the floor. Okay. He said, you know what we did, we sat down there the guy looked up our credit. He said, I'm sorry, we wanted to finance you but we can't. We can't help you. He said, okay, what's wrong? He said, well, your credit is too bad. He said, he sat back in the chair and God said, go March around the car 7 times. So he said he got his wife got up and went and marched around and in showroom floor now. He marched around the car.
Come on, see some of y'all ain't willing to do what needs to be done. You're to pretty. You see, then he marched around it and then get this set back down. God says, tell him to look it up again. He said, could you look up again? He said, well, we just looked it up. He said, no, just could you do that for me? Just look it up again. He looked it up again. He said, wait a minute. I must have done, what moves your social security number again? God had erased all the bad credit on his report. And that's the gospel truth. Give God a praise. We getting out of here, man.