Joseph Prince - Trust In The Lord, Not In Riches
This is an excerpt from: Prosper God's Way During Recession
Now, I am not for, listen, I am not for love of money. Let's establish that once and for all. And the Bible says it's the love of money that's a problem, all right? 1 Timothy 6, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil". Don't say, "Money is the root". Read carefully. The love, avarice, love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It's amazing, you know, I can preach a whole sermon on this. All kinds of evil can be traced back to money. You think that, "Oh, this is nothing to do with money," it can be traced back to money. All kinds of evil in the world today can be traced back to money.
People say, "Well, a lot of animals are now extinct, why"? Love of money. A lot of things. All kinds of evil means all kinds. You know how to break the love of money in your life? You don't want all kinds of evil to manifest in your life, right? You know how to break it? The tithe. That's why God gives the tithe, and that's why it's so, so attacked by the enemy, amen. The tithe is the proof that however blessed you are, you never forget that God is your source. "Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase. So shall your barns be filled with plenty and your winepress will burst out with new wine. Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits," your tithe, "of all your increase". Jacob said to God, "Of all that You give me," when he had nothing but the clothes on his back and the staff in his hand, he left home.
In fact, fled from home, because fleeing from his brother who was about to kill him. He told God, "Of all that You give me, from now on I'll give a tenth to You". And that is before the law. That was before the law. When he came back many years after, now with his family and his 12 sons that make up the 12 tribes of Israel, he came back plentiful, with plenty and all that, a lot of herds and all that, and he had a lot of people with him at that time, God reminded him. "Remember, Jacob, I am the God of Bethel," and God said this specifically, "where you vowed and vow to Me". What was the vow? The only vow you read, "All that You give me, I'll give a tenth to You," amen. No senior partner asks for one-tenth. No, God is a senior partner. I guess you understand already, amen. Now, again, relax. Relax, breathe.
Am I asking you to tithe? No, this message of tithing, the Bible says in Hebrews, is for people, it's strong made. It's for people who have a revelation. God doesn't take the tithe from people who don't have a revelation, and that's why it's so disputed. It is still valid for today, amen. And it's sad when you have people saying, "Oh, you know, I don't believe in this anymore. I don't believe in that anymore," and all that, without even knowing the repercussions of what they're saying. And now after the pandemic, so many churches especially, we thank God for our church. Our church people are amazing, all right? New Creation Church is blessed. I must say that. But in... yes, you deserve it, amen. I salute you. You know, as a volunteer pastor, I love coming here to preach, amen. You ought to take care of all these people who are drawing a salary, amen. I love this church, and really we are helping other churches.
One of the first things we did when we went into the pandemic in 2020, right, one of the first things we did, and Pastor Lawrence is here, is that, now you can focus on Pastor Lawrence, whether he agree or not. So Pastor Lawrence remembers that one of the first things we did was to sit down and discuss churches in Singapore and around the region, but basically at that time Singapore, that are suffering that need help, all right? Financial help, okay, because we hear that many of them, they are not getting the help, amen? And then the thing is that we must do it anonymously. You will never find their names. We wanna do it anonymously. The record is there, but we won't announce to you their names, which church and all that, because I don't want the pastor to be embarrassed, you know? One thing we tell them, "When we support you, please don't say it's New Creation Church. Don't have to tell anybody except those you are accountable to, all right, in your church council and all that, but don't mention us, amen. Don't even mention us".
Okay, another thing we did is that churches did not know how to get online. We have the technology, we have the expertise, we have the people, so we invite them to come to our office to learn how to go online. We sent some people over to teach them how to do it. And again, we won't mention it so that their members will not hear about it and the pastors don't have to be embarrassed also. You get what I'm saying? All right, one of the first things we did. Now, are we putting a feather in my cap by sharing? I think this is probably the first time, right Lawrence? I'm sharing publicly for the first time. I'm just telling you that is what a good prosperity teaching is all about, to be a blessing, amen. It is not to be greedy. It's not the love of money. Yeah, give Jesus the praise, amen. This is your church, amen.
So even after the pandemic right now, many churches, many churches, we thank God that this is not true of our church. Our church is still going strong by the grace of God and the people who are tithers are the solid backbone of this church. Thank God for them who have this revelation, but many, many places after the pandemic, they are suffering financially. Some churches are shutting down. Some can't pay their rent. Some can't pay their, and then we got teachings coming up, "Oh, you know, we don't believe in prosperity," you know? Christians rising up. You are prosperous, keep quiet, amen. Don't rob people of the truth.
Number one, good ground is the gospel of Jesus Christ, wherever the gospel is preached. If you don't think I'm preaching the gospel, never mind. Don't sow. Go find a place where the gospel is being preached and sow into it. Because I tell you one thing, what Isaac did was this. It was famine. The famine was bad, okay, because it was mentioned like it was the famine of Abraham. The famine of Abraham was like that of Joseph in Genesis.
So it's the same famine, and I established last week that there's a clue here, which I won't go into now, that's it's a time when Russia is prominent, right? Oh Pastor, show me the clue. Go and get the message last week. Last week, you don't wanna come. Now you come and you expect me to go back for you, just for you alone? I got thousands of people waiting, you know, for other things, you know, and time is of the essence, you know? Before you know it, I'm gonna send you back already, okay? So Pastor, you scold me or what? Hey, part of the ministry is reproof, rebuke. Because I love you, man. I love you, amen? I want you to keep on hearing. You miss one Sunday, all right, you know what happened to Thomas when he missed one Sunday? Jesus appeared the previous Sunday, he wasn't there, right?
When Jesus appeared again, by the way, he didn't appear, he wasn't there and he became and unbelieving believer. He says, "Unless I see the print in His hands, I won't believe," right? And Jesus appeared next Sunday just for Thomas also, right? So one Sunday, it makes a difference. Are you all...by the way, you all going to revenge holiday, right? I know school is coming to an end and all that. Do not forget to tune in, all right? I don't care. In the midst of your sashimi, you can hear, all right? You don't have to be listening or watching. You can be listening. Understand or not? Amen, you need to get into the Word. In not just one week, huh, wow, I'm telling you, you become a Thomas. If your name is Thomas, my apologies. Okay, so the love of money. Okay, so watch this. It says that, "For which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness," and greed is the problem, "and pierced themselves through with many sorrows".
It's no joke, you know? I mean, you have love of money, many sorrows is coming your way. It's like an arrow. You'll be pierced with many sorrows. That's what the Bible says, all right? So money is a tool. It's a servant, it's not a master. Jesus is the Master. But having said that, you don't throw away money and say, "Money is the root of all evil". A lot of people, "Money is the root of all evil". Hey, read your Bible, lah! Read your Bible, amen? It does not say that, amen. Well, the Bible says it's hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. Really? Really? Well, the disciples thought that was what He said. Then Jesus clarified. Look at this. "Jesus looked around His disciples and said, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were astonished at His words".
You know why they're astonished? They must be quite rich. They have a fishing business. They have partners. Remember Peter had partners. They have partners in their fishing business. When Jesus says it's hard for rich people to enter, you know what happened to them? They were astonished. Now, if they are poor, they say, "Amen". They were astonished. Why were they astonished? They must be quite okay there financially. Then Jesus knew that they misunderstand and Jesus explained again. Watch, this is very important. He says, "Jesus answered again and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches,'" not those in God. "Those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God"! Like I said, can you have the love of money with no money in your pocket? Is it possible? Can someone with no money love money? Yeah, every time they think, "Money, money. I wish I had more money. I can't do that, lah. I got no money".
All right, who is your god? Your God tells you, "Go here". I got no money, lah. So money is your god because your money says, "No, stay". God says, "Go". No money. Amen, I can't do that. Why? God says, "Do that". No, I can't do that. Why? No money. So he's saying, "Who is your god"? It's the one you obey. So you can see how the devil can bring in lack of money, right, listen, people, to control you. So we're not controlled by money. Like this beautiful picture on Deuteronomy 28, the blessings are behind. Is always behind. They come on you and overtake you, but you are focusing on Jesus, amen? Amen? Gold, frankincense still follow Jesus. They still follow Jesus, amen. Go after Jesus. Praise the Lord.
Pastor, you mentioned gold. Gold is no good. You know, there's a Bible principle called the law of the first mention, all right? The law of first mention. That means every time a subject is mentioned for the first time, there's something significant. Would you like to know when gold was mentioned? In Genesis chapter 2. It says, "A river went out of Eden to water the garden, became from there four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold". Some of you might be intrigued to know that Josephus, the Jewish historian, says he believed Pishon is the River Indus or Ganges, Ganges River.
Now, there's a lot of opinions, okay, about this, okay? I'm just telling you what Josephus believed. "The name of the first is Pishon," but now the earth is divided so all the geography is changed. So one of the rivers is called Pishon. "It is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good". So the first mention of gold is good. Just reading the Bible, folks. I'm just reading the Bible. There must be a purpose why God put it... see, again, like money, it is not gold that's wrong. If gold is wrong, gold is evil, God did wrong. Can I say that? Because God put the gold. Hey, God put the gold here, right? Then who did God, who put the gold here? My auntie, she got plenty of gold. No, God put the gold here. And the first mention of gold is good, right?