The God Of Abundance vs The god Of Lack

Say that. You know, I'm sure there's probably a disconnect for some people. Why do you Bible success secrets? What does that even mean? Well, I believe that the success. You're fine, you're. No, you're fine. You can walk in front of there. Success is.

The definition of success is to do the thing we were created to do, right?

Success is like if you have something that's expensive, but it's not being used for what it was created for, it's not successful, right? So you have to be. You have to be yielded to the purpose for which you were created. You have to yield to the Creator for the purpose for which you were created if you're going to consider yourself to be successful, right? You may be high achieving in an arena for which you were not created for. In that case, you're high achieving, but you're not successful. You may have a lot of money, but not operating in the purpose for what you were created for. And you're not successful. You're just. You may be wealthy but still not successful. And until we understand that the objective for our existence is for a purpose and we discover that purpose, I believe, and I could be wrong, by the way, if you find that I'm wrong and you want to guide me, I'm open to suggestions, okay? I really am. I just. Anyway, so I believe we find that purpose at the intersection of our passion and our proficiency. Passion being the thing we love to do, proficiency being the thing we're good at because God created us to do a thing and therefore he put a desire in us to do that thing. And I believe he also put a proclivity in us that we would develop a proficiency in that thing so we can do that thing and be successful. So today I'm going to talk to you about a subject that's really in somebody's mind. It's controversial, but I guess as long as there is error in the world, truth will be controversial, right?

As long as there is truth in the world, error will be controversial. So whether or not this is controversial or not is going to be determined by whether you are looking for truth, whether I'm looking for truth, or whether we're just seeking to make true the things we already believe. Most people believe that most people think they believe the truth because it's true. Right? I'm going to say that again. Most people think they believe.

Most people think they believe the truth because it's true or they, they think things are true because they believe them. But. But the reality is the Reality is, truth is truth, regardless of what I believe. You know, I've heard people say God said God said it, I believe it. That settles it. Well, the reality is if God said it settles it, whether you believe it or not, Right? So we have to, we have to understand that maybe the, some of the things I believe. And this is. I'm not, I'm not just talking about you on YouTube. I'm not just talking about you here in the room. I'm not just talking about you on Zoom. I'm talk about me too. Like all of us, we have to be aware of the fact that just because we believe something doesn't make it truth. Right? And truth is what it is and it's not. Truth is not subjective at all. Truth is very objective. It just is what it is. In the words of Winston Churchill.

Truth is not.

Truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Right? So I'm going to talk about the subject rich God, poor God, because that's a subject, I believe that's a point of controversy, unfortunately, even inside of Christianity or religion or the church or whatever. Like followers of, amongst followers of God. Like the whole idea of what riches and poverty are a point of controversy, which is fascinating to me that it's a point of controversy, but it really is. And so I don't know what your experience of life is, but mine is I was born the second of seven brothers to hard working parents who were not rich. Right. And they were our parents, I would say, Mark, our parents were not even middle class, were they? Okay, right. So we were the poorest. We were the poorest, Some of the poorest poor people of all the poor people we knew. I'm not exaggerating, am I? Okay. Right. I mean, when you have seven boys, like seven boys eat a lot of food because they think it grows in the refrigerator. Can I get a witness? Right. And, and so we ate a lot of food. I mean, I just. The amount of the sheer magnitude of groceries that my parents had to buy to keep us alive, let alone to make us feel like we had enough food. Right. Because we would always, I don't know about my brother, I can't speak for them. I would eat more than I needed to just because it was there. Right. That's a, that's a child thing. Consume more than is necessary. Right. Anyway, so I remember growing up poor and I remember, I remember the effects of poverty on our existence and all of those effects were not terrible. Some of those effects were good because.

We learned that if you work hard, you don't have to be poor. Right. That's one of the things we were taught. Even though working hard is not a formula for success, though, like we've been taught, it's definitely more of a formula for success than sitting around watching tv. Right. And I remember when I came to Christ, I was 16 years old, young man in my high school witnessed to me and shared the gospel of salvation, which, by the way, I believe this gospel of salvation is the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ as the full payment for all the bad things I've done wrong and everybody else has done wrong. And when we receive that, then we have, quote, what the Bible calls salvation. Right? Salvation from what? Salvation from sin? Right. Salvation from the. We have salvation from the perdition of sin, the destruction of sin. We have salvation from. We don't have salvation from the presence of sin because we still live here, but we have salvation from the practice of sin. In other words, it doesn't have to rule over us anymore. And then we have what the Bible calls eternal life now. But when I came to Christ, a lot of things became clear to me, especially when I started reading the Bible. What didn't become clear to me is why so many things I was reading in the Bible were very different from what I was hearing behind the pulpit. Like I was reading the Bible for myself. They were very different than some of the things. Not everything, but some of the things I was hearing from behind the pulpit. And I was confused. I was not confused by the Bible. Like, if what I'm hearing behind the pulpit is not matching up with what's in the Bible, the Bible's not the one that's confusing. People say to me, oh, Maren, I love the way you make the Bible so easy to understand. How can I make the Bible easy to understand? It was easy to understand when I got here. Right. I just don't confuse it. I don't add any. I don't add any stuff to it. I just let it say what it says. And then I look for.

Validation in Scripture first and foremost, that what it seems to be saying in this place matches up what it says in every other place, because there are no isolated doctrines in Scripture, okay? And I'm telling you this story for a reason. So I remember living in, like, of all the people who went to our church, our house was the least nice. Our cars were the least nice. I can remember driving to church in a car that had four different color doors. Okay? I'M not. My brother Mark's over there. He got. I got a witness. I got a witness, right? Four different color doors. I remember just like buying cars from. For $50, $100, $500. Like my entire life growing up, my parents would buy cheap cars and fix them cheap house, fix it up. Everything was. Buy something cheap, fix it up and make it better, right? And I remember going to church, and I remember the pastor's wife drove an MG, like, convertible. It was one of. It was like something off of a James Bond movie, right? And I can remember when the pastor got a brand new Chrysler Cordoba. Some of y'. All. I'm dating myself, some of y', all, like, who did what, right? A brand new Chrysler Cordoba, which. I thought he got a brand new car. But I can remember the preacher preaching warnings about money. And now I'm confused.

Because now he wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, as I think on it now. But to me, back then, he was one of the richest people I knew. I'm like, this dude is like, he's killing it, right? He's got a brand new Chrysler Cordo. His wife drives an MG convertible. They live in this really nice house in Dauphin, Pennsylvania. And we're living in the hood of the hood of the hood in Harrisburg. And I remember thinking to myself, well, what is the definition of this rich that you're talking about? Because to me, you're it. But you're warning me about it. And I don't know how you doing? Don't look too terrible to me from where I'm sitting.

I don't know if what I'm saying is making any sense or not. And I've heard this is not a judgment, this is just an awareness. And then I'm going to read a verse to you and I'm going to talk about some other passages in Scripture. I'm going to read some verses to you in scripture, but I'm giving you the background of where I'm coming from. And then I started finding out what the Bible said about money. Well, one of the first things I found out in church the Bible said about money is what? Come on, talk to me. You gotta. Well, no, even before that, like, one of the things I should tithe, I should give, right? I should tithe and give. And I. I believe in tithing. I believe in giving. Here's what I believe, though. If you do the right thing with 10% of your money and the wrong thing with 90% of your money, you will be a broke tither.

And I knew a lot of broke tithers, and I still know a lot of broke tithers. And it's not. They're not like they're waiting for. I'm not. This is not a. This is an observation. It's not a judgment. It's an observation. I've seen people give 10% of their money for decades and do the wrong thing with 90% and stay broke as a joke and ready to choke.

I started learning what the Bible said about business, and people started to accuse me of. Are you one of those prosperity gospel preachers? I don't know what that is. Prosperity. Are you preaching a prosperity. I don't know what that is. Prosperity. Do I preach prosperity? Yes. Prosperity is a Bible word. It's in the Bible, but the word prosperity and gospel together are not in the Bible. So when somebody says to me, are you preaching a prosperity gospel? I have to say, are you preaching a poverty gospel? Because that's not in the Bible either. And the reality is, the word has something to say about poverty and it has something to say about wealth. Now, in fact, it doesn't just have something to say. It has a whole lot of somethings to say about both of those things. And so I'm going to read a verse to you, and then. And then I'm going to. I'm going to share with you where I believe a lot of the confusion. Well, not a lot of the confusion. All the confusion, none of it comes from God. How do I know none of the confusion comes from God? Because God is not what, the author of confusion. He's the author of clarity. He's not the author of confusion. Right, so John, chapter 10. And y' all know what verse I'm gonna read? John, chapter 10, verse number 10. For the thief cometh not, but for to steal, to kill, and to kill and to destroy. That does not mean the thief is coming to steal, to kill and destroy. It means he ain't coming unless he can steal something, kill something, or destroy something. If there ain't nothing there to steal, and there ain't nothing there to kill, and there ain't nothing there to destroy, I'm staying home.

That's what it means.

It didn't say he's coming to steal, kill and destroy. It says he ain't coming unless.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, kill and destroy. And then Yeshua, Jesus the Christ said.

I am come.

I love the fact that he didn't say, I have come.

He said, I am come. And I used to wonder well, why is he talking like that? Because he said.

I am. Before Abraham was I am. Anyway, he said I am come that ye might have life.

And that ye might have it more abundantly. Now, I want you to know something. Now, he didn't say I came to guarantee that you have life.

He said, I came that you might have life. Now, if you might have life, guess what else you might. You might not have life. Okay, so, so. So here's. Here's what. Here's what. Here's what this is implying. God has already done his part.

He ain't gonna do your part too.

He ain't gonna do my part. I can't do his part. He ain't gonna do my part. So guess what? Let's everybody stay in their own lane and let God do what God does. And then you do what you do. The thief comes not for to steal, to kill and destroy. Why does the thief not come for to steal, kill and destroy? Because he don't own nothing. He ain't running nothing.

He don't have nothing. So if he's gonna have something, he has to steal it. One of my favorite books is called Stealing from God by Frank Turek. Why Atheists Need God to stake Their Case. In other words, an atheist can't even prove their atheism without God.

Somebody says, I am an atheist. You gotta introduce me to God before you introduce me to you. Cause you told me his name before you told me your name.

The thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill and destroy. But I am come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundantly. Now, it's really interesting. What does the thief want to steal? That's a really good question. And it tells us in Isaiah what he wants to steal. This is. This is going to help. This is going to help somebody besides me. Isaiah, chapter 14 and.

Verse number 12. Here's what it says. How art thou? How. How art thou fallen from heaven? O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weakest the nations? For Thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation and the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. No, you won't.

It's really fascinating. Satan can only have something if he steals it.

He can only have anything if he steals it. He tried to steal God's throne and God said You're evicted.

Cast him down.

I don't want to get sidetracked, so I'm going to stay on point.

Satan can only get something from you when he steals something from you. What does he steal? He steals your belief in the word of God and get you to believe in the word of Satan. By the way, this is not a new. This is not some new thing that Satan's doing. Go read Second Corinthians, chapter 11 and verse number three. And the apostle Paul said, I fear lest by any means, that as the serpent beguiled Eve. Beguiled means tricked. Beguiled Eve through his subtlety. He deceived her.

Through his subtlety. So your minds. My mind should be what? Corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Oh, in Christ, there's simplicity. In religion there's complexity.

What's the complexity of religion? Well, it depends on which one you go to, because they'll tell you, you got to do this, and you got to do this, and you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, and you'll be accepted by God.

Guess what? Christ said you don't have to do anything. All you have to do is trust what I did, and you can be accepted by God. That seems more simple.

Wow, that's way more simple than a whole bunch of religious rules. I got to remember. What if I miss one?

I said to my wife the other day, because we were just having a conversation about, and I was telling her something I said in one of my events or maybe at a Bible study, that lying is stealing. I want you to think about this. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, to kill and destroy. It's interesting. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, to kill and destroy. I said, lying is stealing and stealing is murder. She said, what? How's lying stealing? How's stealing murder? Okay, is that a good question? Okay, lying is stealing because if you lie to somebody and tell them you're going to deliver xyz, and then they pay you based on what you told them, but you have no intention of delivering xyz, then you just stole from them because you took it under false pretense. You got them to give you something under false pretense which you had no intention of paying for.

Okay, but how is stealing murder? Because when a person is paying you for something that they're buying from you, they made that Money with part of their life which they've now wasted by giving that money to you. Now, you didn't steal the rest of their life. If I steal 70 hours of your life in the middle of your life or 70 hours of your life at the end of your life, I still stole 70 hours of your life. That's why in the Old Testament, if you were caught stealing somebody's goods and they killed you, they were not prosecuted as a murderer because you were stealing part of their life. Because when you steal somebody's property, you're stealing an extension of their life. Are y' all tracking?

So the thief cometh not prefer to steal, to kill and destroy. Now, here's what's fascinating. When the thief comes to steal and to kill and destroy, he often does it by twisting something that God has said. See, Satan doesn't. Satan doesn't have a word of his own, so he has to misuse God's word. Which, by the way, this is when. This is when the first religion came into being called hedonism. Right? The first religion is hedonism. Every religion since then has been based on hedonism or humanism. Man replaces God. First. Satan tried to replace God. He couldn't replace God. So what did he do? He deceived man into trying to replace God. Like, do you understand? The ultimate idolatry is you trying to be God. Control is the ultimate illusion. You don't believe me? Go to a funeral, you will know control is an illusion.

Can I get a witness? How many of you have had things happen to you that you would not have chosen to happen to you? Why? Because control is an illusion. I'm not in control of anything. I mean, I'm in control of me to the point that I'm in control of me. And after that, like, I don't have control. When I leave my house in the morning, I intend to control my car and drive it to work. But I don't have control over these crazy Florida drivers. Can I get a witness? All my people who live in Florida know what I'm talking about. Whoo. You gotta have an extra bad level of driving ability to live in Florida. Okay? Whew. I think. Cause they move from everywhere else. I think the real Florida drivers, like me, the native Floridians, were really good drivers. Okay. Anyway.

It'S just a guess. It's just a guess. So there's a lot of controversy within Christianity about whether or not followers of Christ should be rich or poor. Where did the whole idea that followers of Christ should be Poor come from.

Well. And by the way, this is not just a belief. Unfortunately, it is a belief that has become a stronghold.

What's a stronghold? A stronghold is a wall of protection. It's a fortress of protection that we build around a lie that we believe in our mind. So it's a wall of protection or a fortress of protection in our minds that we build around a lie we believe. Why do we build fortresses of protection around lies that we believe? Because.

Mama taught it to us. Grandmama taught it to us. The church I went to, my pastor, my mentor, my Sunday school teacher, my teacher, my friend, my grandfather, my grandmother, the deacon at the church. I learned it from somebody I respect. And so therefore, I hold it dear because I hold them dear. Guess what? I can hold them dear. I can hold people dear without holding all their beliefs dear.

Sometimes we have to let go. So we are imprisoned by the past because of the attachment we have to the people who were in our past.

And that. That. That attachment to those people in our past oftentimes robs us from the great future God has designed for us and has already given to us. But we won't access it because of our lack of awareness. So.

There'S no place in scripture that says God is poor. People will argue that Jesus is poor. That's a different conversation for a different day. Trust me. We gonna go there. We gonna go there. Oh, we going there. We ain't going there right in a minute, but we going there. Jesus was poor.

God own.

Anything. Everything. This, everything, everything. I ain't leaving nothing off that list. He owns it all. Every molecule in the universe belongs to God. Now, if that ain't rich, I don't know what is. That's why I titled this rich God, capital G, poor God, lowercase G. Because who's the poor God? The fake God, Satan? I fear less by any means as a certain beguiled Eve. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. So if I want to know how Satan's gonna try to corrupt my mind from the simplicity that's in, I got to go back and look at how he deceived Eve. And I know we've looked at this before, but we didn't look at this part I'm going to show. Here's what's fascinating. God gave Adam and Eve a word in Genesis, chapter two, verses 16 and 17. I'm going to read it to you so I don't butcher it up with my paraphrased memory. It's not always paraphrased. But sometimes it does. So this time I'm going to read it to you. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every.

Tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Which tree? Every tree. How to eat? Freely eat. Every tree freely eat.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree. The tree. How many is the.

On YouTube, how many is the. How many of y' all in here? One. So God said, y' all can have everything but one thing. Did y' all hear what he said? You can have everything for free but one thing. But of the tree of Knowledge of Good and evil.

But of the tree that's in the midst of the garden, the tree of knowledge of Good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For the day thou eatest thereof, thou. Thou shalt surely die. So God said, don't eat off the tree. Now, I want you to notice this. If God said, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go to my whiteboard so I can illustrate this better. If God said.

If God said. So the word garden, by the way, means enclosure. So it was a protected place, right? So it was God's protected place.

Protected.

Place of provision.

And pleasure.

So the Garden of Eden was God's protected place of provision and pleasure for his people. In the garden.

There was a tree. In the middle, there were.

Trees. I thought that was green when I did it, and I messed up, okay? And there were. God said, of every tree, almond trees, the pear trees, the plum trees, the fig trees, all the other trees, the apple trees, the orange trees, the tangerine trees, the pineapple trees, more trees. Trees. The mulberry tree and all the other trees. Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Of every tree in the garden, thou mayest freely eat of every tree in the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Every tree, freely eat. Every tree, freely eat. Of every tree, freely eat. Of every tree, freely eat every.

Does every denote abundance or lack abundance? Freely eat.

Freely, does that denote abundance or lack abundance? Then he said, but of the tree, how many is that? One. The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, Thou shalt not eat of it. Neither shall he touch it. I mean, no, thou shalt not eat of it. For the day thou yeast thereof, thou shalt surely die. Genesis, chapter three, verse number one says, now the serpent was more subtle. Satan doesn't make big changes to deceive you. He makes little changes to deceive you. Satan's lies are not big lies. They're little lies, right? And no, I'm not going to call them little white lies. They're just little lies. They don't have a color. They just little. Anyway, little lies. He. He. He takes one little word and adds a word. Takes out a word or adds a word here, takes out a word there, gets you to take out a word here or there. And now it has a totally new meaning, right? So it says.

Now the serpent was more subtle than the abuse of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto a woman, ye hath. God said, ye shall watch this now. Not eat of every tree of the garden. So he added the word not and took out the word freely. Does that change the meaning? Why did he add the word not, by the way? Do you understand? Do you understand? Lack did not even exist in man's existence.

Until Satan brought it to their attention.

Now, God said, don't eat off the tree. But that's okay. They just assume, oh, that's God's tree. I'm gonna leave it alone. He gave me all these other trees. If I said to you.

You could take all these hundreds, all these hundreds, all these hundreds, all these hundreds all over the place, you can get as many of them as you want to for free. But you leave that $5 bill alone, that's mine.

Right? Right. Nobody's gonna say, I don't want all those hundreds. I just want the five.

Unless somebody said. Unless somebody who does not have your best interest in mind says, I know you got all that. But hey, did God say, don't you mess with that $5 bill? No, God didn't say, don't mess with the $5 bill. And that's what he said. Yeah. The woman said.

It to a woman. Yes. God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. She said, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. She took out. She took out the word, every n word, freely. Ain't that what we do? Because we don't want people to be offended, so we don't say what God says. We don't call it what God calls it.

Right? We make up a new word. We don't call adultery an abomination. You know what we call it? We call it having an affair. An affair. Sounds like a party. Maybe I should dress up and bring a gift.

What we ain't gonna call it, God calls it an abomination. But she changed the language. There's so much going on with how Satan is stealing the God of poverty because he has Nothing to give you. He can only promise you he's going to give you something he can't give you. Did you hear what I just said? He has nothing to give you. He has nothing to offer you. So he can only promise to give you something he has no ability to give you.

And so that's why you have so many people living in misery, chasing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Because Satan promised you it was going to be fulfilling. But it's not fulfilling. The only thing appetites show us is that they only increase and never go away.

So you say. Myron, what are you saying? Satan was masterful. He had nothing to offer Adam and Eve. So you know what he did? He got their attention off of all that they had. Adam and Eve are over here minding their own God bless business.

They're minding their business. Blessed by the Lord with what? Everything. Everything for free.

And Satan gets their attention off of all that they had, all of their abundance. He gets their attention off of all this and highlights this.

By the way, do you realize whenever you are. Whenever you are living in a space in gratitude and unthankfulness, you're doing the same thing. You're ignoring all of the blessings and focusing on what's missing. You are listening to Satan.

Right? Like, why can't my kids be more? Like why can't my husband be more? Like why can't my wife be more? Like why don't I.

Instead of Lord, thank you for another day. I opened my eyes and they could see this morning. I know how to open my eyes, but I don't know how to make them see. Thank you Jesus. I can see. I heard a bird singing outside my window. I know how to listen, but I can't make myself here. I got out of bed and I stood up. I don't know how to make legs work. I just got out of bed and mine worked automatically. Thank you Lord for legs that work. I came downstairs and I had food in my house, electricity and water. And I'm so blessed. Beyond that, by the time I get downstairs in my house, I've opened up so many gifts that I've got to be thankful for. Then how in the world could I go through the rest of my day with anything but an attitude of gratitude?

But Satan said.

The one said, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the tree that's in the midst of the garden. God has said, don't eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest she die. Now she's adding to the word of God. Not only did she not use the same words God used, now she wants to start adding this stuff.

Which is just what people do, right? And so here's what Satan said. You shall not surely die. Then he said, for God doth know. See, Satan is a master at making you think that your friends are your enemies and your enemies are your friends. He wants you to be for what's against you and against what's for you. How does poor God steal from God's people? By making you for what's against you and against what's for you.

What.

He wants you to think that your friends are your enemies and your enemies are your friends. And nations and families and churches and businesses have been destroyed.

Because Satan got you to believe that somebody who was for you was against you.

We see it happen all the time through Scripture, but we see it happen in our own lives. And it gets to the point where now every time you look at your wife, you can only see the bad things she does. The bad things, the things that are negative to you, the things that rub you the wrong way. You look at your husband, you're like, mmm, I don't know why my mama told me not to marry him. Well, his mama told him not to marry you, too. So it's gonna be all right.

Let's just say thank you. Let's just be grateful for all of the people that God brings in our lives and be grateful and thankful that God has blessed us with other human beings with which we can love and interact and have conversations and have commerce and have connection and contribution. Let's just be grateful. Okay?

It's so. What's funny? Because now that was all introductory. Here's the point. You say, Myron, what's the point? Here's the point. For God doth know that the day you eat thereof, then you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. I want you to see all of the ridiculous subtle implications that caused Eve to come to a very ridiculous conclusion that we often come to as well. Here it is. If you don't do what God said do, you'll be more like God if you focus on lack. If you take your attention off of your abundance, take your awareness off of your abundance and get your attention and your awareness on your lack, you will be more like God.

Huh?

The genesis of the whole idea that lack makes people more like God.

Comes from Satan himself in the Garden of Eden. I fear lest, by any means, that as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds. Whose mind? Our minds should be corrupted from the simplicities in Christ.

So when I went to Greece.

When I went to Greece, they have gods for everything. They have the God of the sun, the God of the moon. They have the God of clouds. They got the God. They got. They might have the God of the chair and the God of the sofa. I mean, it's just crazy. They've got for everything, God, little G. They have a God, The God of abundance and the God of lack, the God of poverty. They have a God of victory, the God of defeat. It's mind blowing. Like, most people don't know that Nike had a twin sister who was the God of defeat. Just. They worship everything. Oh, yeah. They worship everything. I forgot this twin sister's name because nobody. She lost. Yeah. Nobody remembers the person who came in second place. Okay, so. Wow. Spoken like a true athlete. Okay, so, so, so here's what's fascinating to me. The scripture says.

That no man can serve two masters. He will love one and hate the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. And then it says, you cannot serve God and Mammon. And most people think Mammon is money. Mammon's not money. Mammon was the God of prosperity.

Hmm, God, little G. Because the God, big G, of prosperity, owns everything. How much does he own? Hmm, let's see. Let's just see how much God owns. Like, God, poverty.

Okay, I'm gonna make some assertions and some assessments and some other stuff. Cause I think we need to continue this because I can't believe how long it takes me to get to the point, isn't this amazing? Is anybody else blown away by the fact that the very first temptation in the Bible, Satan, is telling people, if you will focus on lack, you will be more like God.

How can lack make you more like God? How can lack make you more like a God of abundance? By the way, I know some of you are thinking, Myron, are you saying God wants everybody to be rich? No, he doesn't want everybody to be rich. Like, I know he wants me to be rich. I can't speak for everybody else. And I'm not just. I'm not trying to be funny. I don't know that God wants everybody to be rich because that's not everybody's assignment. It wasn't Ezekiel's assignment. It was Job's assignment. Until it wasn't. And then it was again. Right? But if God's assignment is for me to be poor, I'm just. I Am just as content with that as God's assignment for me to be rich. I'm okay with either one. People say, but the Bible says.

That you should. Godliness with contentment is great gain. I have godliness and contentment. I'm godly and content with a lot, and I've been godly and content with a little. But the Bible says I've learned whatsoever state I'm in therewith to be content. Me too. But the problem is you just saying that if you've only been in the state of poverty, you ain't been in enough states to know if you can be content with a lot.

You say, well, Myron, that's really, really hard. I'm just keeping it real. I'm just telling, like, I hear people saying that like, and they're, they're, they're, they're fighting for the right and the righteousness of staying broke.

And then when you take up an offering, they put. I remember I went to a church as an. I was a visiting, I was a visiting pastor. I was a visiting speaker, not a pastor. I was a visiting speaker speaking at this church. And it was on a Wednesday night, and they came and prayed, this family in the church. Their house burned down. I never met the family before in my life, but, but my house didn't burn down. And I wasn't rich then. I was just traveling evangelists, My family in a motorhome, traveling across the country, like filling up the motorhome with like a hundred dollars worth of gas. Back in the 90s when a hundred dollars was a whole lot of money for a tank of gas, right? And they took him an offering. Well, I put in a hundred dollars. I mean, my house didn't burn down. I can be thankful for the fact I got a house and I got this house on wheels out here. I can give $100 to a family. I don't know these people. But my house didn't. I know my house didn't burn down. I put $100 in. I asked him the next day and said, by the way, how much did y' all take up for that family? $135. What?

This is, this, this is my problem with churchianity. We talk a great game.

But when it comes time to help somebody, nobody can step up to the plate.

We're so self absorbed and so self consumed. We can't give to somebody else and bless somebody else because we're too worried about how we're gonna pay the light bill if I do.

Anyway.

Psalms.

Psalms, Psalms, Psalms. That's right before Proverbs, chapter 50. That comes right after chapter 49. And okay.

Here'S what it says. It says.

This is so good.

In Psalm, chapter 50, verse number 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains, the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine.

And the fullness thereof. I will eat the flesh of bull. Will I eat the flesh of bulls? Or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high. God said, I don't need nothing from you. I own everything already. If you give me something, you only giving me was mine anyway. Let's don't get it twisted.

Haggai. Chapter two, verse number eight says, the silver and the gold are mine. Who is the rich God? The rich God is the God of the universe, the real God, the God of the Bible. That's the rich God. The poor God is the little God, little G, Satan. He wants to deceive you. It's so fascinating when we look in the scripture and we read it slow enough how many things we see that we didn't see before. Like, if I'm gonna bless somebody, I don't have to worry about how I'm gonna be. If I'm gonna be all right, I'm gonna be all right. Say, well, yeah, see, if you marry, you're rich. I did it when I wasn't rich yet and I was rich. I just hadn't access to my riches yet. I did it before I had access to all my riches.

I'm just talking about, like, let's stop being so selfish and so self absorbed that all we can do is think about us.

The whole idea.

It'S fascinating.

It's really fascinating how much the Bible has to say about the concepts of business and wealth and abundance and prosperity and poverty. Here's what I'm going to ask you all a question and I'll do this later. I'm not going to go into great detail of this, but let me ask you a question. Does God want us to be drunkards?

No. No. Some of y' all look like y' all don't know. Am I in the right place? Some of y' all, like, wait, wait, wait. What? I'm just. I'm checking now. Does God want us to be drunkards? No. Okay, good. Okay. Y' all scared me for a minute.

Does he want us to be lazy? Does he want us to be gluttonous? Then how could he possibly want us to be poor? The Glutton and the drunkard shall lie down together. And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. All we got to do is think a little.

God promises to bless wisdom with wealth and abundance, but foolishness with poverty and lack self control with abundance. Lack of control with poverty.

Like wisdom with abundance. Ignorance with lack of poverty. Like I don't have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer to get. If God wanted me to be poor, he would have incentivized me to be poor.

He wouldn't incentivize me to be rich. Why would he want me to be poor? He wants me to do all these. He wants me to have wisdom. He wants me to be diligent. The hand of the diligent maketh rich. He wants me to be diligent. He wants me to have wisdom. He wants me to be honest, but he wants me to be poor. That doesn't make any sense. That doesn't. Not only does it not make biblical sense, it doesn't make logical sense. It's insanical.

Saint Meyer. And insanical is not a word. It is. I made it up. It's like when maniacal and insane get together, they have a baby. That baby is called insanical. Right? It's got. Okay, so y' all get it. Okay. It doesn't make any sense at all. It does not make any sense at all to think that God wants us to be broke as a joke and ready to choke. But he tells us to go do all these things that will make us rich.

That's all I'm saying. Does God want all those people to be rich? No. But as a whole, that's his design for his people, period. I can't apologize for it. And I know people are gonna judge me. Oh, you sound like one of those prosperity gospels. I don't know what that means. So why don't you go find a Bible phrase and come back and talk to me about it? Because prosperity Gospel is not a Bible phrase. I'm just talking about what the word of God says. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the count. This is what the God of abundance says to his people. I'm going to close with this and then one illustration. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. That's the principles and the teachings of God.

But his delight is in the law of his Lord in his law that he meditate when day and night he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit, when in his season his leaf also shall not wither.

I didn't put this in the Bible now, so y' all want to get mad at somebody? Get mad at God, because here it come. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Did I say that in public? Oh, no. Oh, no. Maybe some Christian is going to denounce me because I said, whatsoever you do, it shall prosper. That means. That means what, Myron? What does whatsoever mean? That means everything, all the time, every day.

Whatsoever he do, it shall prosper. What's prosper mean? It means to be in flow.

And then it says, but the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Hmm. I don't want to be like that. I want to be blessed by the best, to do my best, and to be a blessing to other people when I come across them. So.

We'Re gonna have a. We're gonna. We're gonna. Eventually, we're working on a new. I'm not gonna tell you what it is. I'm just gonna tell you, like, you want to go tell all your friends to subscribe to this channel because we're working on a reality show that we're gonna air on Mondays. It is gonna be so game changing, so mind blowing. Like, we already started gathering footage for it, and it's like. It's gonna be like, imagine Jeopardy. Meets Wheel of Fortune meets the Apprentice meets Shark Tank meets the prophetic in a reality show. It's gonna be crazy. Anyway, I'm so jacked about it. And we've already started. We've already gotten our first two contestants. There's gonna be. There's gonna be four contestants on each show. The winners are gonna win. It's gonna be mind blowing. Just. It's gonna be crazy. So anyway, so.

I wanted to end on this. I wanted to end on this.

The Bible is not a book about religion. It contains religion, but it's not a book about religion. It's a book about a king, a kingdom, a royal family, and the culturalization of a foreign land. That foreign land is called Earth. But there's a fake kingdom. There's the real God, the rich God's kingdom, and then there's the poor God's kingdom. I'm just going to call him poor God Satan.

Okay, so there's poor God kingdom, right? This is a g. It looks like sod but my handwriting is not that great. Go judge somebody else. Okay.

You try to talk this fast and write this fast at the same time. See how good your G's are? Okay. Poor guy. Now the tenants.

God's.

Kingdom.

Do you realize that God set up the earth to expand his heavenly kingdom to a new domain?

Well.

In God's kingdom, tenet number one is freedom.

Freedom from sin.

Satan's is slavery.

Or bondage. Bondage over there too.

The next one is wages. I'm sorry, no, that's not wages. This is profits.

This is wages.

This is abundance.

This is lack.

This is life.

This is death.

God.

Put man on the earth to establish his kingdom. Man handed the keys to the kingdom of Satan. God. Christ came and died on the cross to re establish kingdom. By the way, Jesus. Jesus who is salvation, did not preach the gospel of salvation. He preached the gospel of the kingdom. And salvation was the beginning, the genesis of the reestablishment of kingdom. The purpose of salvation is to restore kingdom. The purpose of salvation is not when we all get to heaven. What a day. Every. That's a great song, but that's not. That's not what it says in the Bible. God made man to rule over the earth anyway as an extension of himself. Okay? Anyway. Freedom, profits, abundance and life. Satan wages slavery and bondage. Wages lack and death. God is a God who wants you to live a life of freedom.

Produce profits, enjoy abundance and have life. Satan wants to make you a slave who works for wages, who ends up in lack until you die. My suggestion is this. Don't follow the poor God.

Trust in the rich God. Because the ultimate riches are these. Here's what it says.

For we know the grace. That word grace is gift. For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich. This is, by the way, talking about riches and righteousness. Yet for your sakes he became poor. He became sin. That ye through his poverty, him becoming sin, might be rich. You might be made righteous before God. How do I know that's what it's telling? Because it tells us in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5, verse number 21. For he God hath made him Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. See, on earth, it doesn't matter how much money you have if you don't know Christ. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. If you don't know Christ, you end up in the same place.

See? It doesn't matter. Like the money is just a byproduct of. The money is a byproduct of doing the right things that get money.

But what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? By the way, the money is not what makes you lose your soul.

Not putting your faith in Christ as the full propitiation for your sin, the full payment for your sin and your access to God. That is what destroys your soul. I hope this blesses you. Share it with somebody like it. Comment on it. What am I forgetting? Subscribe and all the other and hit like smash that notification bell. That's what I hear people say all the time. Smash. I don't know how you smash it, but I think you're just supposed to click it. I don't think it's really smashable. But anyway, do all that other YouTube stuff and I look forward to seeing y' all on Friday. By the grace of God. By the way, let me tell you this, this is really cool. So. So we had a lot of people ask us, we had a lot of people ask us, like, how do you study the Bible? Like, what do you. Like how do you study the Bible? So Friday, I'm going to do a Bible study on Friday morning live at 10 o' clock on how I study the Bible. Now, it may not be how you want to study the Bible, but I'm going to. It may be the first of many because I don't think I'll get it all done in one day, but I'll go for an hour on how I study the Bible and hopefully it'll give you some insight on how you can study the Bible. And the most important thing is to pray and ask God to teach it to you because he's the author. And nobody can teach you a book better than the one who wrote it. So stay blessed by the best. I'll see you all on Friday. Peace out.