Bill Johnson teaches on the church’s need for a theology of blessing. Understanding the purpose of blessing and stewarding it well is what positions us to be salt in culture and a godly influence in our neighborhoods and cities. Many in the church shy away from talking about blessing or wealth, not realizing that a theology of blessing is key to impacting and discipling nations. Take whatever is in your hand, whether it be wealth, favor, or gifting, and surrender it to the Lord to let Him use. This is the sixth sermon in Bill Johnson’s series, The Beauty of Wisdom. Watch the series here: 
• The Beauty of Wisdom Series | Bill Jo… Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube Connect with Bill Johnson Ministries: Website: http://bjm.org/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/bjmFacebook Instagram: https://bit.ly/bjmInstagram Mailing List: https://bit.ly/bjmMailingList Additional Resources: https://shop.bethel.com/collections/b… The Beauty of Wisdom Series is available for purchase here: https://shop.bethel.com/products/the-… Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 9 Isaiah 61 Luke 9 Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Blessing #Wealth
and the way you Steward what God has
given you I don’t care if it’s a musical
gift I don’t care if you’re a writer if
you’re a mechanic if you’re a doctor if
you raise children well it doesn’t
matter what you you’re a singer I don’t
care what it is that you do but that
which God has given you to do doing that
well with Excellence with creativity and
integrity that prophesies something into
culture and society that actually makes
you an influence over multiple cities
[Music]
I believe that God is doing something
significant in many places around the
world one of them is reading why would
God do something significant in writing
a place of only 90 000 people in the
city limits whenever architect is going
to build a significant building he
builds a model and I believe that the
Lord is doing something in the small
that he wants to prophesy into the large
he wants to create
systems and and cultural uh
phenomenon if you will that can be
translated transported to other places
so I believe that’s what the Lord is
doing one of my great Ambitions in life
is to be in a city that loves God well
and uh and we’re we’re working at them
the heart of the Lord is for a
transformation of culture and Society
it’s a phrase that we use a lot so I
hope it doesn’t get old because it’s not
going to stop
um our desire is you know what do we do
after we get everybody saved
we we already know there’s still
problems
all you have to do is visit any one of
the many churches good churches here in
Reading as long as we have people
involved in the church there will be
issues
and the the issue the Mandate on us
right now is to discover the way Heaven
functions bring that reality here and
learn what that culture is like
emulate it in this environment and I
believe that’s what the Lord is helping
us with
God is after
changing how people think
how people view reality
the ambition of this particular series
is to stir up a passion and a value for
divine wisdom
wisdom is divine reasoning it is
actually thinking from God’s perspective
it’s not just the ability to solve
riddles it’s not just that we can
explain complicated things it’s
literally how God thinks about a
situation to see it from Divine
perspective and I believe that the Lord
is releasing a Grace it almost feels
like wave after wave after wave in
recent months wave after wave of a
wisdom and a Grace to to enable us to
learn how to do life in a very practical
transferable way and I I believe that
the Lord is raising up people to serve
much more effectively
I love it when I see people promoted I I
don’t want to say it wouldn’t be fun to
have many of you promoted to a place of
maybe the CEO of your corporation or the
manager of the restaurant or the
principal of the school all of that’s
fine I celebrate every bit of that but
that’s never my ambition the ambition is
to enable every person to serve well and
if you come into promotion through
service then don’t forget how you got
there because that way of serving is
actually what enables you to continue to
be effective your position of authority
is never about building a legacy around
you it is always the favor and the
authority that God gives to affect
people around you in other words you’re
there for their benefit we’ll look at
that a little bit more in a moment but
you are in those positions of authority
and influence so that you can serve well
and serve effectively I just have this
dream of seeing people promoted honestly
brought up the ladder politically in
Educational Systems business whatever
but maintaining the humility of heart
that makes it possible that regardless
of the position to still serve
effectively I think that the higher you
go the more importance humility is the
the lower you have to intentionally
become in who you look to help who you
look to serve who you look to to uh to
take a piece of your life and feed
somebody else with it like it becomes
more and more important to become
intentional in serving because you
become further and further removed from
the kinds of needs that you’re equipped
to serve does that make sense and so I I
really feel like there’s a mandate on on
the house and really on the body of
Christ for this because the Lord is
doing such a incredible transformational
work
we have a
we have a theology
that is good but it’s it’s falls short a
Theology of generosity
I want to talk to you today about
Theology of blessing I made reference to
it in our leaders Advance here a few
weeks ago I want to talk to you about
that today a Theology of blessing
if we don’t have a Theology of blessing
we are cursing the poor by wanting them
to prosper
I’ve been exposed through the years
especially in early years through some
discipleship training and stuff on the
importance of generosity absolute number
one economic lesson there is as far as
I’m concerned is generosity
I was exposed to the kind of Lifestyle
where you forsake everything to follow
Jesus and I’m a hundred percent in that
but as you read the scripture you find
that Jesus tells his own disciples who
left everything he said you will receive
a hundred times as much in this life and
so in other words it’s only half the
equation we have to know how to give
everything so that we know how to
Steward well once he pours back into our
life
there’s a responsibility of learning
stewardship in management
sometimes it is easier to give than it
is to manage
my bent in life is giving I I love to
give I always have I just remember as a
as a young child I I just I just I love
to just give stuff away it was just
always fun for me and it’s never stopped
being fun it’s always been recreational
I
I feel so strong in this particular area
that I’ve been talking in our school
I’ve been talking to leaders when I
travel I’ve been talking a lot about
this subject because I feel like we have
no right
to expect to disciple Nations if we
don’t understand the law of blessing if
we don’t understand what it is to live
in the realm of blessing without
building a materialistic Empire
I don’t like what has been taught and
that is the money in your bank account
the possessions you own are evidence of
your spirituality that’s that’s a lie I
hate that I despise that I don’t like it
but I equally don’t like that poverty is
a sign of spirituality when you react to
error you almost always create another
error and this whole issue of going
without as being the illustration of of
a Pure Life a Sanctified life listen
it’s just it’s absolutely not true it’s
absolutely not true so I feel like we’ve
got some things that we have to deal
with to know how to properly uh disciple
Nations if we don’t get the stewardship
of blessing down
that we’re we’re not qualified to
actually disciple cities into places
where God can bring great abundance and
blessing so here’s the challenge you
with me
five of you that’s really all I need is
five um I’m I’m very happy to work with
five
we have certain parts of our our of our
faith we understand well
the generosity issue we know that that’s
important I
I uh Ben and I have we’ve been married
40 Years thank you Jesus
uh we’ve been married 40 years we’ve
never we’ve never given as low as 20
percent of our income we have always
positioned ourselves to try to be
extreme to give away prized possessions
to give away things that were valuable
to us that we saved up for whatever it
might be told onto everything Loosely
but what I have found is I’ve actually
in recent years have had to learn to
discipline myself not to give as strange
as that sounds because sometimes I have
found it was easier to give something
away than to manage it well and to
Steward it well and what I believe is
happening in this next season is the
Lord is going to teach us how to manage
what he gives to us
all right here’s here’s a question this
is not a trick question so I’m not
trying to trick you
can you love people more than God
yes
the answer is yes
you obviously I caught you off guard you
still thought I was tricking you
can you love people more than God yes
that’s why the Lord says we love him
first all right you can love people more
than God
does that give us the right to abuse or
be indifferent or hateful towards people
so that we can protect our love for God
you’re doing well
you’re doing well some of you are a
little nervous in answering me but but
those of you that were courageous you
did good all right yes it’s true you can
love God more than people we have to put
God first but then he goes so far as to
say is listen your love for God has to
be demonstrated in your love for people
or your love for God Isn’t legitimate
can you love possessions more than God
yes is it possible that unless I know
how to Steward well material things that
have been put into my charge that I can
never fully accurately display my
passion my love for God
I didn’t expect you to be as zealous in
your answer it’s all right
I believe that the Lord has has called
us to learn how to do life in a
practical way as unto the Lord Israel
had an advantage over the church Israel
is a nation culturally knew that work
was worship
we tend to think we gather together
Sunday morning whenever our meetings are
we have wonderful worship teams they get
up and lead in music and that’s worship
it is and I don’t ever want to change
that I’m so thrilled with what’s
happening
but they had they had a concept that
extended worship beyond the hour or so
that we spend together with hands raised
singing songs declaring God’s greatness
as vital as that is they understood that
worship was actually the expression of
life it was the expression of our life
that put worth in him
it is the expression of worth and so
work was literally as unto the Lord
whatever your hands find to do do that
as unto the Lord and so what happens
when work becomes worship is we we
finally become successful in erasing the
line that separates secular from sacred
and we desperately need to succeed at
that we’ve done much better in recent
years to put equal value on the nurse
equal value on the dentist equal value
on the housewife on the mechanic equal
value to those who have been called to
stand behind pulpits and do more
official types of ministry that every
believer is a minister under the Lord
and to people
and if we can get this thing down where
we where we learn that work is an
expression of worship we will
successfully erase that line that
separates the two that still exists in
our hearts and minds of many
why is this important probably for a lot
of reasons one I just described the
racing the line but the second would be
fire always falls on sacrifice
can you imagine this many people
infiltrating this city giving an
offering hour by hour under God the work
that they do mechanic fixing that car
the this is this is such a big deal that
it says they took headbands and aprons
off of the Apostle Paul they took them
to the demonized and they were delivered
and the people that were sick were
healed what were the aprons and
headbands for it’s what Paul wore when
he built tents
[Music]
it was Sanctified labor
that actually brought healing and
deliverance what do you think it means
in the prophets when it says and and he
turned their uh plowshares into swords
it’s a prophetic picture of the plow
becoming a military instrument and
bringing about eternal change
and it is the Lord that is wanting to
take the gifting of every person in this
room and put it into a place where it
becomes an expression of worship then
what happens that worship draws the
presence into the work environment and
we get rid of this line that separates
the two if we succeed with separating
sacred secular work we will also become
successful in erasing the line that
separates us from them
it’s the Us and Them concept that makes
people a project
instead of the actual Target of
affection and love so the Lord is
calling us into this expression that I
believe is the result of divine wisdom
Solomon created a prototype for how
communities do life I feel like we could
do this series for about 100 more weeks
to be honest we won’t because I don’t
want to kill people but I I this thing
is so huge that I know we will come back
to it there are insights and wisdom on
how to do life that are applied to
finances or applied to every aspect of
life relationships uh work uh the way we
respect ourselves how we deal with
self-concept all these things are dealt
with in this concept of wisdom we talk
here a lot about honor culture of Honor
it’s a huge part of how we do life we
love to look for ways to give honor
where it’s due did you know that honor
is actually just one of the expressions
of Excellence
wisdom is seen in three primary ways
Excellence creativity and integrity
as you go through the Book of Proverbs
you will see these three themes
constantly stick up their head as
Solomon is trying to teach this is how
you do life this is how you navigate Day
by Day stuff this is how you become
successful here’s the strange thing
about wisdom is he says wisdom is to be
desired more than rubies how do I know
if I have actually valued wisdom above
wealth the only way I can know is if I
paid a price for it
the only way I can know is if I have
actually made a commitment to something
that cost me
here’s the Bible is filled with these
paradoxes he says all right it’s just
better that you be poor and wise
then you’d be rich and stupid
except I think he said foolish
stupid’s a good word though
wise and poor
and then after he does that he
establishes the fact if you’re wise you
will attract great resources and income
so it’s like you make the choice for
wisdom instead of wealth and what does
he reward you with
it’s in the book
it’s like Jesus told his disciples you
have to forsake everything to follow me
they said all right we’re in
and then he tells them and I’m going to
add a hundred times as much into your
life
as what you gave up
I don’t know if that sounds funny to you
to me it sounds funny Jesus is saying I
watch out for this money thing because
it’ll kill you
and he says all right hands off and then
he says and I’m going to give you 100
times more of what’s going to kill you
why because going without is what trains
Us in trust and the issue is not what
you have the issue is how much will it
take to remove trust from your life
how much is too much it’s whatever
replaces trust that’s how much is too
much for one person it’s a hundred
dollars for another it’s ten million
dollars it doesn’t matter
what’s important is the Lord does not
want anything else to be trusted other
than him
[Music]
[Applause]
all right
let’s open our Bibles
and go with me to Second Chronicles
chapter nine
as we
as we um
the open here I want to mention one part
of our theology that we happen to have
down pretty good besides generosity
we know the value of humility
do you remember the verse that says
humble yourself under the mighty hand of
God he will exalt you in due time
we love it when people humble themselves
under the mighty hand of God we’re not
as happy with them when God exalts them
do you remember the verse seek first the
kingdom of God and all these things will
be added to you and we love it when
people seek first the kingdom we’re not
as happy with them when all things are
added to them
is there anybody in here
the point I’m trying to make is is there
has to be a theology that covers the
other half of the process
and without
understanding what the purpose of
blessing and the purpose of increase
then we either make the error of moving
into building materialist materialistic
kingdoms
or we never learn the difference between
seed and bread
the Bible says God provides seed to the
sower and bread to the eater
we know that if if we were
corn farmers
when you go to harvest the corn you have
to keep some of the Corn
from being sold and eaten so that you
can take the kernels of corn and plant
them for next year’s crop
it’s a metaphor for giving that when we
give we’re seeding
fields for future Harvest so generosity
today I’m experiencing a bounty in my
life today that I planted seeds for
decades ago
so we have seed for food or excuse me
seed for planting and we have bread for
food I mean you know it’s foolish
to eat your seed
because that’s tomorrow’s crop
generosity is that seed is foolish to
eat the seed it’s foolish to eat what
God provided for me to give away
because then I am robbing myself of
future blessing but it’s equally foolish
to plant your bread
I don’t know how many of you have had
that experience before but because I’ve
had to learn
how to manage things in my life and
actually hold to things not in the sense
of building a materialistic Kingdom but
to hold them to Steward them well I’ve
actually had to learn how not to give
when I felt prompted when I not felt
prompted by the Lord but I had the idea
I mean you know sometimes you just have
good ideas but they’re not God ah they
got to do this yeah you go ahead plant
the bread it just won’t grow
I I did you go to Second Chronicles nine
yes good hold on to it
don’t quit be patient I’ll get there
every uh July a miracle happens I have a
birthday
it’s a great sign and a wonder and it’s
great great fun for me and for my family
for my birthday I buy gifts for my
children their spouses and my grandkids
and it’s amazing my whole family loves
my birthday
so it’s a great great thing
we uh we we have a wonderful time
together we we meet at the house and
there are gifts piled up I remember this
last July it was actually as about May
or might have been early part of June I
heard two of my grandchildren talking
I was eavesdropping and one of them said
to the other what are you going to ask
papa for his birthday
and I thought man that’s the coolest
thing ever I’m I’m right under Christmas
I’ll never pass it up but I’m at least
in the neighborhood you know there’s
Christmas and then there’s Papa’s
birthday it’s awesome
I I I love it so much it’s it’s so much
fun and and it is fun it’s just fun it’s
funny it’s you know it’s just what we
really like to do
but behind the scenes
I only get one crack at displaying what
he’s like and so this is how I’ve chosen
to try to display a father that is more
generous than you can imagine
he he thinks about giving and investing
and pouring into people’s life it’s not
about money it’s not about material
things it’s literally about giving
sometimes I I’ll take I’ll I’ll write
out prophetic words for each grandchild
and uh and and invest in that way as
well as as giving a gift I can’t say
they’re quite as happy but you know I
get my point across or I get to prophesy
Destiny and
but the point is is that
we have the privilege of displaying to
this world what he’s like
and I believe
that that wisdom of God is to be
displayed through creativity creative
ways to do life
it’s to be done through excellence
generosity is a part of Excellence honor
is a part of Excellence that whole thing
of feeding and pouring into other people
it’s just what Excellence looks like
it’s how you actually measure
honor
it’s excellence
integrity
creativity excellence
I believe that as we learn these areas
of responsibility the Lord is going to
be releasing to us greater open doors to
influence
how people think I have to be really
honest with you that’s what I want I
want to I want to influence how people
think I’ve never made that a secret
I want to influence how people think I
don’t like people to think from a
problem towards God I want people to
think from God towards a problem
I don’t want people to think
in a sense that they are impressed by
the size of an issue I want them to
think from the size of God towards that
issue I want them to think from the
Covenant and the accomplishment of Jesus
at Calvary towards any assignment
they’ve been given otherwise we’re
always playing ketchup I I want to
influence that in culture and Society
that’s my heartbeat
when I give the gifts let me just give
an illustration I’ll pick on Brian here
for a minute
which is perfectly okay isn’t it son yes
Brian over yeah I I’m asking him in
front of you what can he say you know
all of my kids are ridiculously generous
so it’s it’s very very fun to watch
they’re hard of generosity and love for
people
so so thankful for them
Brian and Jan are in charge of the whole
worship Community the worship Ministry
Bethel Music all of that they uh serve
us well in these areas
let’s say for my birthday
I was going to have a custom guitar made
for Brian
and I found this custom guitar maker and
I knew the color I knew the size I knew
everything that Brian liked in the
guitar I’ve been watching for years and
I go to this custom guitar making I said
listen I want you to make the guitar of
guitars
for my son of sons I want you to make
this guitar for me and I tell them
everything to do and he makes this
guitar and when it comes time for the
birthdays I present an equally
significant gift to each one of my
children and I bring out this guitar
that was designed made by this customer
and I gave it to Brian
well
that happened on Saturday afternoon with
families together Sunday morning what am
I going to be looking for when he’s
leading worship I’m looking for my
guitar
let’s be honest I I want to see that how
many of you have given a shirt to
somebody and you keep oh I haven’t seen
him wear that shirt so
so I I’m looking to see and I’m down
here worshiping Brian comes up and he’s
got a different guitar and I’m thinking
I probably just need to
you know change the strings or get
something set up and maybe have them fix
them
worshiping along
another week goes by and I’m looking as
Brian gets up and go hey keep praying he
uh where is uh that that guitar I had
made for you
and he says oh awesome guitar so I gave
it to a friend
no
on one hand impressed by generosity on
the other I probably am not going to
have another guitar made
four
why
because I didn’t give it to him a seat I
gave it to him as bread
I’m trying to illustrate I believe how
the father looks at what he releases to
us and there are times I have given away
what he gave to me for my enjoyment did
you know there’s three tithes in the Old
Testament and the third tithe was not to
be spent on others it was actually the
money was saved up and something was
bought to enjoy in the presence of the
Lord maybe it was a big meal for the
entire family and they would spend all
that money for this meal and they would
eat in the presence of the Lord
something to be enjoyed with God
the Lord actually put it into his law
certainly puts it into Grace
that we learn how to take what he
supplies for us whether it’s favor in a
business opportunity whether it’s an
automobile that he just provides for you
out of nowhere where here you are with
something that God has supplied can you
enjoy it or do you have to apologize for
God’s blessing everywhere you go
I think the world listen in the in the
religious circles you almost have to
apologize in the world
it’s not that way
so I think we’ve got to make some
adjustments here does that make sense
all right finally let’s come to this
we’re going to read the Bible
yeah yeah Second Chronicles chapter nine
all right you guys doing all right
I do hope so okay
verse 2.
this is about the Queen of Sheba that
came to see
Solomon she came to test him with
questions
verse one it says verse two Solomon
answered all her questions there was
nothing so difficult for Solomon that he
could not explain it to her
when the Queen of Sheba had seen the
wisdom of Solomon the house that he
built the food on his table the seating
of his servants the service of his
waiters and their apparel his cup
bearers and their apparel his entryway
by which he went up to the house of the
Lord there was no more spirit in her
I know I’ve talked about verse 4 in the
past
just for the sake of those who have
joined us today
let me mention it again because this
concept is one of my favorite in the
story of Solomon
each of the things that as mentioned the
plates the apparel dress the stairway
the all these things that are mentioned
in this little list here all of them are
mundane everyday items that wisdom
touched
and I believe that every person in this
room because of divine wisdom given to
us is a gift of God’s grace to every
believer he has equipped you and
equipped me to display creativity on the
mundane parts of life
where you don’t have to invent the next
iPhone the Lord is looking for people
that can take what exists
at A Creative Touch to it and it causes
the Queen of Sheba to become silent
and I believe the world is to become
silent again because the people of God
have tapped into a Divine reasoning that
helps to sort things out of the
Practical the simple parts of life you
and I have been given this privilege to
serve Humanity with Divine wisdom and
this list is has always Touched Me
Through The Years verse 5. then she said
to the king it was a true report which I
heard in my own land about your words
and your wisdom however I did not
believe their words until I came and saw
with my own eyes and indeed the half of
the greatness of your wisdom was not
told me you exceed the fame of which I
heard happy are your men happy are these
sir your servants who stand continually
before you and hear your wisdom
blessed be the Lord your God who
delighted in you setting you on his
throne to be king for the Lord your God
because your God has loved Israel to
establish them forever therefore he made
you King over them to do righteousness
and Justice jump over to verse 20 the
last half of the verse silver was not
accounted as anything in the days of
Solomon verse 22 we’ll wrap it up with
this so King Solomon surpassed all the
kings of the Earth in wisdom and in
riches
I believe that the challenge what’s on
our plate right now in not just this
season in the sense of this Christmas
season but in this next four five six
year period of time
is the Lord wants us to give attention
to stewardship of three Realms of Life
his resources
its favor and its Authority if we can
learn to Steward these three Realms
correctly
he will continuously put you and me in
places to influence to be salt
to flavor life for a community to flavor
life for the State of California or
wherever it is you are from to become a
flavor to become that which draws out
the the Excellence and the Brilliance
and the beauty that God has already
established in every Community
represented in this room there are
god-given
traits given to every city to every
state every nation on the planet that
just need to be enhanced by getting a
little salt on it and that’s what you
and I get to do we are not the origin
everything everything we are not the
creator of everything we are not the
answer to everything but we get to add
flavor and draw the significance that
God has already instilled and created
and put into society that’s your job
that’s my job and I believe the
stewardship of these three Realms is
critical resources how can you Steward
resources well first of all it’s
generosity but secondly is it possible
for you to have a home that the way you
keep the house the way you got the house
the way that you Steward that home
prophesies to neighbors I don’t I don’t
mean because we throw money throwing
money at stuff isn’t the isn’t what
makes something excellent you know gold
toilet seats are not excellent
listen there are parts of the world
where they have obscene wealth and they
think that a gold toilet seat is is
excellent that’s stupidity
now I’m serious it’s stupidious not
using it’s not using Beauty unto a
purpose
I believe that things are to become
beautiful I believe things are supposed
to be excellent I think the beauty the
the time that our team puts in music are
people that jagu decorates buildings and
the stuff that goes on around is people
giving attention to detail the things
that you get printed that are put in
your hands more and more are taking on
the flavor of design and intentionality
of showing Excellence why because this
is what we are called to this stuff
matters
Beauty for Ashes beauty Beauty was the
reward of the Lord touching life with
beauty taking broken things making them
whole letting them prophesy his Nature
by him restoring something
come on this is this is the heart of the
Lord and we’ll deal with this another
time because there’s not time today but
in Isaiah 61 it talks about broken
people that he turns Beauty for Ashes
and then he takes these beautiful ones
these ones who live with intentional
purpose and design and he releases them
to rebuild cities I wonder what kind of
city they’re going to rebuild it’s one
that’s intentional it has Beauty it has
excellence and that is the heart of God
it’s not this thing get people saved so
that Jesus can return and rescue us from
the devil that’s been the mindset for
for for decades that that we just get
rescued because sin is so bad and the
devil is so bad well guess what sin is
bad and the devil is horrible but Jesus
is so far greater it’s not a competition
and the gospel is an answer it is a
solution God cares how cities are run he
cares about your business more than you
do he cares about your family life he’s
the great restorer my goodness we’ve
seen him restore lost watches how much
more is he going to restore a lost
family member
he’s the he’s the god who’s been
prophesying his nature into our hearts
for years and years and years because a
community is forming that actually
believe God has solutions for every
problem that a city and a nation faces
that is the reformer’s Pledge if you
will that is the reformer’s Mandate is
that we Embrace a lifestyle of wisdom
that says I don’t know what the answer
is but I know someone who knows the
answer and I’m going to be a part of
that reformational influence that brings
healing and the rebuilding of a city
until Jesus is seen in the beauty the
Splendor the order the way a city
functions and runs this is your
privilege this is my privilege what does
this passage say about psalm it says
that the Queen of Sheba actually
prophesies over psalmist very
interesting
it says in verse 8 it says blessed be
the Lord your God who delighted in you
setting you on his throne to be king for
the Lord your God
because your God has loved Israel
to establish them forever
therefore he made you King over them to
do justice and righteousness
there’s two parts of the three that I’ve
addressed resources Authority and favor
this passage deals with two parts favor
and Authority why has God given
authority to anybody
Authority is to do justice justice means
I will speak on behalf of those who have
no voice
I believe that Justice is going to
become more and more important for us in
the years to come it’s going to be much
more vital that we give attention not
only to the voice of The Unborn the poor
have very little voice in shaping how
things are done
and throwing money at a problem is
seldom the answer to the problem there’s
a shift on the inside poverty starts in
here
and it’s not it’s it’s never making
people a project it’s just saying come
with me I want to show you how to
succeed in this part of life I have a
friend who actually buys run-down homes
and he rebuilds them he brings a family
that’s locked into poverty brings them
into the home and mentors them arranges
a year or two long mentoring program
where they live in that home they learn
to Steward the home they learn to to
channel the resources he gives them then
after a period of time he sells them
that home at a ridiculously reduced and
cheap rate so they can afford it and he
mentors them out of the cycle of poverty
into a lifestyle where they succeed they
get broken out of that thing they’ve got
all new appliances all new everything
what’s the point the point is is if
material things are evil then we are
cursing the poor by wanting them out of
their cycle of poverty so the answer is
not having nothing the answer is
learning how to Steward what we have in
a way that actually brings glory to God
for that to succeed well the jealousy
thing has to be shot in the head that
issue of jealousy because Proverbs says
the way you handled another person’s
possessions actually determines what you
can have on your own
which means next time you rent a car
take care of it as though your own
because the way you handle another
person’s possession so let’s take that a
step farther so you need a promotion at
work and your friend gets it you’ve just
been given another man’s possession
it’s a testimony what do you do with
that testimony if you celebrate it
you’re becoming qualified for your own
promotion if you’re jealous of it you’ve
just just disqualified yourself for the
very thing you’ve been asking for
I believe the Lord frequently we pray
for things I believe is is most common
way of answering our big prayers is by
giving us the seed to the answer
the Lord oftentimes chooses to give us
the acorn instead of the oak tree we
prayed for
why because in caring for the acorn that
process develops the character in me to
contain the answer what’s it once it’s
given without the answer actually
destroying me
a couple years ago uh when the first
year the last year that our first year
school of ministry met here inside the
sanctuary when I walked into the room I
felt the Lord tell me that somebody had
prayed for 500 that morning so I when it
was my turn to get up and teach I I just
started by saying somebody this morning
asked the Lord for 500 who was it and
there’s a lady right down here she said
I did I said you asked for 500 this
morning she said I did this morning so I
said well come up here and I didn’t have
500 but I had a 50. so I gave her the 50
I said it’s not 500 but I said there is
500 in the 50.
in the same way there’s an oak tree in
an acorn and there are unlimited number
of acorns in the oak tree
[Music]
and so I gave her the money not knowing
what would happen just knowing that that
was as much as I was told
I heard two weeks later she went to the
store that evening grocery store and
there’s a young family there that
couldn’t afford all the groceries they
had she pulled the 50 out and she helped
pay for their groceries
thinking there goes the fifty dollars
well the Bible says when you give to the
poor you lend to the Lord in his
interest rates are incredible incredible
talk about talk about good interest
rates
you want to do banking with Jesus but
trust me you want to do banking with
Jesus she drives home and when she gets
home somebody drives up with 500 for her
now I love that story I’m also glad it
doesn’t happen that way that fast every
day or we would reduce God to a slot
machine where we put 50 in and get 500
out about every 20 minutes right
but it’s a beautiful story where you and
I have asked the Lord for certain things
what does he do he gives us a seed now I
want to end with a quick
synopsis of a parable that we will study
more in full later it’s in Luke 19 and
I’ll just give it to you quickly
Jesus was answering the thoughts of his
disciples okay so picture this Jesus is
with the guys and he perceives they got
some stuff going on in their head that’s
not right and he wants to bring a little
adjustment to their thinking as he
frequently did they were thinking the
kingdom of God was going to appear
immediately what does that mean it
didn’t mean the return of Christ he was
there
that was half joke not a very good half
but it was a half joke
he was there they were expecting Jesus
to become the ruler of the earth he had
already proven that he could manage
things quite well all right so they are
all vying for position you remember the
conversations we want to sit at your
right hand we want to sit at your left
so they are thinking Jesus is about to
become king of the whole earth we are
getting positions so this stuff’s going
on their head and they think it’s going
to happen at any minute so Jesus it says
in Luke 19 in response to what they were
thinking taught them a parable and here
was the parable the parable was he says
there’s a landowner he’s got ten
servants he gives each of the landowners
a minor a minor was a sum of money let’s
just say a thousand dollars so he gives
ten of his servants a thousand dollars
each and then he says I’m going away for
a while when I come back to Spring me
the prophets so the landowner goes away
when he comes back he meets with all of
his servants and the Bible says the
first one comes to him and says see
master your thousand dollars has earned
for you ten thousand more
and the master says well done good and
faithful servant
interesting Next Step he says I want you
to become the governor over 10 cities
what were they thinking before the
parable
they were thinking that Jesus was going
to become ruler of the earth cities and
Nations
what did Jesus do he said it doesn’t
happen that way it happens by you
correctly stewarding what’s been put
into your hands
they’re thinking influencing cities
Jesus says no it doesn’t happen that way
it’s not going to just suddenly come
where you have rulership over the Earth
this is the way it comes what’s put in
your hands
and the way you Steward what God has
given you I don’t care if it’s a musical
gift I don’t care if you’re a writer if
you’re a mechanic if you’re a doctor if
you raise children well it doesn’t
matter what you you’re a singer I don’t
care what it is that you do but that
which God has given you to do doing that
well with Excellence with creativity and
integrity that prophesies something into
culture and society that actually makes
you an influence over multiple cities
I I thought that was pretty good news
myself
Jesus
hears the Cry of the heart of every
believer
a true Cry of the heart is not for
dominance it is not for control it is
not for position and title and fame
those things are nauseating counterfeits
of the real thing
the real thing is that with
righteousness and Justice in a person’s
life we’re able to influence life and
create an environment of presence an
environment of Holy Spirit inspired
structure if you will an order that
people thrive in honor I I despise when
I see people want us to teach on honor
so that they’ll be treated differently
it’s not for that honor is the
atmosphere in which the people become
their best the people of God become
their best the people of the city become
their best it’s the environment that
just enables things to grow to their
full potential and this is what the Lord
is raising up inside of you and inside
of me is a system if you will of wisdom
of values of Integrity knowing how to
Steward these things that God has given
us why
it creates an atmosphere
where people just become mindful of the
Lord do you understand what happened on
the day of Pentecost a group of people
that crucified Jesus are standing there
asking what must we do to be saved what
happened
there was an atmospheric shift over a
city that changed how people thought
they were removed from deception and
cloudy influence to clear thinking
that’s what we want I want you to stand
now
[Applause]
the um
the passage we read I did this first
service too I’d never bothered to really
explain but
my intentions were good
the passage that we read basically said
Solomon was favored of the Lord because
of his love for Israel
so I want you to think about this how
many of you realize you have increasing
favor in your life how many of you
you’re aware of it you’re actually aware
of it happening all right why is it
there well first of all it says of
Solomon the Lord delighted in Solomon so
first of all what God gives you is
because of his own pleasure in you
can you say I received that for myself
thank you Jesus I receive that God
Delights in me that makes me extra happy
all right but then he takes it to the
next step and he says God’s Delight in
you and the favor that he gave you was
because of his love for Israel that’s
fascinating that means god forced favor
and Authority on a person’s life for the
sake of the people they know
what does that mean by implication it
means that favor if it ends with me it
never reached its purpose or potential
the favor that was given to me has to be
passed on to someone else for it to
reach its potential
there are sometimes where the Lord if I
if I were to do this with dollars just
to illustrate it I would give somebody
money and say listen find somebody to
give this to there are times where God
actually pours something into you that’s
not for you it’s for the sake of someone
else that’s what favor and Authority is
Authority is never to build your legacy
favors never to build your Empire it is
to be used for the sake of others
all right
[Music]
so let’s pray father
thanks thanks for
for giving us assignments that are just
way bigger than we are
and we look to you with uh an unusual
awareness of our need for your voice
your heartbeat your wisdom we need
wisdom so much I pray for that Grace to
help us to know when you put seed in our
hands and when you’ve put bread that’s
to be enjoyed
how to enjoy what you put in our life as
an act of worship to you
I pray that you would help us to create
a real Theology of blessing
that that doesn’t allow
for materialism
but instead celebrates the purpose of
all that you do I pray for this that the
name of Jesus would be held in highest
honor