John Hagee - The Decision To Prosper
Principle number one, write this down, givers gain. Say that with me. Givers gain. Where is that in the Bible? Luke 6:38 says, "Give and it shall be given unto you". Say that with me. "Give and it shall be given unto you". And here are the four ways, "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over". Matthew 13:3, Jesus said, "A sower went out to sow, and the seed fell on good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold". A hundredfold is not a hundred percent. A hundred fold is actually 10.000% increase. That, my friend, is serious gain.
How many of you would like to have a 10.000% gain on your investment? Hum. Some are holding back even on that. Giving is a decision between prosperity and lack. Offering time is, in fact, your opportunity to make that decision about your future. The decision is yours. But God will not break his law. What's his law? His law is you give first, and then I multiply what you give. If God gives to you without your giving to him, he has to break his own law. He will not do that. Should you expect gain when you give? Absolutely. The Bible is very clear. "Give and it shall be given unto you". What is the "It"? The "It" is what you're planting in the rich soil of the Kingdom of God. You've heard the concept of seedtime and harvest. And the "It" is what you're planting.
For those of you, who are watching by television, if you plant apple seeds, you get apples. If you plant peaches, you get peaches. If you plant financial seeds, you get a financial return. That carries to every principle of life. If you want love, give love. If you go home and the dog is hiding behind the door, you have a relationship problem. If you want grace, show grace to other people. If you want friends, be friendly. Quit acting like a poisoned bulldog all day long and wondering why no one likes you. When you plant sparingly, farmers, you reap sparingly. When you plant nothing, you get nothing. God economics works this way: nothing times nothing equals nothing. When the "It" factor gets deeper than the obvious of the power even...
Now, I'm going to show it to you on a supernatural and very spiritual basis that is seldom discussed. God to Abraham, in Genesis 22: God said to Abraham, "I want you to take your son, whom you love, to the Land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you". That was a shocking, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking command. Abraham did not hesitate to obey God. And that's important you get that, because the Kingdom of God operates on absolute obedience. Deuteronomy 28, God says, "All of these things I will give if you will obey me and keep my commandments". You obey: you have the golden key to the gates of heaven. You disobey: verse 16 says, "And all of these curses shall come upon you".
Obedience and blessing, or cursing and judgment: those are the two economies in the Kingdom of God. Abraham rose early in the morning. His obedience was total. It was instant. It was without complaining Abraham and Isaac traveled three days to a special mountain where Abraham built an altar. He tied his son, hand and foot, and placed him on the sacrificial altar. Fast forward 3.000 years. God allowed his son, Jesus Christ, to come to this very special mountain. He let his son be tied to the cross by Roman hands with spikes in his hands and his feet. On the third day, that son rose victorious over death, hell, and the grave, the sacrifice for your redemption, for your healing, for your prosperity, for your eternal life. Give the Lord praise for the sacrifice of the Jesus Christ.
Now, because Abraham, of whom the Bible says was as good as dead, that means he, physically, was sterile. He could not reproduce another son. Here was the only boy he had. And there was no way he could have another. God made Abraham the father of all who believe. Get that phrase in your brain. That means he's the father of Christians, Romans 11. He's the father of Jews. He is the spiritual father of arabs. His first son was Ishmael with an Egyptian wife. Those are the arab people. They all go back to Abraham. That's why Abraham is the father of all who believe. When you count the Christians, and the Jewish and the arab believers, who are believers in the Lord: they are billions of people. How did that start? Because a father was willing to place his son in the hand of God. And God multiplied Abraham a billion times.
My friend, that is a multiplication factor that staggers the mind. Thousands of years later, the name of Abraham is known far better than the last three presidents of the United States of America, because he's the father of all who believe. Point: this is an awesome, supernatural power. Then continue that God said to Abraham, "I'm going to make your seed as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the sea". Lock in with me mentally here, because you've not heard this before. "I'm going to make your seed as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the sea".
The stars of the heaven, Genesis 22:17 and Hebrews 11:12, equals the church of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the stars produce light. The Bible says of the church, "You are the light of the world". Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men: that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven". Jesus looked at his disciples and said, "You are the light of the world". Stars rule the night. Genesis 1:16, "God made two great lights (Genesis), the greater to rule the day (the sun), the lesser (the moon) to rule the night. He made the stars also". The stars rule in heavenly places, Ephesians 6:12. The church of Jesus Christ rules in heavenly places. Paul said, "We wrestle not against powers and principalities, but against spiritual powers in the heavenly places".
How many of you are familiar with that verse? Let me see your hand. The stars represent the spiritual children of Abraham. And the sand of the sea represents the physical children of Abraham, which are the Jewish people. Stars and sand are different. Listen closely. One never replaces the other, for all of you people teaching replacement theology. Just as Israel and the church are unique, one never replaces the other. Israel, the Jewish people, have the physical City of Jerusalem. The church has the supernatural city of the New Jerusalem. Listen. In the millennial reign, when Christ returns to earth, the New Jerusalem is coming down from heaven and is going to sit on top of the City of Jerusalem right now. It's going to be a place where righteous Christians and Jewish people will rule an eternal kingdom with Jesus Christ as the Messiah for a thousand years of perfect peace. That's going to happen. Give the Lord praise in the house!
Principle two, you must plant your seed before you can meet your need. If there's no seedtime, there's no harvest time. When you sit in church, and the offering pan is coming your way, it's decision time. Say that with me, it's decision time. It's your opportunity to prosper. The day is going to come when all that you will have is what you've given to God. When you close your eyes in death, you know how much money mega billionaires are going to leave? All of it. All they're going to have is a suit split down the back. In a box, and they're going underground to meet whoever they served in this life.
Therefore, Jesus, the great investor, says in Matthew 6:19, "Do not lay up treasures on the earth where thieves get it, and it rusts, and it gets away". And the irs taxes it out of existence. I just couldn't help myself. "Do not lay up treasures on the earth. But lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven". Lay up for who? You, your treasures. The day is going to come when what you've invested in the Kingdom of God, you're going to see in the eternal kingdom pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That's the only investment you're ever going to have that really matters.
So review. You plant your seed before God can meet your need. Nothing times nothing is nothing. You plant sparingly: you reap sparingly. You plant abundantly: you get abundance. Prosperity is your decision, and you make that decision every time you have an opportunity to give to God. When what you have in your hand does not meet your need, that is your seed. You can plant it and it will multiply. Impatience will kill your harvest. You don't give to the Lord on Sunday morning and get a bonus check on Monday morning. It doesn't work that way. You plant seed in the spring. They come up in the fall.
Then you hear people say, "Well pastor, I'm so far behind: I'll never catch up". That's wrong, according to the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says Paul writes to the church, "God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more", you need to write this verse down. Put it on your refrigerator, "So that there will not only be enough for your needs, but plenty left over to give joyfully to others". I mean for some of you, that's really going to be a bunch, because I know some of you don't give joyfully to anything. But when God gives you enough that you can joyfully give to others, I mean your cup is running over.
Principle three is get out of debt. Let me hurry. Live by the mantra, "Do you really need this"? When you go to a store, and you buy it on your credit card, you get deeper into debt. You can control your debt with plastic surgery. Cut up your credit cards. Yeah. Proverbs 22:7, "The borrower is the servant". That word is "Slave". "The borrower is slave to the lender". I'm looking in this audience to slaves to the American Express, to master charge. Because you lack the courage to say, "I can't afford this" or "I don't need this". 1 Timothy 5:8, "If anyone provides not for his own, he's worse than an infidel". And I want to tell you, if you get into debt, it will cause stress in your marriage relationship. It will cause stress in the lives of your children. And you did it simply because you didn't have the courage to say, "We don't need this". I want to tell you, I've traveled the world, and everybody in this room is rich by world standards!
Principle four, you will never prosper until you believe and confess it is God's will for you to prosper. You have to believe it to receive it. Say that with me. You have to believe it to receive it. The text, "And you shall remember the Lord your God: for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth". 3 John 2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers". 1 Chronicles 29:12, "Both riches and honor come from thee, o Lord: for you reign over all the earth. Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinners: for he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water. His leaf shall not wither". Say that with me, "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper". Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth," the Word of God. "Then you shall prosper and have good success".
I could go on for 30 minutes with those verses in the Bible. The point is, it is God's will for you to prosper! God's kids have, historically, been prosperous. Abraham, the Bible says, was very rich. He was very rich in cattle, gold, and silver. And I can guarantee you: those three things are still very good things to have in the 21st century. You say, "Pastor, that's Old Testament stuff". Solomon was so wealthy: he brought God and silver, he brought silver to Israel in shiploads. His horse stables had hinges of gold. The temple he had built cost billions to replicate.
There are people who say, "Well Jesus was poor. I'm poor, so I'm like Jesus". Now that's the doctrine of Papini. And some of you were raised with that in the church you went to. You were taught that poverty is spirituality. That is a bald-faced lie. So let's examine Jesus' financial statement. Kings, at birth, come from the East. And by the way, that song "We three kings of orient are," there weren't three kings: there were several kings. They didn't come 500 miles by themselves. They came with an entourage. They traveled 500 miles and brought cases of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That gold was enough to last Jesus for 33 years of ministry. How do you know that? Because Jesus appointed one of his 12 disciples, in John 13:29, to carry the money box, not little sack, box! That's not poor.
Jesus had a nice house. John 1:38-39, Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them, "Why seek ye me"? And they said, "Rabbi, where dwellest thou"? Meaning where do you live? Jesus said, "Come and see". And they came and they dwelt in abode with him that day. That's in the Bible. That house was big enough to accommodate that crowd. That's not poor. Jesus wore the finest clothes. John 19:23 states that it was a seamless robe. It was so valuable that Roman soldiers gambled for it at the cross. It was a designer robe. It was very, very nice.
If you're walking around with a trembling lower lip, "Jesus was poor, I'm poor: therefore, I'm like Jesus," you are in serious deception! God, your father, wants you to have exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you can ask. He wants to give you wells you didn't dig, and vineyards you didn't plant, and houses you didn't build. He wants to give you promotions you weren't expecting. He wants to give you sales you never saw coming. He wants to give you favor so amazing: it takes your breath away. He wants you to have an anointing that breaks every yoke in your life. He wants you to live with joy that's unspeakable and full of glory, to have the peace of God that surpasses understanding! He wants you to have the confidence to walk into a lion's den, and say, "Lay down: I want you to take a nap"!
Principle five, you will never prosper until you realize that God owns and controls all the wealth in the world. He owns it and he controls it. Secondly, since all of my money is God's money, there is a principle here you seldom hear presented in the church house. If God is the owner of all the money, that means what I have in my pocket, all belongs to him. As the owner, he has rights. Say that word. Rights. As a steward, I have responsibility. Those two words, God has rights, I have responsibility. God doesn't need what's in my purse. But I need to give it so that I qualify for all the abundance that God has.
Since all of my money is God's, every spending decision is a spiritual decision. So your checkbook is a spiritual reflection of your spiritual walk with Christ. Let's look at your checkbook. There's a check to Hawaii for $25.000: tithes $15. And here's a new car for $60.000 and an offering for the sanctuary of hope for $20. And here's poodle shampoo for $150 and missions for $15. And you're a steward of that. And God is the owner. What are you going to say on Judgment Day when you paid more to get your poodle shampooed than you did to take care of widows and orphans? Whoa!
Principle six, get a job. "Six days you shall work". Now we only work five now. But in the Bible, a six-day work week was giving them a day off the seventh day. Saint Paul said, "He that does not work (those who are physically able), should not eat". I'll tell you one of the greatest ways to cut the budget in the United States of America is to cut off the welfare rolls. Every able-bodied man, who can work, but won't work, cut them off!
The final principle, the final decision to unlimited prosperity is deciding not to rob God. Malachi 3:8 says, "Will a man rob God"? And the Bible says, "You have robbed me in tithes and offerings, and you are cursed with a curse". Use that phrase with me. "You are cursed with a curse". How many of you know, when God curses your finances, you're in a whole lot of trouble? It says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse," Malachi 3:9, "You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me in this whole nation".
What is the tithe? The tithe is 10% of your income. Preacher, you expect me to give God 10% of what I make? No, I don't really. But God Almighty does. I'm in sales: he's in management. He manages things like your next heart beat, your breath, your mother-in-law. Really big things.
Why should I tithe? Because God commands it. Obedience brings blessing. Disobedience brings curses. Why shouldn't I tithe? You live under a financial curse if you steal God's tithe. God has your mug shot on his bulletin board in heaven, "Most wanted list," "Thieves in Texas". And there's your mug shot.
Why should I tithe? Because I benefit. God said, "I will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you that you will not be able to contain".
Why should you tithe? Because God said, "I will rebuke the devourer for your sake". That obviously refers to satan. When satan comes after you, your family, physically, financially, your business: God is right there to defend you!
Why should I tithe? Because that's God's plan to fund the purpose of the Kingdom of God, not bingo and bizarres. Bingo is gambling. That's not investing.
Lastly, why should I tithe? Because you can live better on 90% that's blessed than 100% that's cursed. It's just your choice. Stand to your feet.
Now father, I'm asking you now that everyone that's watching by television: that you bring this spiritual truth to them, and they try the Lord and they prosper now, because they qualify for God's abundance. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.