Creflo Dollar - Satan's Plot to Steal Your Trust - Part 1
If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of James chapter 5, verses 1 through 8, I'm gonna read out of the New Living Translation. We can all agree that there are a lot of things happening in the world today. And when we look at Israel, we see the unfolding of tremendous Bible prophecy. We understand what has been said thousands of years ago. We understand that in the sequence of things that this takes place and then there should be other Arab countries to try to come against Israel. There should be some things that will happen in form of Persia, which is known as Iran, and Magog, which many believe is Russia, and that all of these things are going to begin to happen. And then in the middle of it, there will be a man that will come to cut a covenant of peace.
And the Bible says, "With peace will deceive many". But I wanna deal with you today because, also, according to the time clock, when that happens, you're not going to be here to see it, which means that we are very close to the Rapture. Now, I know you have people say, "Well, 'rapture' is not even in the Bible". Caught up. But what we don't hear a lot about is the end time prophecy concerning, what I believe, may be these United States of America. An end time prophecy concerning the United States, concerning you and concerning me, what has happened and what will happen. So, I ask you to pay very close attention because during this time, the Bible says to us, "Now is the time for you to look up, for your redemption draweth nigh".
Now, notice this Scripture here in James chapter 5. We're gonna talk again about depending on God as your source 'cause in these last days, that's gotta be settled. God has got to be your source. I said, God has got to be your source. I said, God's got to be your source. Not just, you know, you just articulating it, it has to become something that is relevant, valuable, and real. I trust God. Your trust has been under attack. God being your source has been under attack. You being a person that says, "I depend on God," has been under attack by, most of the time, religious people who don't have a clue.
Here's what he said in James 5, verses 1 through 8. He says, "Look here, you rich people," now, this chapter or these verses are talking about rich people who have come to trust in their riches. It's talking about people with money who have allowed Mammon to get on their lives and they trust money more than they trust God. It's talking about people who have a love for money.
"Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven's Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you. Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near".
What a prophetic Word. Now, here's what I want you to see and want you to understand. I want to lay this foundation: the very nature of grace demands dependence upon God. But in Romans chapter 4:16, Romans 4:16, it talks about how...go back to the King James. It talks about how we have to have faith to receive that. He says, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace". So, everything grace has made available, he said, "It is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but that which also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all". So, he says, "Grace has made everything available for us, but you're gonna have to depend on Jesus in order to see these things come in your life".
Will you depend on God? Everything that you'll ever need in this life has already been made available, but you can only access it by your faith. Grace, being God's infinite and unmerited provision for every need. Grace is a person, his name is Jesus. Grace is this unmerited favor. It's unmerited abounding provision. It is provision that keeps increasing over and over and over and over again. It's unmerited abounding provision in the operation of, it's an unrestricted, unrestrained operation of the love of God that comes through Jesus for mankind, but it will especially show up for those who depend on him. Provision that will show up for those who depend on him. Grace, it is complete in itself without the addition of anything by man. He needs nothing from us. Jesus, who is grace, the only thing he needs from us is to depend on him.
We brought nothing to the table, and he has decided to be abounding provision for you and for me. He has decided that for those who will trust in him, he will provide for. He will be your El Shaddai. Hmm. It's only because of his grace that God asked man to live in dependence upon him. That's the only reason he asked that. "Depend on me because of my grace, depend on me because of my abounding provision". Its grace, that's God's part. Its dependent on him, that's man's part. God's grace and dependence upon man. they are inseparable. You have to understand, it's not just knowing that the grace of God is unmerited favor and the grace of God is abounding provision, but it's also recognizing that the only reason he wants you to depend on him is because he is well equipped to take care of you.
Say it out loud with me: God can take care of me. How many of you believe that? You know, last week, I talked about the Holy Spirit was sent to convict you of not trusting him. Most people don't even know how to define this word convict. It doesn't mean make you feel bad. The Holy Spirit is not coming to make you feel bad. The word convict means to convince you, to convince you to trust him. And by convincing you to trust him, a lot of things starts happening because you're convinced, God takes care of me. When systems fail, you gotta be convinced. God takes care of me. When you lose your job, you gotta be convinced. God takes care of me. When the banking situation changes and things start happening and currency starts changing, you got to be convinced. I'm not going to get focused on what's happening in the world or in my nation because I've already settled it. God takes care of me.
So, there is an all out assault against you trusting God. God'll take care of you. God'll take care of your children. God'll take care of your relationship. God'll take care of your marriage. God'll take care of your business. God'll take care of your physical body. God'll take care of your mind. God'll take care of your emotions. God'll take care of everything that concerns you. The only reason he wants you to depend on him is 'cause he says, "I've got grace that is full and ready to take care of you". And if you don't think he can take care of you, I dare you to have a flashback and pick up the times where nothing in the world was ready to do anything for you, but God showed up with a still, small voice and he has taken care of you. You could have, you would have, you should have died. You could have, you would have, you should have lost this. You could have, you would have, you should have went crazy. But his abounding grace.
God help me, God help me. James chapter 1, verse 17 in The Message translation. Did I finish reading James? I did, right? Amen. Y'all gotta help me today, okay? James chapter 1, just verse 17 in The Message translation. He says, "So, my very dear friend, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures".
All right, here we go. You ready? Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified and then 2 Timothy 3:1 through 5 in the New Living Translation. All right. Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified. I could've just got up here and hollered and screamed and got you excited and we could have went on home. I can't do that. That's not what I'm called to do. I got to show you that it's there, and even if I show you that it's there, just trust God to talk to you. I read this in the King James, and it didn't have the impact that it had in this translation. He says, "Let your character or your moral disposition," watch this. "Let your character and your moral disposition be free from the love of money". There's a difference between having money and having the love of money. Ain't nothing wrong with you having money. If something was wrong with us having money, then all of us would be in trouble. But the love of money?
"Be free from the love of money [including greed, and avarice, and lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support". I don't need you to love money. I need you to love me 'cause I will not fail you. "I will not fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down nor (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]" So, there's got to be something here where he's, like, saying, "Hey dude, don't get trapped in the love of money. I got you". Alright, now look at this next verse. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1 through 5 in the NLT. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1 through 5 in the NLT. "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times".
Now, ladies and gentlemen, you can cast out devils, but, unfortunately, you can't cast out prophecy. "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money," there it is again. "They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, they're gonna be reckless, they're gonna be puffed up with pride, and they're gonna love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that"!
Oh, my goodness. Here it is again, there's a warning. In the last days watch out the lover of money. Those people in the last days will have a love for money. Now, the thing I want you to understand is that money is in competition for our hearts. Money is in...or, you'll find out later is Mammon, is in competition for your hearts. The Bible says, "Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also". The love of money is about trust. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. But what is the love of money? It's when you love and trust money more than you trust God.
Why is it that people get so irritated when money is talked about at church? Why is it that they go crazy on the internet? Like probably some of them doing right now, but we're finna block them. There's a reason why Mammon is trying to protect his wicked, evil doctrine. Listen, there are 2,350 verses in the Bible about money. How can that be? Two thousand, three hundred and fifty verses? And like I said, money is not bad, but loving money is. Trusting money is. Valuing money more than you value God is. Making an idol of money, and an idol is based on the value you assign to it more than God. Have you assigned a value to money more than God? Do you trust that money can take care of you? When God is saying, "Please give me a shot, I got you". But you have valued money. You have placed a value on money greater than God. Money is like a hammer. It can help or it can hurt.