Joseph Prince - Prosperity With A Purpose
Hello, church. Once again, it's my privilege to share with all of you what I believe God is saying to us during this time. And I'm sure that for the past weeks you've been hearing the word preached along these lines, but I believe that God has so much more for us, and He wants us to receive this word in season for all of us during this time. As you know, the whole world is right now in a global recession, and it's gonna get worse as time goes on. But remember that we are people who are in the world, but we are not of the world. We have a Father who cares for us, and if He cares for the sparrows and not a single one of them falls without His knowledge, how much more will He care for you? Amen.
So, we rest in our Father's love, and we learned from Him how to prosper, even during times of famine. If you look in the Scriptures, you will find that every time there's a famine, that's a time that God's person, whoever He asked for that hour, whether it's Abraham, whether it's Isaac, whether it's Joseph, they come into prominence. God's people will come into prominence during this time, whether it's in their workplace, whether it's in their companies or wherever, in their ministries, they will come forth during times of famine. It's not during prosperous times. When I say times of famine, or prosperity times, I'm talking about the times out there in the world, okay? But it's during times of famine out there in the world that God's people begin to shine because we demonstrate God's light, not in the midst of light, but in the midst of darkness.
We demonstrate God's ability and power to supply, to provide during times of famine, during times of lack. Something very interesting about famine, you find that God's people, always during famine, God gives them wisdom for that famine. In different cases, different famines, you find that God gives wisdom to Joseph to know how to operate during that time. He will recommend to Pharaoh to appoint a man with wisdom to handle the coming famine. And, of course, he didn't recommend himself, but in a way, indirectly, he did, because Pharaoh says, "How can we find anyone else that has that kind of wisdom like you have"? And he appointed Joseph to be his right hand man.
And that's when Joseph got promoted. But that's the wisdom that God gave Joseph during that time of famine. During the time of Abraham, God told Abraham to be honest and own up, and when he lied about his wife, all right, he came to a place where he had to come clean, and he own up, and the Bible says that the first thing he did was that when he came out of Egypt, he built an altar to the Lord. In other words, he prioritised his relationship with the Lord. God is saying, "Get back to where you lost. You went down to Egypt, now get back to the place where you first built the altar," and the Bible says he built the altar between Ai and Bethel, and that's where he came back to. Okay, so always remembering where you fell, from where you fell because of your unbelief or lack of faith. So, you see that with Abraham it was a coming back to where he was, where he fell from. In the case of, Isaac, the Bible says there was a famine in the days of Isaac like the first famine of the days of Abraham.
Now, many years have transpired. Isaac's now an adult. When Abraham went down to Egypt during that famine, there was no Isaac. But many years have come and gone, and now Isaac is facing a famine. But, again, there's wisdom, a specific wisdom that God gave to Isaac. And that wisdom was to sow, was to sow during the time of famine. If you look at the ground at that time, and the Bible says it's like the famine of Abraham. If you look at Abraham's famine, it says that the famine was severe. And severe famine looks like this. The ground looks like this. Now, imagine that kind of ground, and you are told, "Sow into that ground". Now, you know that you gotta do it by faith. You cannot do it by sight. By sight, everything is dry, arid. In the natural you would think that nothing would grow out of this, and that's the very challenge that is before God's people today.
When God tells them to sow into the gospel, it is not like an investment in something that they can see in the future, the returns on, they can see the dividends, they will have a share, and they will partake of the profits. But it is something, seemingly, like, in the natural, it's dry, and that's the very area where God says, "Sow into that area". You see, the Bible doesn't say that where your heart is, there will your money be, there will your treasure be. It's the opposite. The Bible says, "Where your money is, where your treasure is, there will your heart be". In other words, where will you put your seed, your money in, your heart will follow. If you sow into the gospel ground, your heart will be into the gospel, amen. That's how you, you change the direction of your heart.
People try to, you know, turn the whole thing around and say that, you know, no, people will always put their money where their heart is. No, it's the opposite. Their heart will follow where their money goes, and if you put your money into gospel ground, even if you don't have a vision about the importance of the gospel and how the gospel can transform lives, and but you start by faith looking at the gospel like it's dry, and you just sow into it, you will find that you will yield dividends, amen, like Isaac did. And exactly that's what happened to Isaac. The Bible says, "And Isaac sowed in that land," that land of famine, "in the same year," not another year, in the same year of famine, he reaped a hundredfold. So, the Bible says, "The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous".
So, there's this thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold growth, even in prosperity. He began to prosper first, began, that's a beginning. All in the same year he continued prospering until he became very prosperous - thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold. And, of course, that caused the, Philistines to envy him. The Bible says, "He had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants". And the Bible says, "The Philistines envied him". So, don't think for one moment that the world will not criticize you or say things about you if you prosper God's way. They will even come against that teaching of prosperity as if, you know, the Bible doesn't have these teachings. It's okay for the New Age to teach it, it's okay for the world to promote it, and it's okay for their people to prosper, but not God's people, right? They have a saying, right, that "As poor as a church mouse". Why a church mouse? No, my friend, if you study the Bible, look at all these verses. "Isaac sowed in the land, he reaped in the same year a hundredfold. He began to prosper, continued prospering, became very prosperous".
Why do you think the Holy Spirit put all these verses there? For us to be discouraged from sowing, from giving, from believing God for a harvest? You know, there are people who say things like, "Well, you are giving to receive. You are sowing because you want a harvest". Yes, that's the very thing the Bible encourages to believe for, that's why these verses are there. God says that Isaac sowed in the year of famine, in that land that's dry and arid, and he reaped, and God told us about it. You know, if God doesn't want to encourage us, why did He tell us what happened to Isaac after he sowed? And God went into detail telling us that he began prospering, continued prospering, and became very prosperous. Why did Jesus say, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will men give into your bosom".
Notice the expression, it's very specific. It's in detail, even the process. How is it going to come back to you? Why did Jesus say, if Jesus didn't want us to expect a return, He didn't expect us to believe for a harvest, why did He encourage us with the result of our giving? With the harvest of our giving? Amen, He could just have said, "Give in the name of the Lord. Give with a motive to bless others". He could have said that. No, He wants us to be encouraged, He wants us to believe that when we give, we will reap, amen. It'll be given back to us, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, men will give to our bosom. So, is this teaching of prosperity in the Bible something that, God is saying to us that it's not His will for us to prosper and, to be poor is to be humble, poverty is holiness? You don't find that in the Bible, you don't find that in the lives of our, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Even all the heroes of faith in the Bible, the Bible says, you know, all of them prospered in their various fields.
Whether, you know, they are a king when they walked with the Lord, they began to prosper. In fact, there's a verse about one of the kings of Judah. "As long," notice the way it's phrased, "As long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper". Notice that? How that seeking the Lord and prosperity is tied up together? So, child of God, God wants you to be encouraged, God wants to prosper you. The reason this is such a burden, if I can say that, for me, burden that I want to dispense of, you know, it's not a heavy burden, but, you know, it's like, God arrested me recently and told me, "It's time," for me to preach this in its Biblical context, amen. That there is an extreme, of course, you know, where people talk about prosperity, it's always about, receiving, and it's always a blessing, one person or just a group of person and not having a vision for the gospel, it's all about me, my, and it's about possessions and more possessions, that's not God's idea of prosperity.
God's prosperity is to prosper you, first and foremost, in your walk with Him, in your life with Him, amen. And that's what happens when you become righteous through Jesus' blood, amen. For God made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Amen. So, we are righteous, that's the greatest prosperity of all. In fact, with that righteousness comes all the blessings of the righteous. Like the Bible says, "Blessings are upon the head of the righteous". That's you, that's me now, amen. We can receive those blessings, amen. And then the Bible says about our children, "The seed," that's your seed and my seed, our children, "The seed of the righteous will be delivered". Amen, we can claim that. It is ours now. When we pray, we can know this in our hearts that God is hearing our prayers, and our prayers avail much, why? "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much," and you are that righteous man now, I am that righteous man, amen.
The Bible says in Proverbs, "The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous". Who is the righteous? You and I. We are the righteous. Look at that, is that in the Bible? Yes, it's in Proverbs 13, verse 22, it's right there. Why is God encouraging us? What is He saying to us? That there's a transfer taking place here. The wealth of the sinner, the sinner is tasked with gathering and gathering and working hard and, doing all he can to get a lot of wealth, but God is saying he's storing that wealth for, who? For the righteous. Is there only one verse in the Bible that says the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous? No, we have other verses, like in Ecclesiastes. The Bible says that, exactly what I just said. "But God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight". Who is that? The man who is righteous.
Notice God gives him wisdom, knowledge, and joy, "But to the sinner," what does God give? "To the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting". So, when you see the sinners working out there, you know, and they gather a lot of wealth, don't be envious and don't be jealous. Just know in your heart they're gathering for you, amen. There's going to be a transfer taking place, and we'll see in a while when that transfer's going to take place. But to the sinner, God gives the work of gathering and collecting. Now, watch this. "That he," the sinner, "may give to him who is good before God". Now, this is vanity and grasping for the wind as far as the sinner is concerned, amen. Everything that he does, all his hard work comes to nothing, amen, because a transfer will take place. Has this happened before? Yes. Remember in Exodus 12, the night of the Passover, the Bible says the transfer took place. Years of slaving, amen, under the hard taskmasters of Egypt. For about 400 years the people of God were afflicted.
The Bible says on the night of the Passover this happened. "The children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor". What did God give the people? Now, note this, this is important. "The LORD had given the people favor". That's why the Egyptians gave them the articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing, because "The LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians". Now, there's no unrighteousness here, people. For 400 years the people of Israel were afflicted under the Egyptians. All this is actually the back pay plus interest of all those years of working and slaving, building up all the monuments and statues, all right, under the hard, you know, whips of the taskmasters. And now they are receiving their pay with interest.
So, there's no injustice here, people. In fact, God will always make sure that at the end it will all be restored to you. Who is the you here? The righteous. And you, my friend, you are the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, in fact this is not, a simple, incident that happened, just so it happened. God prophesied specifically that His people would come out of Egypt with wealth, with great possessions. Remember that 400 over years before this, before this slavery in Egypt, God actually appeared to Abraham. Now, Abraham lived before the Egyptian captivity, all right, and Abraham had a dream from God one night, and this is what God said to him. God said to him, "Know certainly," God told Abraham, "that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve them, and they will afflict them," the Egyptians will afflict them, "four hundred years". Imagine all those years of toiling, laboring without pay, 400 years. "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterwards".
Child of God, there's always an afterwards that's coming for you and me. Amen, believe God. I believe it's gonna happen in the end times, why? Because the story of Exodus, it wasn't in the beginning of the plagues, it wasn't in the middle of the plagues, amen, it was the last plague. It was the end times that this transfer of wealth took place. Mm, hallelujah, amen. Are you ready? So, unless we preach it, people's hearts are not open to receive it, amen. And, of course, God will do it justly. God does everything righteously and justly, ok. Let me finish that verse. God said to Abraham in this dream, "Afterwards they shall come out with," what? "Great possessions".
Now, if God didn't want them to have great possessions, why even prophesy about it as if it's something important? Because there are only that many important things to say, you know, when God appears, usually you'll find that He doesn't give a long discourse, all right. His words are measured, and usually it's a short, prophecy, right, when He appears. Notice, of all the things that He could have said, "Afterwards they shall come out with joy," you know, or something else. No, it says, "Afterwards they shall come out with great possessions". Why did God say this? And we see the fulfillment of it just now in Exodus 12, that "That night," the Bible says, "God gave them favor with the Egyptians". My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are suffering, all right, in any way during this famine of lack or shortage in any area, or you're in debt, and you can't imagine how you can pay off your debt.
First and foremost, you gotta release that faith in your heart to see a God who wants to prosper you. And because of all the teachings that we hear, you know, that it's so rife now on YouTube and social media and, you know, wherever you find people, talking about this, it's always, like, in the negative way, about tithing and about, you know, you hear phrases like health and wealth gospel, you know. And I agree, all right. Let me say this, I agree that there are extreme teachings on this where it's all about greed, it's all about covetousness, it's all about the love of money. I'm not referring to that. I'm not talking about prosperity for self-aggrandizement, I'm not talking about for self and only for you and yourself and your family. No, it is prosperity with a purpose. We're talking about Abraham now as an example of how God blessed him, and you see that when God called him, God says, "I'll bless you, and you shall be a blessing". What does that mean? That means, "I'll bless you so that you can be a channel, you can be a blessing".
And, of course, we know that the greater, plan of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ because "In your seed shall all the nations be blessed". That's the gospel right there, that's what Paul says in Galatians and Romans, in that very verse, "In your seed shall all the nations be blessed". So, God blesses us, even financially, all right, or with great possessions in His Word so that we can channel these things, amen, for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I have a good Amen? So, we see that God prophesied this 400 years before they came out that, from Egypt, that they would come out with great possessions. And the Bible says, "On that night," in Exodus 12 when they came out, "They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold".
Notice these are precious items, amen, metals that they asked for. Articles of clothing, for what purpose? There's a purpose for this prosperity, Yes, when they came out that night, they were laden down with gold, silver, precious materials. For what purpose? To build God's house, amen. So, right from the start, 400 over years when God prophesied, already God had that in mind, that He would prosper His people for a purpose, and the purpose has always got to do with His house. Today His house is the church of Jesus Christ. That's where our tithes go, that's where our sowing is sown into, the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. And sometimes we feel like, you know, this ground is dry ground, we are looking for the latest creation, the latest innovative ideas to make money, but, friend, these fads come and go, amen. And you may make money for a while, but you're gonna lose a lot in the process. But God's ways is this.
When God blesses you and God prospers you, "The blessing of the LORD maketh rich, and he adds no sorrow with it". And the word eseb there, sorrow, all right, is the word painful toil. He adds no painful toil in that labour. Whereas some of these other things, you may or may not prosper in only one area, financially. Yes, you may have a bigger house now, all right, you may have one more car, all right, but what you gave up to get all that just in one area, money, God's prosperity is more than just money. So, we see that God prospered his people in the end times. The end times for them will be the last days in Egypt, all right. For us, it's our last days in the world. Something’s gonna happen in the end times. Notice when the transfer took place. Like I said just now, it did not happen in the beginning of the plague, nor in the middle of the plague, but the last of the plagues, of the ten plagues. It was the last, and we believe that we are the generation that's gonna see Jesus Christ return.
All right, we are seeing all the signs right now happening, a global pandemic, a global recession. I mean, this, plagues and, famines have happened down through history, but on a global scale, back to back? No. And another thing, the Bible says, "Wars and rumors of wars". Now we are seeing major, major power like Russia come into play, wars and rumors of wars, and the rumors of wars, the threat of wars, right, like, like, China and North Korea, we are living, we are that generation, people. And before the worst happens, the Bible says Jesus will return. "So lift up your heads, your redemptions draws near". So, as we see that this is gonna happen in the end times, and we know that in the book of Ecclesiastes it says, "That which was is that which will be".
So, the principle of God is like this. Whatever you see in the Old Testament, it gives you wisdom to see what God is doing in the end times, amen, the days that we are living. Like the Bible says, in another place, in Corinthians, it says that "All these things happened to them as examples," for us in these last days, in these end times, "upon whom the ends of the times are come". So, we are the people who are living in these days, but we draw wisdom from the Word of God in the Old Testament, amen. And these things are written in such a way that it so, contemporary, it is so now, amen, for us. And that's when we spend time in the Word. You know, some people look at the Bible as an ancient book, you know, with ancient history. No, no, when the Holy Spirit, all right, speaks to you from the Word, even the Old Testament, it gives you the now word as to what you should do. Like the children of Issachar, they had understanding of the times and the seasons, of the times and seasons so that Israel would know what to do, amen.
So, I believe that God is raising up sons of Issachar to interpret the times and the seasons we are in and to release your faith to believe that this transfer of wealth will find its way to you. But, you see, I believe that when God finds people that He can trust with this wealth, amen. Now, if you are afraid of the word wealth, I can use, just use the word provisions that He has for His people, amen, if that makes you feel better, but the Bible says wealth. So, whatever the Bible means when it says the wealth of the sinner, I don't think that's spiritual wealth of the sinner, all right. The wealth, that is what I'm saying. "The wealth of the sinner is stored up," or laid up, "for the righteous," Amen. God says that it's gonna come into your hands, oh righteous one. It's gonna come into your hands. And that's why you need to hear teachings on this, so that you will believe God and be open to receive it, amen. Because if you don't hear it, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.
And you find it in the Bible throughout in the Scriptures. Before God does something, He sends a prophet, He sends a spokesman, and the person will proclaim God's Word so that it releases the faith of the people, and then they see the Word come to pass, amen. And, of course, you know, if we refuse to hear the Word, we just say that, well, I just believe it's gonna happen to me, you won't have the faith by which you are able to receive, because "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". So, it does matter, child of God, whether you believe that, God wants to prosper you, or, you know, you believe that, no, I don't think that this part of God's plan, if you don't believe God wants to prosper you, you are not able to receive that part of His blessing, just as in everything in the Christian life.
How do you receive salvation? You heard the word about salvation. Someone shared with you or you heard through one way or another the message, the gospel, the Word of God, the gospel in, and you heard the gospel, the word of the gospel, and you received Jesus Christ because you heard. Faith comes by hearing. The same thing, healing comes... how does healing come? You need to share the Word. Now many-a-times we think that we just lay hands on people and they receive. Well, we find that when they don't receive, all the more it tells us we need to sit down with them and show them from the Word how Jesus bore their sicknesses and diseases for them to see, and you pray that they will have a personal revelation of those Scriptures, amen. Then faith comes, and then they are able to receive. Same thing for this end time transfer of wealth. We gotta believe God that God wants us to have it, amen.
And you know God will do it in such a way that He'll be just in doing it. All right, God's not gonna do it in an unjust way, ok. You cannot go and rob the wealth of the sinner, amen. Or you cannot cheat your way into the wealth of the sinner. You cannot manipulate your way. No, no, it will be done in fact, the way the children of Israel did it, the Bible says God gave them favor. So, we see one big key there is favor. One of the saddest things is that, I feel like there's a whole new generation. You know, they look at favor, and they this favor message and all that, it is some, you know, preachers who try to make people feel good. No, no, friend, favor of God is a valid, central teaching of the Bible. In fact, the word favor, you can actually say it's grace, because grace is undeserved, unmerited favor, and to be full of grace means to be full of favor, amen.
And the Bible says clearly that in Exodus 12, "The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians". That's key. When God gives you favor with your bosses, amen, that's when promotion starts, that's when increment in your salary happens, amen. When God gives you favor in the eyes of your clients, they'll want to do business with you compared to someone else that, you know, in the natural have more experience and maybe can offer more, but for some reason they gravitate towards you. They like you, they trust you, and a lot of business is done like that. When people have that confidence in someone, they give the person the business, amen. That's called favor, and God can give you favor in spite of your experience, in spite of your education, uh, achievements, it's not dependent on all that. It's the Lord who gives favor, amen. So, look to the Lord for favor, amen, look to the Lord for favor.
And, you know, we used to, even for me, when I was young and just started out in life, you know, I didn't have much, but I trusted God, that God would give me favor in every situation. I could tell you stories of the stories, even during my life in the army, how God gave me favor with my superiors, all right, with my immediate, commander, and, how doors were opened to me, and privileges that otherwise were not given to others were given to me. And it's really the favor of God. I learned down through the years that you can trust God for favor. But you say, "But I don't deserve God's favor". No, friend, grace is undeserved favor. The more undeserving you are, you qualify, amen. All you gotta do is to receive it, amen. God wants you to receive favor. Why not receive favor today? Amen.
We also see in the life of Joseph, the Bible says that God gave him favor in the sight of first and foremost Potiphar, and then later on before Pharaoh. God gave him favor. It was something that God gave, God imparted, and he promoted him. With every favor that God gave Joseph, he was promoted. In Potiphar's case, he was a slave when God gave him favor. And the Bible says that, whatever Joseph did, God prospered. All that he did, the Lord prospered. Everything under Joseph's hands. So much so that Potiphar put everything in Joseph's hands. Now, think about this. Potiphar, like many of our employers, are the ones who are in a position to promote us. Ok, many of them, they are not believers, ok. I assume that probably you're working in a place where the person's not a believer. If the person's a believer, all the more God can speak to him. But in this case of Joseph, Potiphar wasn't a believer, but the Bible says, "Potiphar saw that the LORD was with Joseph and all that Joseph did the LORD caused to prosper in his hands".
So he saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and that Joseph was prospering in everything that he touched because of the Lord. Now, how do you assume that came to Potiphar? Okay. By observing with his eyes, amen. Whatever Joseph did, whether he was planting crops, you know, it became a great harvest of bumper crops that year; whether he was handling a group of servants, and they all became highly motivated under his charge. Whatever it is, we see that Joseph prospered, and it was evident for a heathen to see. Someone who didn't believe in God they go by their eyes. So what's gonna happen is that I believe that when God gives you favor, the world will see it. Your boss will see it, your clients will see it. And the people under your ministry, and even sinners that we reach out to will see it, amen. Many a time, you know, this is a forgotten factor in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sinners want to listen to someone that they find favor in.
Alright, they will listen to someone; just like Billy Graham, God gave him so much favor with sinners that they are willing to spend an hour in a stadium listening, invited by their friends. But there's something about the man Billy Graham that drew them to want to spend that time that they can otherwise spend elsewhere. Why? Favor. So, if you're a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, believe God for favor. It's a vital part of getting people saved, amen, because when you have favor, you prosper. And the world can see it, and the world knows, right, the world wants to be associated with winners, amen. When they see God is with you, and, you know, the world has this idea about God: Oh, God is just a demanding God, you know, demanding things of us that we're not able to measure up. That's their idea of God. God is just waiting to pounce on me, God is a harsh God. They see a judgmental God. They don't see a God of goodness, a God of love, amen, a God who gave up His Son that you might be saved. They don't see that. They don't see that kind of God.
The world, if they see that kind of God, the goodness of God will lead them to repentance. No, they see a God that's angry, and sometimes we preachers are guilty of that because we present an angry God to people. No, my friend. Nope. All the anger of God is exhausted at the cross of Jesus Christ when Christ bore our sins. And that's why in Isaiah 54 that came after Isaiah 53, after the redeeming work of Jesus, in Isaiah 54 God swore he would never be angry with us again, amen. What does it take for us to believe that? God has raised his hand swearing He will never be angry with us. And my friend, God does not have to swear because his Word alone is enough. But God swore: As I swore that the waters of Noah, the flood of Noah will never happen again, so I swear I will never again be angry with you. Wow. What a sworn oath, amen, because of what Jesus has done. But many children of God are not living in Isaiah 54 after the cross. They still have this idea of a God who's angry, a God who wants to take things away from them, to measure your holiness, alright, is to take things from you.
No, my friend. If God ever asks you to give up anything, it's because He wants to bring more into your life, amen. And to bring more into your life is not just for you and yourself to enjoy. Yes, God doesn't mind you, in fact, there's a verse that says, "God gives us richly all things to enjoy". But remember this: His purpose is for you to be a blessing. "I will bless you," Amen, the original blessing of Abraham, "I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing," Amen, and make sure that whatever you are robbed of, you will have with interest. Just like the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt in the end times, they came out with great possessions. Now, what was the purpose of the great possessions? God wanted them to steward that money to build His house. Remember?
In the wilderness when Moses made a call, alright, let everyone who have silver, who have gold, who have precious materials, clothings and all that, bring them, and the Bible says they brought it to Moses to such an extent that Moses had to say stop it's enough; more than enough. There was such a spirit of generosity. Something very interesting in the Bible: The Bible says wisdom and generosity goes together, alright, willingness, a willing heart goes together. You know, you find that many a time the Bible says those whose hearts God stirred up with wisdom, those who were willing-hearted gave. Then another place it says those with wisdom did this for the tabernacle; those whose hearts God moved with wisdom; those in whose hearts God placed wisdom. The women who were wise they spun with their hands, with their fingers, amen, the material for the furniture, amen.
That reminds me of all the different ministries in the church of Jesus Christ. The women teaching stories from the Gospels to our young ones, amen. Amen, of course, every other ministry is characterized there in the Bible as people with wisdom. Only people of wisdom will utilize the gift that God has given them. People with no wisdom may have the gift, in fact, they do have the gift, every child of God has the gift, but they do not utilize it. But the Bible says those with wisdom, they are generous, and they are people who serve. Praise the Lord. Amen. Notice that this whole purpose for God prophesying, alright, the prophecy to Abraham in Abraham's dream about the future of his generation, his descendants when they're in Egypt for 400 years, God says they'll come out with great possessions. And God had a purpose for those great possessions.
And then on the night when that happened, 400 over years after Abraham, in Exodus 12 the Bible said God gave them favor, amen. God gave favor before the transfer took place, amen. They had favor, and the Bible says favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. So, favor in the eyes of the world. We'll have favor in the eyes of people who cannot see God, who cannot see the spiritual realm, but they will see the results of God's favor on your life, amen. And the transfer will happen. So, now they come out of Egypt laden down with gold and silver, went through the Red Sea, on the other side at Mount Sinai God gave them the law. And what happened after the law? God gave them the blueprint of the tabernacle, and that was when Moses said those of you who have gold, silver, precious stones, alright, those of you who have scarlet cloth, blue linen, bring them forth. And they brought such an extent that Moses had to stop them, and there's such a spirit of generosity. And I love the way the Bible describes those whose hearts had wisdom, those who were willing-hearted, it all goes together, amen.
So, it's prosperity with a purpose. How do we apply that today? Those things are not written so that, you know, just to show us that that's what happened in history. No, it's to teach us today. The house of God is the church of Jesus Christ, the many membered body of Christ. And in practical terms, it is your life in your local church, amen. Your wealth, your blessings, that whatever God has given you is to benefit the local church. Now, if we want to flow with God, we align ourselves with the plan of God, with the purpose of God. If you learn that God wants to prosper, for example, if I see, I'm not a Jew, let's say during the time of the Exodus, I'm not a Jew. In fact, the Bible says this is exactly what happened: Many Egyptians joined the Jewish people. Let's say I'm not a Jew but I'm an Egyptian, but I've seen through the plagues and all that, that the God of Israel is the true God. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I want to be part of God's people, amen.
So, that's what they call proselytes, amen, converts from another nation. So, the Bible says, "A mixed multitude came out with them," alright, so I want to be part of it. Now, I'm being smart. Unfortunately, for some of the mixed multitudes, they were paramount in causing Israel to stumble later on in the wilderness and all that. But many of them, they remained true, even in the time of David, many of the Gentiles, non-Jews were faithful to David. So, if I know God's plan and purpose, and I see God's plan and purpose is for Israel, and I see that God will give them great possessions, and then I see that there must be a purpose for these great possessions, and I line up my life accordingly, guess what? You know, I used to do an experiment in school, my science experiment, where you have a little light bulb at the end and you try to connect all the wires, but if there's no light, you know that the wire's not connected, amen. So, make sure that everything is connected correctly, and then the light comes on.
So, if I want the result, the light, amen, I want my life to be blessed, I will line up my life accordingly with God's plan and purposes. Because at that time on earth, where was God working at? Who was God working through? The children of Israel. So, I will park myself right there, right smack in the middle of God's plan and purpose. And if God wants to build the tabernacle and I'm there to hear God telling Moses, amen, and Moses telling us that, God wants to build the tabernacle, and whoever is willing he may give, right, whatever you have, I will definitely line up with God's plan and purpose, amen, to build His house. Well friend, today you have the same privilege, amen. You have the privilege of giving to what God is doing today. And what is God doing today?
There are a lot of things that people say, you know, God is doing today around the world and all that, but I'm telling you, first and foremost God is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. You know, God could actually build His tabernacle in the wilderness just by angel Gabriel alone, or by angel Michael. Because, you know, angels never get tired. God could have just sent angels, and they built the tabernacle. And you know what? It's gonna be a great job, better than what Bezalel can do, amen. But friend, that isn't God's plan, because God's plan is always like this: God will allow you to have the privilege of having His possessions, going through you so that your stewardship, your faithfulness, your love for Him comes into play. And God will see are you faithful with what He has given you? Amen.
It's not that God needs you to build His house; He needs your money to build His house. No, that money came from God. Now, sometimes we think that Well, what I have is what I earned, Pastor Prince. You know, I worked hard for this and all that. Now, there's a beautiful verse in the Bible that God promised the children of Israel, and God says this in Deuteronomy 8, verse 17 to 18. "Then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'" Now, the background is this. God says, "Don't say that 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day".
Friend, why is it that God says, ‘Don't say in your heart? Notice it's not someone boasting outwardly. We always think that, you know, no one says this outwardly, right? They know enough not to say my power got me this wealth. Not many people will say it verbally, but don't say it in your heart, don't even say it in your heart. That's where it happens: You have this attitude my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. Why did God say that? Sometimes the wealth that comes to you comes to you in a very natural, it seems like in the natural, it comes to you naturally because you invested wisely in something, or you work hard and all of a sudden, your boss came to you and he said he's gonna give you a promotion, and increase pay and all that.
Whatever it is, you find that it's so natural because I worked hard for it, and I did this, I did that. It must be that, or else no one will say in their heart; if it's so spectacular, like God opened up the Red Sea, no one can say I opened up the Red Sea. It will not be spectacular; the wealth, the power to get wealth will be something, it’s real power from God, or else He won't say He gives you power to get wealth. Notice, not He gives you wealth. He gives you power to get wealth. And that power is so supernaturally natural in its manifestation that the danger is that you forget it is the Lord who gives you the power. So God says, "Don't say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand gotten me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, it is He who gives you power to get wealth".
Now, the purpose for this power to get wealth is "That He may establish His covenant, which He swore to your fathers as it is this day". Now, some may think that God is saying about the covenant of Sinai which is the covenant of law. No, the power to get wealth is to establish His covenant. Which covenant is it? "Which He swore to your fathers". That's your answer. It's a covenant of grace, because when God swore, right, the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was way before the law, it was more than 400 over years before the law. God swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what covenant was that? The Abrahamic covenant, which is totally unconditional. It's not based on, on Abraham's obedience. It's based on God's faithfulness. And that's the same covenant of grace that we have today. We are blessed with the blessing of Abraham. We are Abraham's seed if we belong to Christ. Amen. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles," on you and I, amen, "that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith".
So, you see, that power to get wealth, number one, is to establish His covenant. But what covenant is it? Is it a covenant of law? No, it is a covenant of grace. So, friend, God gives you power to get wealth to establish the covenant of grace. Wherever you find the covenant of grace being preached, being, proclaimed, that is the ground. If you line up your, your, your, your life with that and your giving and all that, your sowing, your tithing, your giving with all that, amen, you will definitely receive that power to get wealth. Praise God. Hallelujah. God definitely gave that power to His people. Now, again, you know, some, some people might say, "Well, you know, I don't believe, in this health and wealth gospel".
Friend, I don't believe in that also. I don't believe there is a gospel called gospel of health and wealth. There's no such thing. The Bible says the gospel is the gospel of grace and peace. But the result of the gospel is always, always, all right, provision, amen. The first area, God provides, what? Righteousness as a gift. And then God provides for us in our soul, in our realm, "Come unto me and I'll give you rest". Praise the Lord. Peace that passes understanding. For our bodies, He gives health, amen. And for our, our outward life, just like 3 John 2, God's will for you, God's desire for you above all things that you prosper outwardly and be in health, even as your soul, your inward man, prospers, amen, in every dimension. That's God's kind of prosperity. Amen. So, God will give the power to get wealth to, to someone who see His vision, His plan, His purpose, to establish, which covenant? Covenant of grace. Amen. And they'll put their money there, praise the Lord, because that's where, amen, God is working.
That's where God is, God's provisions are flowing, amen. Ah, in Israel's time, where was God working in? God was working towards building the tabernacle. And that's where all the wealth that God gave them, the great possessions was going towards. Now, of course it's not everything they had went over there. In fact, they were told not to bring any more. So, when God blesses you, there'll be, definitely there'll be things left for you. God blesses, like Jesus says, "Give, it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down". Now, He could have stopped there also. It will be enough. Good measure, pressed down, means what? You got to press it down because it keeps on coming up. But then He went further by saying, "Running over". What is running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessings?
There are some people who say, "Well, God supplies our, our needs, all right. God meets our needs, not our wants". Well, my Bible says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". There is no want in Psalms. There is no want to them that fear Him. All right. God takes care of your want. In fact, the running over, why is it the running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessing? See, friend, God wants you blessed running over so that your blessings will flow to others. Amen. But are you blessed? Are you blessed in the process? Yes, you are blessed in the process, definitely. Amen. Because you are the channel through which the supply flows through. Definitely there will be more than enough for you. The only problem we have is that it stops there, like the Dead Sea in Israel. The Dead Sea has inlet. It has no outlet. And that's why it's called the Dead Sea. Nothing can live in the Dead Sea. But up north in the, in the land of Israel, the Sea of Galilee is thriving with fishes. Why? Because there's inlet and there's outlet, amen.
Would you call the sea blessed? Yes. Why? Because it's a channel. It's allowing itself to be a channel. So, will you be blessed when you become a giver? Definitely you'll be blessed, all right. And the running over is a blessing plenty for others and plenty for you and your family. Praise the Lord. I hope this has blessed you. And I, and I, I want you to see that, it's important to have your spirit open up. Amen. That's where it all starts. Now, the wherewithal, how will God do it and all that is not so important, because we see that with every famine, He has a certain plan, certain wisdom, certain paradigm for the servant of God in that hour, in that time. Amen. And He will give you that. He will give you that. Ask God for wisdom. He will give you that. But more than anything else, I want to share with you God's plan, God's desire for you to prosper, number one.
Number two, for what purpose is this prosperity? It's prosperity with a purpose. When people forget the purpose, they don't have that vision for their prosperity, that's when, when they perish. Bible says, "Without vision, the people perish". Everything in your life perishes because you don't have that vision from God. Amen. And what is that vision? God gives you prosperity so that you can be a blessing. And more specifically, where is that blessing, targeted towards? The covenant of grace, to build His house. Amen. His house comes from people who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and then they are added to God's house. Amen. And among some of them probably are sinners who have gathered up and stored up wealth. And now the wealth transfer happens. Notice how justly and, legally it is. Amen. It all happens in a way, God… One of the best ways I believe the transfer is going to happen is that the sinners get saved. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
You know, I used to read that, that psalm that says, um, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly," and all that, where it says, "whose delight is in the law of the Lord, in His law does he meditate day and night, and whatever he does shall prosper". Right? It goes on to say that "The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous". I used to think of that, that they all perish, all right, God says, "The sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous". Until one day I realized God says, "The sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous" because you know why they won't stand there? Because they have become righteous. Amen. The righteous will stand in the congregation of the righteous. In other words, they are saved. Amen. The ungodly are saved and they all stand before God saved. Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus.
So, one of the ways, I believe, one of the major ways is that these people get saved. Amen. And they get saved because of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "How shall they hear without a preacher"? Because we have established that faith, even faith for salvation, faith for healing, faith for prosperity, amen, comes by hearing. Right? We have established that. But the Bible says how will the sinner, how will the world hear God's Word? "How shall they hear without a preacher"? I know there are some people who say that "Well, I hear God direct". Well, the Bible says, "How shall they hear without a preacher"? Many a time God uses preachers. Amen. God's voice is the loudest in preachers, anointed preachers, mind you. Amen. Right. So, "How shall they hear without a preacher"? the Bible says. And then it goes on to say, "And how shall they preach," notice, how shall the preachers preach, in other words, "except they be sent"?
Now, let me go further and ask you. How will they be sent? And it comes back to giving. Money. Amen. Without money, you cannot be sent anywhere. Amen. Even, even this broadcast comes to you through things that we have purchased through money. Right? Money bought these equipments, this studio. Right? This camera. So, even like you bring the gospel physically, you travel, you’d have to have money for the air ticket right, for the plane to fly you there. Or by ship. You still need money. How shall the preacher be heard, right? How shall they be heard? How shall they go unless they are sent? Amen. The idea of sending, that's where the gospel and money meets, my friend. Amen. So, people say money is not important in the, in the, in the gospel scheme of things. No, my friend, it is vital. It is, see the connection, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? All right, how shall they go, how shall the preacher go unless they are sent? Amen. The devil wants to divert you.
Let me just put a, a warning here, right here. What is happening and what I'm seeing happen is that the devil is distracting God's people. They still have the tithe, they still have the, the offerings, but it stays with them. And the devil would make sure that they give it to other places. So, the one tenth still goes somewhere. It goes to the devil's purpose. Now, do you know, have you noticed that that's exactly what happened to the children of Israel? When God told them about building the tabernacle, that happened right after they heard the law, but not until they built a golden calf. Moses was up there at the mountain receiving the blueprint for the house of God, the tabernacle. At the same time, the devil was working overtime at the foot of the mountain, trying to divert their possessions, diverting their gold and silver, to what? Building a golden calf. Can you see what the devil is doing?
Friend, the devil doesn't want you to use your wealth to build God's house. Doesn't want you to use your wealth to sponsor the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wants to divert you. And, friend, you will still put that money somewhere. And the devil wants it to go to his golden calf, whatever the golden calf may be. So, what is the devil distracting you with? Friend, the money is there. And you know something? You don't give God the, the tithe, even, that month that tithe is going somewhere. It's still going somewhere. Might as well go to good ground, gospel ground. But remember that good ground that God has for His people during times of famine in the natural might not look like good ground. Amen. You got to go by faith, not by sight. Amen. And God has shown us where to put it. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the house of God. Practically, in the local church, wherever your local church is, you have got to tithe to your local church, amen, to be part of God's plan in this end time transfer of wealth.
And, friend, I know that people will criticize this message, and they will say all kinds of things about materialism and, and greed and all that. We have established that we are against materialism, covetousness, avarice, all right, love of money. We are not for that, amen. We are talking about being a blessing. We're talking about prosperity with a purpose. Praise the Lord. Thanks be to God there was still enough gold and silver when Moses came down. He destroyed the golden calf, re-established their vision and purpose. And I feel like I'm doing that. I feel like, you know, in the end time… By the way, have you noticed that they build a golden calf after they said, "This Moses went up to the mountain. We do not know what has happened to him".
Now, in a way Moses was a type of Christ. Christ has gone up to the mountain, He has gone back to the Father physically. Right? And He's coming back for us. But it seems like in these last days, like, what Peter prophesied would happen is now happening. People are saying, "Where is the coming of the Lord? Since our fathers slept, everything has gone on as before. Where is the sign of His coming? Where, where, where, where is His coming"? All right. The people say the same thing. "We do not know what happened to this man, Moses". The evil servant that Jesus talked about, notice what he says in his heart. "My lord delays his coming". So, the same thing, the people, when, when they, they feel like the Lord is not coming back, when the vision of the rapture is not, is not fresh in their hearts, that's when they get into mischief.
So, friend, it's something for us to take note of. All these things are lessons. And there's so many things I'm seeing right now in the spirit, even, about the parallels and to our times that we are in that I pray that God will speak to you and continue to speak to you about this. I want to take this opportunity right now to thank all my gospel partners, because they have been responsible in sending out this gospel of grace to at least 150 nations of the world. They have heard the gospel of grace in these nations because our gospel partners have invested in the preaching of the, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My friends, if you are a gospel partner with this ministry, believe God that you are in line with all that I've shared just now to receive all that God has for you, to give even more and be a greater blessing, amen, in the days ahead.
So, thank you from the bottom of my heart, all right, for being a gospel partner and for being a blessing to a lost and dying world. And, friend, I'm not asking the rest of you to be my gospel partner or, wherever your, the gospel is being shared or being preached, that is good ground. It's not, it's not just this ministry that's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. But that's good ground. But remember this, it's also the house of God. So, if you're hearing this and, and you know that you've not been tithing to your local church. The tithe is an expression of your faith. The tithe breaks the power of the love of money. That's how you destroy the love of money in your life. Amen. It's a test. The tithe is a test, amen. You give to God. And how do you give to God? The tithe in your local church, whichever local church you belong to. Amen. Praise the Lord.
And see God open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing there's not room enough. The first mention of windows of heaven is when God, God flooded the earth, amen, overwhelmingly, to the top, to the point that even the, the, the mountains, are covered. So, that's the first mention of the windows of, of heaven. Now God says again in Malachi, He will open the windows of heaven to the one who tithes and pour out a blessing there is not room enough to receive. Friend, I believe God's Word. I believe God's Word. And it's important you tithe with revelation. Not just tithe, you know, and say, "Well, I tithed. You know, I tithed for, a while, and nothing happens". No, my friend. Your tithe has got to be something that is part of your worship towards God, amen, knowing that He's a sponsor of your wealth. Amen. He is the one who supplies everything.
I remember the Lord my God, it is He who gives me power to get wealth. Amen. And then you tithe, amen. And then in addition, tithe is a 10%. In addition, ask God where to sow seed. We must always be planting seeds for a harvest. You say, "Well, Pastor Prince, you are, you are saying that, you know, we sow to get". Friend, that's the Bible. Like I said just now, we established that. You don't go to a farmer and say, "I know why you are, you are sowing all these seeds in the field. You want to get a harvest, right"? The farmer will say, "Duh, yeah. Of course," Amen. And always remember, the harvest is greater than the seed you sow. Come back a few, months later, you pass by the whole place that seems, you know, just, filled with, cultivated soil. You can't even see the seeds sometimes. But you come back a few months later, there's a harvest. And the harvest is always greater than the seed.
So, don't forget these principles of tithing and sowing into the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tithe to your local church. And then sow into the gospel of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. And then, whatever means, whether you are in, in, in the stock market or you're working a daily, a monthly wage worker, whatever it is, you'll find these areas are blessed. Amen. And you, you don't look to these areas as your source. But you look at them as channels and instruments, one of those channels. Amen, amen. The Bible never says, "Work to get money". It's "Work as unto the Lord, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance". I pray this has blessed you, church. And, I just want to say that I love all of you. And that's the reason why. It's not an easy message to preach because people will criticize and, you know, the world will be the world. The world is the world. Ok? But the children of God, I want you to prosper.
I want the young people especially in these last days, they are faced with all kinds of financial challenges in front of them. Many of them about to get married. And they find that housing is so expensive. Everything is very expensive. And they are looking. And some of them, have given up, even on, on, on, on, on jobs and, and things like that. And they just want to get quick returns, and, you know, looking at the latest thing, latest trend. Friend, these are not sources. Even your daily, the job that you go into and work, you work as unto the Lord. Don't see it as your source. God is your source. And that's why the tithe and the offering are God's ways for us to break the love of money, to position our heart in a, in a place where we expect God to prosper us, amen. And I pray that this has blessed you, friends, because God wants you to prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper. In Jesus' name.