Three Hours on Facebook, Three Minutes in Scripture (Alternate Recording)

Sermon outline

Poverty is more than a lack of money; for a believer it is a mindset and a word problem, broken by giving God what is due from the heart and by renewing the mind with the word.

1. Poverty is more than a lack of money

   The dictionary calls poverty being extremely poor or insufficient. But there is poverty of the mind, in thinking, behaviour and mannerisms; poverty of the body, in sickness and disease; and poverty of the spirit, which is a lack of the word. That is the believer who comes to church, raises his hands, prays and then lives his own way from Monday to Sunday, giving no time to learn his authority in Christ.

   “Poverty is not just about a lack of money.”

2. Increase is on God's mind

   He says Scripture has around 500 verses on faith and 500 on prayer but over 2,000 on increase and finances, more than on heaven and hell combined, so increase, dominion and blessing are on God's mind. None of us would be where we are without the Lord. As God increases you in time, wealth and health, your giving should increase with it.

   “The minute that we gave our life to Christ, it had turned around from a generational curse to a generational blessing.”

   • Deuteronomy 16:17

3. God's generous nature is now in you

   Where your treasure is, your heart is, and there are gifts and talents money cannot buy that God also expects. God proved His generosity by giving His Son; is there a greater sacrifice than giving your own child? Because the Holy Spirit lives in you, that generous nature is now yours, so as you have freely received, freely give. Blessing is tied to obedience.

   Illustration: A woman at a church conference in Ethiopia was told by the Lord to give her cow. Each night she talked herself out of it. Afterwards the cow broke loose, ate the neighbour's grain, she was taken to court and paid more than the cow was worth, and then the cow died. She lost twice.

   “That nature of generosity that is in God is now in you.”

   • Matthew 6:21
   • John 3:16

4. Give God what is due: time, talent and resources

   You cannot serve God and money; we are stewards. The tithe of grain, new wine, oil and the firstborn speaks of every area: gifts, talents and resources as well as money. He tells the unemployed to bring what they are good at to the church. Malachi calls withholding robbery and promises the devourer will be rebuked and the windows of heaven opened. When he put God's work first, God took care of his business.

   Illustration: Years ago, at an event his team had organised, a visiting speaker called super sowers forward and prayed for everyone but him. Asking the Lord why, he heard that God wanted more than his money: He wanted his life. He found more joy cleaning the church toilets than running his business, and God made sure his clients paid on time.

   “Son, I need more than money. It's not about the money for you. I want your life.”

   • Luke 16:13
   • Matthew 6:33
   • Deuteronomy 14:23
   • Malachi 3:6-12

5. Cain and Abel: from yourself or from the heart

   My people perish for lack of knowledge, the knowledge of what the Lord expects. Cain and Abel had the same parents and the same place, yet one offering was accepted. One gave from himself, from his mind; the other gave from his heart. It was not the devil that made Cain do it but his own human nature. Each must walk circumspectly, fixing what is inside before finding fault outside.

   “The one gave from himself, the other one gave with his heart.”

   • Hosea 4:6
   • Genesis 4:3-10
   • Ephesians 5:15

6. Key one: break the lack of knowledge of the word

   Whoever gives freely gains more; whoever withholds comes to poverty. God never purposely places anyone in poverty; people are free moral agents who create their circumstances when they refuse to be taught. Break the cycle of excuses for not reading. Ninety per cent of our problems we can fix ourselves; there is no demon to cast out when the problem is the mind.

   Illustration: Home from work, the takeaway ordered and the television on: "Did you read your Bible?" "No man, I didn't have time, I'm under so much pressure."

   “Someone can sit on Facebook for three hours, yet they don't have three minutes to read a scripture.”

   • Proverbs 11:24-31

7. Key two: identify the poverty mindset

   For a believer the poverty spirit is really a mindset, the old upbringing warring against the Spirit, and it is broken by renewing the mind. Its traits include pride and emotional outbursts. A person with the peace of God hears everything, asks for time, takes it to the Lord and comes back with an answer. We either become like the people we are with or influence them.

   Illustration: The colleague who starts a WhatsApp group with everyone except the boss, and deletes anyone who agrees with the boss.

   “Yes, poverty is a spirit, but really speaking for a Christian, poverty is a mindset.”

   • Proverbs 22:10

8. Faithful in little; let it go

   The widow's two mites were the most, because God looks at the heart, not the amount. Everything you face is a word problem with an answer in the word. Whatever you are holding on to, deal with it rather than sweeping it under the rug.

   Illustration: Years ago he lost a business, was heavily in debt and in litigation, and wanted revenge. His parents told him to let it go or it would kill him. When he did, his mind was free, though the full turnaround took seven or eight years. About two years into marriage the Lord told him to sow a watch costing twenty or thirty thousand rand, and his wife had heard the same; it released him to be generous, and he became debt free.

   “Whatever you're holding on today, my brother and sister, let me tell you. Let it go.”

   • Mark 12:41-44

In this message