lord, show me how to live: multiply series

LLLORD, Show Me How to Live!ORD, Show Me How to Live!ORD, Show Me How to Live! “Multiply” series“Multiply” series“Multiply” series

2011 December issue:

Sermons from 2011 November, Harvest Church - Pensacola

Published 2011—12

Background image of flower from Volume 1, Issue 2

Sometimes it’s good if things don’t add up. When Sometimes it’s good if things don’t add up. When

God is in the equation, we can end up with way God is in the equation, we can end up with way

more than we expected. Learn what can happen in more than we expected. Learn what can happen in

our lives when we shift our thinking and start to our lives when we shift our thinking and start to

Multiply.Multiply.

These words I speak to you are not inciden-tal additions to your life, homeowner im-provements to your standard of living.

They are foundational words, words to build a life on.

If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.

If you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter

When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.

Matthew 7: 24, 26, 27 Message

Jesus said,

“Be careful what you are hearing.

The measure of

thought and study you give to the truth

that you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge

that come back to you,

and more will be given to you who hear.”

Mark 4:24 Amplified Bible

Published 2011—12

Volume 1, Issue 2

God’s Plan for Your

Finances 3

Principles of Multi-

plication 5

Developing a Cul-

ture of Generosity 7

Addendum:

For Further Study,

Tithing

11

6

Inside this issue:

►THESE DEVOTIONS

WILL HELP YOU TO WORK

GOD’S WORDS INTO YOUR LIFE!

Harvest Church-Pensacola Pastors in action

Lord , Show Me How to L ive Volume 1, Issue 2

Multiply-1: God’s Plan for your Finances


God has a

plan for your

finances —

and that plan

is that they

would be

blessed!

Big

Idea:

John 10:10

“The thief’s

purpose is to

steal and kill

and destroy.

My purpose is

that they may

have life, and

have it to the

full.”

2011 November 6 sermon by Pastor Bobby Lepinay

You can be free in every area of life ...including finances!

►Declare: “I am free from the spirit of fear; I have the spirit of faith!”

►Study this subject with the goal of developing a mind-set of abundance. If

you have a mindset of lack, you must labor to replace it with the mindset of

abundance!

God wants you to be blessed in your finances because they affect other areas of your life. For instance, financial distress can affect your health. God wants

you to prosper and be in health!

John 10:10 tells us that Satan is the one who brings lack, poverty, and bond-age. These conditions lead to hopelessness. Jesus came to bring life and

hope.

How to Know if You are in Bondage:

You feel resistant to the truth and want to run from it.

This has nothing to do with God’s love for you; it does not affect your relation-ship with Him. You can be saved but still be in bondage in your finances ...and God will still love you! You can be saved, but still be miserable if you are dis-obedient to God and His word on finances. Disobedience leads to living a

cursed life. Obedience, however, brings blessing.

The old nature is to be a stingy miser — Don’t live by your old nature!

Recommended

Book: “Taboo:

God & Money”

by Craig Walker

“Blessed” =

Brak ah

“Blessed” = endued with God’s power and favor

One way to put God first is tithing.

Deuteronomy 14:23 (Living Bible):

“The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in first place in your life.”

The flesh walks in agree-ment with Satan; it doesn’t want to tithe or obey God.

Disobedience causes shame. People who tip God instead of tithing feel shame when hearing teaching about the tithe.

Don’t be condemned by this message! Instead, get ex-cited about getting free!

Malachi 3:10 — Living Bible

“Bring all the tithes into the

storehouse so there will be

enough food in my Temple. If

you do," says the LORD Al-

mighty, "I will open the windows

of heaven for you. I will pour out

a blessing so great you won't

have enough room to take it in!

Try it! Let me prove it to you! “

This is the only place in which

God tells us to test Him.

1. Put God First

Luke 16: 10-12

“If you aren’t faithful with small things, you won’t be faithful with big things ...If you can’t be trusted to take care of earthly matters, why should you be trusted with heavenly responsibility?”

10% to God (tithe) 10% to me (savings) 80% bills/expenses

Just because you are blessed doesn’t mean that you won’t waste what God gives you. You must de-velop discipline! Lack of discipline is a spiri-tual issue! It qualifies or dis-qualifies you from service. “I’m just…” means that you are undisciplined and mak-ing an excuse for it.

If you are undisciplined, then go before God and admit it. Ask for His help. You have to be disciplined in how you handle your fi-nances in order to be a good witness for God on this earth. Make your payments on time!

2. Manage What God Has Given You


How Do I Get God’s Favor and Power on My Finances?

3. Trust God to Give You Even More! 2 Corinthians 9:10,11:

“He who supplies seed to the

sower and bread for food will

also supply and increase your

store of seed ...the more you

give, the more God will prosper

you, so that you can be more

and more generous, living the

life of a giver. All praise to the

ultimate Giver!

►Declare yourself free from

strongholds: free from the

stronghold of lack, free from

the stronghold of lack of dis-

cipline, free from the strong-

hold of poverty, etc. You are

free!

God is the ulti-mate Giver. He is the God of abun-dance ...and He wants us to re-flect His nature to

the world!

H C



Multiply 2—Principles of Multiplication

When Jesus is present, anything can happen!

He is the Multiplier!

The principle of multiplication is found in the person of Jesus Christ!

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God's blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples to give to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. Five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves!

About this time another great crowd had gath-ered, and the people ran out of food again. ..."How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilder-ness?" his disciples asked. "How many loaves of bread do you have?" he asked."Seven," they replied. So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to pass them out. They ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over! There were about four thousand people in the crowd that day...

Mark 8:1-9

Mark 6: 41-44

Loaves People Baskets Leftover

5 5,000 12

7 4,000 7

1 ??? ???

When Jesus multiplied the loaves in Mark 8, this was not the first time that He had done this miracle. He had fed 5,000+ people (probably less than a month earlier).

This repetition places emphasis on what Jesus is doing in these verses.

One lesson that we learn from these verses is that the less that Jesus has to work with, the more He delights to do! Jesus says to us, “The less that you have to bring to Me, the more I delight to do!” We see a principle from this: The less natural, the

more spiritual!

God delights to do through weak things/people the things that He could never do

through the strong.

Malachi 3:8-10 Message

"Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day. "You ask, 'How have we robbed you?' "The tithe and the offering - that's how!' And now you're under a curse - the whole lot of you - because you're robbing me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest

dreams.

Brak ah = Blessed: To be endued with God’s power and favor

Ka tor ah = Cursed: hindered; bound; lim-ited; stopped

In Joshua 7, Achan was cursed because he took what belonged to God.

The tithe is the first one that leaves your hand. The order — not the amount — is what releases blessing on your finances. It is a matter of honor: You honor whoever you give the first part to. It is consecrated, blessed, when you give the first part to God!

You “bring” — not “give” — the tithe be-cause it is not yours to give. The tithe be-longs to God.

1. Only What Is Blessed Can Multiply

Matthew 13:8 “But the seeds that fell on fertile soil produced a crop ...some 30, some 60, some 100 times as much as had been planted.”

The loaves & fishes multiplied when they were given away. If the disciples had eaten it, then it would not have multiplied.

The tithe makes your finances bless-able; giving makes them multiply.

2. Only What Is Given Can Multiply


The 2 Principles of Multiplication

“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story

here.”

Joshua 7:1, 10-13

But Israel was unfaithful

concerning the things

set apart for the LORD.

A man named Achan

had stolen some of

these things, so the

LORD was very angry

with the Israelites.

Achan was the son of

Carmi, of the family of

Zimri, of the clan of Ze-

rah, and of the tribe of

Judah. ...

But the LORD said to

Joshua, "Get up! Why

are you lying on your

face like this? Israel has

sinned and broken my

covenant! They have

stolen the things that I

commanded to be set

apart for me. And they

have not only stolen

them; they have also

lied about it and hidden

the things among their

belongings. That is why

the Israelites are run-

ning from their enemies

in defeat. For now Israel

has been set apart for

destruction. I will not

remain with you any

longer unless you de-

stroy the things among

you that were set apart

for destruction. ...For

this is what the LORD,

the God of Israel, says:

Hidden among you, O

Israel, are things set

apart for the LORD. You

will never defeat your

enemies until you re-

move these things.

Take

Note!:

God-obedient giving, beyond the tithe, will always have a re-

turn on investment (ROI)!

H C


Multiply-3: Developing A Culture Of Generosity

It takes time to create a culture. You can’t just wave a magic wand to create a culture

of generosity! However, God is able; He can help us develop this culture!

Many of us were born into families that had a culture of stinginess. The culture of the home-life was stingy; our families were prone to say “No” rather than “Yes.” Some of us came out of churches with a small-minded, nit-picky culture of stinginess…always dividing people and arguing about the cost of the carpet or about spending on some

other small thing.

The Holy Spirit wants to break the spirit of fear and poverty that was caught, taught, and passed on to many of us by our family-of-origin culture or by our former church culture. For those who have held on to this culture, He wants to help us turn loose of it. Some people have almost celebrated being stingy; but God wants us to know that

He is the most liberal, generous Being – and He calls you to be in His image.

The Holy Spirit wants to work in us to replace a mindset of fear with the spirit of faith, replace the mindset of lack with the mindset of abundance, and replace the culture of

stinginess with the culture of generosity.


►The way to identify a culture of stinginess: It is marked

by “No!” rather than “Yes!”

Practice generosity! Generosity is just random. It is just saying “Yes!” It blesses people. It doesn’t have to have a reason. Generosity doesn’t make people pay for

everything; it just gives.

If you want to be a friend of God, be a generous person! He loves, takes pleasure in, and prizes a person who is generous. He is unwilling to abandon you or do without you if you are a cheerful giver! God is with us all, but being a cheerful giver makes you one of God’s special friends! Verse 9 tells us that our deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever – They will keep multi-plying! Verse 8 tells us that God (who is a supernatural Being) gets in on the process as we give, and He adds the “super” to the natural. He multi-plies as we sow. Obeying and practicing 1 Corinthians 9 will break the spirit of fear off of you; it will break the mindset of lack; and it will cause you to develop a culture of generosity!

Kindergarten: Action #1 in the life of

faith is be saved and be baptized.

Action #2 is tithing.

Growing in Faith: Giving

There are two things that we must watch out for (Paul called them “other gospels”):

The Prosperity Gospel –

This says “Give; and God will make you rich.” Pros-perity gospel believes that wealth is a sign of our Covenant with God, that the wealthy are more spiri-tual than the poor.

The Poverty Gospel –

This heresy believes that the wealthy are wicked; it is spiritual to be poor. Never cater to a spirit of poverty – always chal-lenge and expose it!

Faith must have actions – without action there is no faith. A Christian acts on God’s Word. There is a progression to our actions:


2 Corinthians 9:6 – 11

6[Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings. 7Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and pur-posed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compul-sion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to aban-don or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, "prompt to do it") giver [whose heart is in his giving].

[whose heart is in his giving]. 8And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abun-dance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and fur-nished in abundance for every good work and charitable dona-tion]. 9As it is written, He [the benevo-lent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of

and

justice and goodness and kind-ness and benevolence will go on endure forever! 10And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multi-ply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [[which manifests itself in active goodness, kind-ness, and charity]. 11Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] adminis-tered by us will bring forth thanks-giving to God.

How Do We Create a Generous Culture:

1. We have to truly believe that this is the nature of God and that we are

called to reflect Him to the earth.

2. We have to practice God’s way of increase: the law of sowing and reap-

ing.

A. Those who are dependent on the world’s system of increase are

going to suffer.

B. There are three ways that we increase:

i. Working and earning – you should work; you should

earn. These are good. However, it the economy gets

bad, then people might lose their jobs. You can’t always

depend on your job or ability to earn.

ii. Saving & investing – Proverbs 6: “Consider the ant.”

However, if things get hard and the jobless rate increases,

people won’t have much to save or invest.

iii. God’s way of increase: Sowing & reaping. This way

releases the supernatural.

iv. You have to faithfully do all three of these methods.

Have a job and earn your salary, save & invest from your

earnings, and diligently sow. If the first two ways are hit in

a calamity or a natural disaster, if you haven’t been doing

the third then you are left to your own devices. However,

if you have been faithfully sowing and reaping, then even

if the first two methods are cut off God will take care of

you. He will provide.


God wants to bring you into the truth: There are rich righteous people, and poor righteous people. There are

rich wicked people, and poor wicked people. God never condemns having money – only the love of money.

Rather than loving money, God wants us to love generosity and create generous cultures in our families,

churches, businesses, cities, and world.

We all often have seasons of plenty and seasons of lack. It is part of life.

►Look at how often you say “No!” Ask yourself: Is this how you

want the Holy Spirit to treat you? He isn’t afraid of spoiling His kids!

►Develop the habit of loving to say “Yes!” Practice having a

culture of generosity.

Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous!

NOTICE:

Create a generous culture in your

city & nation!

1. You reap what you sow.

►Galatians 6:7 – Do not be de-

ceived. God cannot be mocked.

A man will always reap what he

sows.

►You will reap in kind: If you

sow judgment, you will reap judg-

ment. If you sow unforgiveness,

you will reap unforgiveness. If

you sow mercy, you will reap

mercy. If you sow an apple seed,

you will reap apples. If you sow

money, you will reap money.

2. You reap more than you

sow .

►Luke 6:38 – If you give, you will

receive. Your gift will return to

you in full measure, pressed

down, shaken together to make

room for more, and running over.

And with whatever measure you

use in giving – large or small – it

will be used to measure what is

given back to you.

►God will bless you with more

than you sowed.

► 2 Corinthians 9:6 – Remember

this: A farmer who plants only a

few seeds will get a small crop.

But the one who plants gener-

ously will get a generous crop.

You must make up your own mind

on how much you should give,

not reluctantly or out of pressure,

for God loves a cheerful giver.

3. You reap in a different season than the one in

which you sowed.

►Galatians 6:9 – So let us not

grow weary in doing the right

things. Do not become discour-

aged and give up. You will reap a

harvest of blessing at the appro-

priate time.

►Don’t get weary in sowing and

reaping; don’t get weary in sow-

ing words of encouragement;

don’t get weary in raising your

kids; don’t get weary in doing the

right thing. You will reap a har-

vest of blessing if you don’t give

up – Keep on sowing!

►All seeds have different harvest

times. Marigolds germinate in 6

days and flower within a month or

two. They quickly come up.

Bamboo, on the other hand,

grows very slowly…In year 5 it

explodes and grows up to 5 feet!

That is why you must keep on

sowing.

Practice giving – You will never, ever out-give God!


The 3 Principles of Sowing & Reaping:

H C

Questions About Tithing

An “offering” is anything that I give

in addition to my tithe.

1. What is tithing?

Answer: A “tithe” is the first part of my

income.


Addendum: For Further Study

Answer: “Tithe” means “a tenth part”

Above pictures are from Google Images

2. What is the difference between a tithe and an Offering?

3. Why should I tithe?

1. Tithing reminds me that everything I have was given to me by God.

Things to Note About Tithing

2. Tithing expresses my love to the Lord.

3. God says that refusing to tithe is stealing from Him!

4. Tithing gives God a chance to prove that He exists and wants to bless you!

Answer: Because God commands it.

“A tenth of all you produce is the

Lord’s.” (Leviticus 27:30)

Because Jesus commended it.

“Yes, you should tithe; but you shouldn’t leave the more important things undone either.” (Matthew

23:23)

“Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deuteronomy

8:18)

“Each of you should bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deuteronomy

16:17)

“God says, ‘Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!’ But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ God says, ‘In

tithes and offerings ...Bring your whole tithe to My house.’” (Malachi 3:8-10)

“Bring your whole tithes to My storehouse. Test Me in this’ says the Lord, ‘and see if I will not throw open the

floodgates of heaven and pout out so much blessing that you won’t have room enough for it!’” (Malachi 3:10)

H C

Lord, Show Me How to Live Volume 1, Issue 2

Harvest meets every Sunday at the Bayou Rave theater. For meeting times, see our website

at www.harvestpensacola.com

Psalm 25:1, 4Psalm 25:1, 4

lord, show me how to live: multiply series

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