Transcript: Lessons From Jesus On Prosperity
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
This message is from believers equipped, a meeting organized by the Disciples Christian Network where the word of God is taught with practicality and believers are raised to reign in life. Join apostle Emmanuel as he walks us through the word of God. Today, I'm gonna be speaking on something that I've titled lessons from Jesus on prosperity. It's gonna be a series, hopefully, very hopefully. We start here and we pray that God gives us speed. I'm praying for myself. But thank you. There are two systems for making wealth. The first is the kingdom system. And the second is the world's system.
The kingdom system is that of abundance whilst the world system is that of toiling and hardship. And when God made man, God gave man the opportunity to make his choice as to what system he wants to function in. The system Adam was functioning in primarily at creation was the kingdom system or the divine system, and everything Adam needed was already in place. All he needed to do was just to take and to eat. But Adam did not have much appreciation for that, so he took the route of rebellion. And the moment he did that, the world's system opened up. That world system is a system of good and evil. Remember that was the offer that Lucifer made to Eve. Then the day you eat of this fruit, you come to realize that there is another system at play. A system that is contrary to the abundance that you have been introduced to.
It's a system of good and evil. In the one that they were introduced to by God, the one that God originally made, all they knew was abundance. But Satan told them that there is another economy, an economy where good and evil can find expression at the same time. It means there is an... A dimension of that system that is powered by God, hence, good. And there is another dimension that demons regulate. This tells you that in the initial system that God initiated, evil had no real estate. So Satan and his minions had no right of passage. But Satan needed man to grant him or to grant evil right of passage. So he tells man that there is another economy you have not been exposed to.
In this economy, good and evil can dwell side by side. And man granting permission to evil meant that Satan and his minions could now find expression on earth because they typify evil. Do you understand what I'm teaching you? That economy is the economy of good and evil. So in the judgment that God gave to Adam in Genesis three verse 17, God told Adam, the moment this world system was opened up, this new economy was opened up, how man will begin to make wealth under this system was defined. In verse 17, then Adam's... Then he said to Adam, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying, you shall not eat of it. Cost is the ground for your sake. In toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Can you see?
In toil. So what the economy opens up, what this world system opens up to us is toiling. What it opens up to man is toiling. So any man that functions in the world system to amass words for himself will basically have to toil. The world system that man opened up is a system of toiling. You labor and you labor and you labor before you have to eat. The system has been made difficult for survival. In verse 18, the bible says, both tongues and thistles, it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field. Verse 19, in the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you shall return. The world system is such that everything that you have, you labor for with your blood.
You will sweat in order to survive. You will travail in order to survive. And the reason is because your rebellion opened you up to these possibilities. The earth was designed to align to God's purposes to the degree to which man himself is aligned to the purposes of God. So when man disaligned with God, the earth also disaligned. That is why the Bible says, they know not, neither do they understand. They walk on in darkness. The foundations of the earth are out of course. In other words, the lot of the foundation of the earth was because man did not know. Man did not understand.
Man walked on in darkness. So the earth was affected because of man's ignorance. In other words, the earth is only as aligned to God as man is to God. So when man fell, the earth fell with man. So the moment man rebel, the earth also rebelled. So the reason why you have the world system is because of the rebellion of man attracted a cause on the earth, and it gave authority to the spirits or should I say to other spirits, demons, the devil, fallen angels, to now have activity on the earth. And because demons and other spirits have gained access to the earth, what God was doing in Genesis chapter one, falling angels two, we now begin to do. Because when a principality enters into a domain, he's looking for his own territory to fashion it after its own kind. So they begin to create systems that are consistent with their nature because that is what God was doing in Genesis one. God being a king spirit came to the earth and saw that the earth was without form and void.
That that that reality is not the nature of God. And so when God came and saw that the domain that he had entered into was without form and void, he had to start recreating that domain after his nature. So the first thing God said was let there be light. God started having structure. God started having... Are are you with me? But you see the moment other spirits were granted expression on earth by Adam, they too now have the responsibility to enter into a domain and start fashioning that domain after their nature. Do you understand what I'm saying? This is the origin of corruption. But let let me not let's not go ahead of ourselves.
When you study Genesis four, you will now see how the blueprint of the system of the world was created. In verse 16, the Bible says, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. And dwelt in the land of North. On the East of Hidden. Can you see? He went out of the presence of the Lord. Now if he only went out of the presence of the Lord and died, there's no problem. But that was not what happened. In verse 17, the Bible says, and Cain knew his wife.
And she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city. Now note, the city that is building is out of the presence of the Lord. This guy departed from God's presence. He departed from God's influence. He departed from God's government. That means other spirits can now begin to inspire him. If he's no longer under God's authority, he had to be regulated by his spirit. Every man is. There's no neutral man.
Every man is influenced by one spirit or the other. And even the one that does not acknowledge the extent of spirit is also influenced by spirit. It's not amazing. Many people don't know that the devil's most brilliant expression is when he's able to conceal himself. And how best he does that is to oppress a man and make the man believe that the one oppressing him does not exist. Amen. Ah, he has won. He... That's a sweet battle for the devil. Because you don't know which opponent to fight.
You you direct your attacks at physical things because you you can't concede the fact that spiritual things can manipulate physical event. You have trained yourself to believe there is no spiritual entity. We are all those human beings that came to be as a result of cosmic explosions. And as a result... And as such, you can't tell me there's a devil. You can't tell me there's a spirit. You can't tell me there's an holy ghost. Ah, no. You can't tell me there's a God. The devil likes to mess up his lives.
Because they can't... He knows they can't fault him. Because they don't believe that he exists. You can call the devil many names, but don't call him a fool. Because he has the advantage of time. The bible calls him that old serpent. He he has the advantage of time. He's old. Anyone who is old has some level of experience. They have the advantage of time to have gathered data.
They have studied events. So even if he does not know anything, he he knows what has happened. I've read your Bible. That which is will be, that which is will be. It means he can he can predict. Based on his knowledge of the fact that he knows that which was. There's nothing new under the earth. That's why his attacks are not... You can stop these attacks. You can know the way he comes.
He's not a creator. The devil cannot create. But he's very good in imitating. He's very good in replicating. He's very good in copying. And so all he does is study. When God wanted to cause a restoration between fathers and sons and to restore the hearts of people back to himself and to cause a national revival, usually he would send an Elijah. The first expression of that reality was Enoch. The second expression being Elijah. And he started observing them very well.
He directed all kinds of attacks. He wanted to kill them. He saw that he could not kill them. Manpower was not enough to take these people down because he had not yet had... This was this was the second expression. So he had not yet had numerous test studies. He does not... His data is not complete yet. So he still had to fire several kinds of antigens to see which one will weaken the immune system. But he couldn't quite find it.
So he he he sent soldiers. He roasted the soldiers. He said it's not soldiers. It's not soldiers. The king came and laid all kind of threats. He said it's not it's not in that. When Elijah showed up after the threats were made, he roasted all the prophets of Baal. Say it's not in that. If we go altar against altar, this man's altar is strong. When his altar comes, ours keep quiet.
So you cannot fight him on the account of whose altar is stronger. In... You don't get what I'm saying. In other words, when an Elijah arises, the devil knows that how to get him is not to hold his picture and be saying, you don't understand what I'm saying. Because when an Elijah arises in a in a confluence of halters, every halter keeps quiet. The bible says Baal Baal was deaf. You... Do you really think that these prophets were foolish? You think it's because they did not have power or some form of power? For them to have entered into that agreement with Elijah, it means they've they've touched something.
They've they've they've they've seen something. Remember, Moses too had people like that. When Moses got to Pharaoh and threw his rod, Pharaoh called these three guys and said, you think you can throw rod, you can also throw rod. These people knew what they were doing. But when Elijah's arise, altars are silenced. It doesn't matter how long... Even if you are a PhD holder in witchcraft, And you can stand in the village and shoot an arrow in the night. And that arrow with precise accuracy and spiritual geo mapping system. It will it will locate the person who you sent it to, and the person will run mad overnight or wake up with a stroke, not an Elijah. Because the more you shout, the more you wonder, did they go on vacation?
Is it awful? Yeah. Awful. Awful. Will not answer you. Because you you are dealing with an Elijah. Hey. The devil knows that let's not... That's not a wrong... That's a wrong strategy.
It's a wrong move. A wrong move. The devil now went to the inner chamber of the palace and rose up a woman. Partnered with that woman to use the influence of the palace alongside wizardry to raise a threat or send the threat to Elijah. And he saw how the prophet who roasted prophets of Baals, who roasted soldiers that were tend to come arrest him. He saw how the prophet shivered and like a coward, ran away, wanted to retire away from being a prophet and told God I'm not better than my fathers. He never was observing. He said, okay. And he was waiting to check. When will another Elijah arise?
Because we now know what worked against this one. So the next time one showed up and started challenging everywhere and started causing trouble. And the scribes and the Pharisees were were were all of them were slain to their heart as this guy was speaking. The devil came again. He said, do remember the first thing we tried? It was a three stage process. We first sent soldiers. Then we sent altars. Before we let's force send soldiers. And now they realize that when they send soldiers to this one, they were able to arrest him and say ah.
That means we don't have to stress ourselves too much. The devil knows that when one rises and the assignment is to be a judge to deliver his people out of captivity, when one is sent to his own people, perhaps he comes after the order of Samson. He comes with counsel and might. He doesn't waste too much time. Yet how do how do we get Samsons? Do we bribe them with money? He says, no. It doesn't work. Doesn't work. So what what what do we do?
What we say is women is women. Women. And they flash won't find it. Samson's are anointed. Do terrible signs and wonders. But women. Women. The bible says, when kings go to battle, David stood at the corridor of his house and he was looking. And he was looking. And as he looked, a product was flashed before him.
That guy, he does not have new tricks. His tricks are old. So all he needs to do is, ah, what mantle is upon you? What mantle? What mantle? Do you know that because Elijah's have such a powerful territorial ministry, there's always an association to the palace. There's always influence with government. So any prophet who rises in that order, any man of God who rises in that order will have powerful influence with the government. Are you with me? Because of this, one other way that the devil deploys is the deceitfulness of riches.
So when the devil knows that you are rising at a strong voice in your generation, and your ministry is starting to pull thousands, then he will send a politician. And when the politician comes here, he want to vote, he want to listen down down that. Pray for us. Do this. Do that. And then they give you 10,000,000,000. And God will come and knock on your heart and say, if you collect this money, you have yoked yourself. Is the weaknesses of Elijah. No man did the same. The one that was meant to rise after Elijah, that was Gehazi.
Fell by that temptation. So he knows that these people, it looks as though that palace ministry also has a lust for money attached to it. And if God has not dealt with that, You will serve those whom you are sent to save. Do you hear what I... You you will serve as a slave, those whom you are meant to save. There are many ministries that have become servants of the palace. Many anointed men of God who have become servants of the palace. They now have to vet the message that comes from God to the territory because if they say what the man does not like, it can affect... That's not where I'm going. Are you with me brothers and sisters?
What am I trying to say? What I'm trying to say is that the devil is not so foolish. He has the advantage of time. And every spirit, every principality that gains access into a domain will always look for an avenue to fashion that domain after his nature. So that that domain becomes a replica. And every human being must be influenced by his spirit, and there's no man that is neutral. And so when Cain took the decision to leave the presence of God, when he took the decision to separate himself from God's presence, He opened himself to other spirits. And if he had died like that, there would not have been a problem, but he went ahead not to build a house, to build a civilization, to build a city. It departed from God's influence, from God's government. That means all the spirits can now begin to inspire him.
And the inspiration of building a new city was no longer from the realm of God. The question is, if it is not from the realm of God, who now determines the policies that overrule that city? You're not getting what I'm saying yet. You're not seeing it. In that city, different civilizations will begin to spring forth. You then find out that a lot of things that are in the world today came from that city. They didn't have their origin in hidden. For instance, music, arts, entertainment, policies, laws, business, economy, science, philosophy. You'll discover that the idea of laboring, the idea of slave trade, the idea of learning a skill to serve another, working for a reward came from that city. The system of toiling came from that city.
It was it was it was mastered in that city. The philosophy of the world system is for you to toil. And I will show you why this system is designed like this. I will show you. Do you realize that many jobs in different parts of the world? Many jobs, not all, but many. Don't actually require you to be there from 8AM to 6PM. But the employer demands that you are available by eight regardless, else you lose your job. Why? It's a system.
It's not normal. In fact, you get to the office space by 8AM compulsory, and work does not start until nine. Some it's even by 7AM, they must get to the workplace. 07:30. From that 07:30 to eight, 08:30, what you are doing is just distinct with the Yakendi. Mommy twins. What happened yesterday? What happened with the church? What happened in this? Because the real work would not begin until an hour, one hour thirty minutes after you get there.
I'm done with work by twelve, does not matter. You have to wait until 6PM. You have to wait until 5PM. Okay, what if I can just do everything effectively? It doesn't matter. The law that governs organization, there's a reason to it. It is a system of toiling. It's a system. It means... It's not just an organization that is wrong because when I'm saying this, start thinking of this company, this organization.
No. No. No. No. It's a system. If you have a company, you will most likely do the same. If God has not worked on your heart. If you don't understand that there's a superior way of doing things, you... Because it's a system. Is the way people have now mastered to do things.
In other words, we don't know that there is a different way to do things other than this. During the COVID period, a lot of organizations realized that what they do in the office can be done from home. And just so people could should not rebel, then they created a hybrid model that was never in existence before. So you go to work twice, three times, take very many days of the week off, two days. You can work from your house. And this is even a few, a minority out of the majority that allows for this model. Are you with me brothers and sisters? It's a system. Because the philosophy of the world system is for you to toil, and the world system will come up with different strategies to ensure that this philosophy is realized. There is something that that system hopes to accomplish.
Do you remember why Moses went to Pharaoh? Do you remember what Moses' assignment was in going to Pharaoh? Exodus chapter five verse one chapter seven verse 16, chapter eight verse one, chapter eight verse 20, nine verse one, nine verse 13, all said the same thing. Let my people go. That they may serve me. God did not change what he was saying. In chapter seven verse 16, it was the same thing God said, Let my... And God was giving these utterances to Moses. God told Moses, you shall say to him. You shall say to him.
You shall... Don't you think if he has told Moses, you shall say to him after a plug ended before another one start, Moses will remember what he said and go and say it again. No. God comes again and tells Moses, you shall say to him, let my people go that they may serve me. Let my people go that they may serve me. Verse 20, the same thing. Let my people go that they may serve me. Nine verse one, the same thing. Let my people go that they may serve me. Nine verse 13, the same thing.
Let my people go that why all this emphasis? Why was God saying the same thing? Are you with me? In other words, the reason why God was saying the same thing was because these people were in a system that did not allow them the privilege to serve God. The major problem with their being in Egypt was that they could not serve God. The emphasis of God was not their comfortability. Moses never told Pharaoh. God said, let my people go that they may eat well, that they may dress well, that they may live well. But when they go, won't they eat well? Won't they dress well?
Won't they live well? In fact, when they went, did God not ensure that they had all of those things? He told Moses that the land I'm taking them to is a land flowing with milk and honey. What he first told them about the land was the food that was there. But the purpose for which they were going was not to eat. What Moses kept on saying to Pharaoh was let my people go. The problem with this place wasn't the quality of food they were eating even though the food wasn't the best. Wasn't the quality of life they were living even though that that wasn't the best. Wasn't the quality of clothes they were wearing Even though that wasn't the best. The problem was that they did not have the freedom to serve God.
Are you with me? Yes, sir. The major purpose of the world system is to deny you privilege to serve God. The system is so designed including the academic system. That when a man plugs himself into that system, the first thing that begins to die is his love for God. His passion for God. His service to God. That is the first thing that that system begins to choke out of his life. Either by ensuring that the time to serve God is removed. Completely.
Or by talking to the extent that he does not even have the time to even think about church. Think about fellowship. Think about prayer. And it becomes loaded with work and responsibility, choked with assignment. The devil does that in different ways by ensuring that the amount of pay that comes from laborious service is never enough to make it make ends meet. And so the guy has to work two or three jobs. By the time he works two or three jobs, what is good for at the end of the day is just to shower and sleep. And he wakes up again by 5AM and the cycle continues. And he does it for forty years, and at the end of forty years, all he can account for that he has used his life to do is to spend, is to chase money. Forty, fifty years, there is no record of what impact his life has made to the kingdom.
All he can account that he has used his life for was to chase money. Let me show you Exodus five verse one. Look at what... Look at this conversation. Look at this exchange between God, Moses, and Pharaoh. After this presentation to Israel's leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, let my people go so that they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness. Do you know that the first thing that Moses came to come and ask Pharaoh was just three days of leave? It was not even it was not even permanent retirement from Egypt. It was just give us three days of leave to go and worship God.
Moses... Pharaoh asked, what do you want to use this leave and do to worship God? God has appeared unto us, and he has demanded for time to worship him. All we want is three days of leave. Verse three Verse three says, Aaron and Moses persisted. The Lord, the God of Hebrews, has met with us. They declared. So let us take how many days? Into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord. Three days.
It was it was not even a total departure. What they just wanted was three days. Are you with me? Are you ready for the world system? Yes, sir. If you wanted three days of leave to relax, to vacate, we would not have had a problem. But this one you have said to serve God, to make sacrifices to God, to worship God. Ah, verse four. Pharaoh now replied, why are you distracting the people from their task? Get back to work.
Three days of leave. Is it get back to work? Look at the next verse. Verse five says, there are many of your people in the land. And you are stopping them from their work. Verse six, the same day. Watch this. What was the system structure? To keep these people in line? Pharaoh said, I know why you can even come and meet me.
The reason you can come and meet me to even think of serving God is because you still have small time. Note, this was already an an oppressive system. This was already a system that did not allow them to serve God. Pharaoh said, even this one you're asking for is because we are lenient with you. He now called all these officials. He called all the MDs. He called all the managing directors and the CEOs and everybody who owns organizations and businesses who had employed the Israelites. Look at the next one. He now told them, don't supply any more straw for making bricks. I have to explain this to you.
I have to explain this to you. These people, their primary occupation were factory workers, builders, construction workers, laborers. And they are tasked with the responsibility of, say, making for instance, 1,000 bricks per day. Now if I implore you to make 1,000 bricks per day, it makes sense that I provide for you what you will use and make the bricks. So you have sands, and you have water, and you have all of that. What they used to make bricks was straw. And what was required of them was to make a certain number of bricks per day, say 1,000. For this 1,000, they are provided with straw by the government that employed them. Are you with me? Yes, sir.
When they saw that they were not demanding for time to serve God, they said, ah, you know what we'll do? That straw that they use in making the bricks that we provide. Stop giving them. But still request that they make the same amount of bricks. Don't it's not as though we are reducing the number of bricks that they will make because we have refused to give them straw. We will take away straw from them, but we will still require them to provide the same amount of bricks and go and find straw by themselves. The first work was not even to build bricks. The first one was one find straw. Yet you are employed to labor. Look at the next verse.
It says it says, but still require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don't reduce the quota. They are lazy. They are they they are lazy Nigerian youths. Is that because they are lazy, that's why they are crying out. Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God. But how does laziness have to do with my service to God? It's a system. And when you find yourself plugged in that system, truly speaking, you can rise to the top of your peak, but you got the expense of God. What does it profit a man?
To gain the whole world. And lose his soul. It means it is possible. It is possible. And the world system ensures that if you rise by that system, you can prosper by that system, but you will lose your soul. It's a system of give and take. You want to make money? We'll demand something from you. And there was what Jesus taught his disciples. Jesus showed us in Mark chapter four verse 19, that when you plug yourself into the system, three things will happen to you.
Number one, and these three things that will happen to you will prevent the word of God from gaining entrance in your soul. Number one, he called it the cares of this world. Now when a man plugs himself into this system, you will find that the cares of this world will start to heat you up. The cares of this world. You'll not be shocked that when your salary was 20,000 naira, you were okay. Now you have taken a job and you have a salary of 1,000,000 naira. It looks as if your problem also multiplied. You will think that when you make more money, when you have more salary, you will now be stabilized. You will now find out that the more you hang, the more the calamities of life will increase. It is called the cares of this world.
The more cares will increase. Because the idea is to keep you busy so that the word of God does not prosper in your spirit. So the first intelligence of the world system is to cause the cares of this life to choke God out of your spirit. So you wake up 6AM. You know you have to be at the office by 8AM. Because if you don't arrive there, something will be deducted. And when you arrive at the office, it doesn't really matter what you spend the first few minutes to do. You can spend it just in... The whole idea is that that morning fellowship with God is canceled. By the time you close from work and come home, the only thing you are good for is the shower and the sleep.
So you come home and you fall on your bed like a dead man, and you keep that cycle for the next fifty years. And when you are done, they say we give you gratitude or pension for a life well lived. And we celebrate you and we do we we do your send off party. The idea is that you begin to pursue the cares of life. The cares of life. And the more you pursue, the more you find out there are more. And it just never stop. They just never stop. The more you find that there is no amount of money you made that will seem to be enough for the kind of problem you'll be having at every level you get to. Because when your when your salary...
When when you earn what you are earning either from your business or from salary is 50 k per month. You will be able to manage yourself, but you have problems that 50 k cannot handle. So you will expect more. You will hope for more. You will strive for more. Then the time comes that it becomes 100 k per month. And you will think that now that those problems are solved, new problem will now develop. That a 100 k per month can no longer handle. The problem of inflation is already enough. But it it turns out inflation itself is not the only problem.
There's the cares of life. The demands of life. The demands that life makes from you can choke God out of your spirit. Are you getting what I'm saying? You are in school now. You are collecting, see, an allowance. Some of you, most of you. Some of you are done. Some of you are working. They're about to serve.
You see yourself that your your allowance is between 20,000 naira. At that point, your biggest problem is how to pay dues. And when the date of the dues approaching, you start having headache because you said, see, we'll not allow you to write exam. And it's as though that's the highest problem you can ever have. Grow up. You you just you just need to grow up and start a ministry like mine. And you'll find out that $7.05 for due is nothing. Is nothing. They will tell you you have a crusade to go for and there's some people asking for say 100,000. A time will come, you now, you now get a job.
You see, when you get a job, say, say they're paying you good salary. Say, you're getting $200 $300.400 dollars And you are still a student. You begin to boil. That's the temptation. The temptation to... That's why it's called the cares of this world. That leads to the second one. Which is the deceitfulness of riches. And is a progression. I wouldn't really call it an advancement.
I'll call it a progression. The second thing that happens when you have given yourself to those system of this world to prosper in it is that you become engraved by the deceitfulness of riches. When that man survives and gets a little breakthrough, his burden now is that. His car is not the latest model. Is what the system does to you. And if you are in it, you will be a victim of it. It's not... You don't learn it. It happens to you. You don't have to be in it.
Do you get my point? No, sir. You become a victim of it. By the time that students start earning some amount of money, you don't realize that when you were earning 20,000 naira, maybe as allowance, What your siblings will eat, you are not thinking of it. But now, money has come. Your your father just caught here that my son is working somewhere. Call you one day and be just. I'm be just. You say, ah, junior gone. You you now find out that another care has entered.
You don't know when you will ask, so how much is junior school fees? There is a there is a $1.60. It's a care. It will come and arrest your heart. You're not going for all the day. You will not like how the house is. Is... Another care has been handed. You don't realize that that amount of money is no longer sufficient for the burdens and the problems you are facing. You have to step up higher.
You have to step up higher. So the reason why you want to step up higher now is so you can solve your current problems, and you will think that is the solution. But when you step up, you will find that there are new problems in that dimension. A point will now come, you'll now start earning 1,500,000. Do not remember that wait. My father is 65 years old, and he has never driven a car. You see, when you were earning 200,000 naira, it can't come to your mind. Yes, sir. Oh, get me. Because even even if it comes, there's no financial wherewithal to make it happen.
So the problem that took their face would be where you can invest money in rather than God. Seller. The cares of this world that can choke God out of the life of a man. And when a man graduate from that level, he steps into the of riches. Some people are not even at riches yet. They've... They are not at the... They can't... They've not even broken throat of cares because cares has held them down like a rat in a trap. They they can't make progress.
They can't move. So when the teacher collects 80,000 naira salary, it is as he's collecting it, it is finished. It is finished. Because he has collected rice. From Yabimbo. And it... You have been born out knows when they pay a salary. He will call he will call. There's a bike man that has to carry his children to school. And does not pay every day, he has to pay at once too so that that one will come every morning.
Because if you don't pay that one, he will leave your children there. And so you find out the hack of the money that comes as salary, only 15,000 is left. And you have not even paid tithe. The guy now begins to question, out of this 15, if I now remove 8,000, I'm now left with 7,000. It's called a chaos. It chokes God out of the life of a man. It is what the system of this world is designed to do. And when a man plugs himself into it, I've seen families that were able to get a car. But as they have gotten that car, there's now another care that has been added because if that car ever has a problem, Our prayers are now regulated by the cares that are most strongest in our heart. Yes.
Because the burdens of the kingdom does not even have space to find expression. All that occupies the heart of a man are now cares, cares, cares, cares. And do know it's it's so bad that a man can even be in a situation where he's not even earning any money, yet they've cared of this world as great as that. He's not ending any money. But the cares of this world has gripped his heart. And the cares of this world now becomes a reason why he wants to earn money. Not not kingdom for you to forget that. Is the assignment of of of... This guy now is interested in apostle Emmanuel's prosperity teaching because there are cares that has held his heart like this. There are cares that has held his heart.
And I'm supposed to call him and hear the first reason why God wants to prosper you for his kingdom say opposed to next. Next, get into the thing. Let's let's hear how we make money. So now you must sell. Yes, sell. How do you sell? You sell what people what people need. Then he's thinking what people need, what people need, what people need. Guy, do we have anybody selling bread here? Said, I will do that.
Is a system. Once you find yourself in that system, prospering by the kingdom is not yours. This is why my fourth assignment is to remove you from the system. Jesus says the... Jesus says we are in this world, but not of this world. It means you can be in the system, but not of the system, not regulated by the system, not controlled by the system. And when you study the teachings of Jesus on prosperity, you will find that most of the principles that the master teaches are intrinsic, especially at the concerned wealth are not extrinsic. They are internal more than they are external. Because the first thing Jesus does is to bring you out of the system. Because you cannot toil using kingdom principles and hope to prosper by the kingdom.
And let me... Don't don't get me wrong. You can prosper in the kingdom. Because the bible says, what shall it profit a man? The bible does not say it's impossible. It's asking you what is it that what is your profit if you gain the word, if you become prosperous by the word. You see, if you become prosperous by the word, but the the the sacrifice, the price of your prosperity is your soul. What you lost, what you are willing to transact to prosper was your soul, your heart for God, your passion for God. Many people need to get this station and listen to it. And listen and relisten.
Because the problem is that many people are now being taught giving and receiving. So they are they are practicing giving and receiving while toiling. They they they are deploying principles and they're just using everything together, opening and one will give them result. That is not how to prosper by God. You either know how to do it or don't know how to do it. When a man gets to the the riches, at that point, he has started seeing a level of results. He's no longer gripped by the cares of this world. He has left some extent. Now his thoughts are along the lines of how can I not have a car? Or what am I doing in a 2008 model of a Toyota Camry?
When there's 2025 already out. When there's 2025 already out. This car is not tall enough. I like tall cars. When you ride in a tall car, it gives you credibility. It has status. Imagine you're a man of God and you are going for external administration and you go in a sedan. They won't respect you as much as when you come out from an SUV. And you come out, they say, This guy must be anointed. And they see someone someone in front wearing a black suit with polished tie, with Oraimo earpiece, and dark shades, and the comfort of the car, and opens the door, and you come out.
Yes. The first thing you do is to do like this. Balance well. Because somewhere in his head, everybody is looking at him. Now he starts thinking I need a convoy to carry me. Two security guards behind me. How how can how can I be going with just one car? It does not reflect well on my status. Doesn't reflect well on my status. Right now, what I need is a sports car.
So that when I arrive, I can drift like this. And just turn and face where I was coming from. I will now get down with loud music blasting out of my speakers. Everybody will all stop what they are doing, and they will be looking at me like this. The deceitfulness of riches. You see, this one, if you are not yet there, you will not understand it. And you will think you are incapable of it. But you will not know that it's part of the system of this world. The system of this world measures your value. By your accumulations.
When the master begins to teach on prosperity, it is important to learn what the master has to say. Because we live in a system that measures your relevance by how flashy you are on the external, measures your value by how much you can gather and accumulate. The system puts everybody in a natural system of competition where this one wants to drive the best car to outbid this one. This one hears that his friend has gotten this car. Says, what am I doing? Come on. I too must get my own. The system is a compete. It makes everybody compete. Because it makes you believe that if you're not doing as much as someone else is doing, then it means you're not prospering.
The system measures success and prosperity by human standpoint and human inch points and human thresholds. The system has several ways of checking for who is most successful, who is most prosperous. And everybody's ideology of success is if their name can be in those lists. I wanna be on the Forbes list. I wanna be on the... The system does that to you. And when when you see men who are not of that system, when you shouldn't speak, you will think in their speaking is arrogance. Bishop Ouedeko came and said, I I saw someone brought to my office and said, sir, Forbes came and said that you are worth $150,000,000. Is that me? Is it me?
$150,000,000? Nonsense. Because he knows that men cannot quantify what is what. Sir. Sir. Another person will sit down and say, my name is in Forbes. Wow. Getting somewhere. Getting somewhere. Getting somewhere.
I've not seen that if you have a celebrity's number on your phone, you are proud. Not proud as in you're a proud man. You are proud of it. You're... That... That's that's a accomplish... An accomplishment, an achievement. Don't see that we're in a system where those that you know who are successful are more important than you are successful. So if I if I meet with this person, I can snap a picture and post as though the person that I've met with has increased my net worth. We define our life by who can snap it.
It's a system. And that system has brought about many calamities. And so if you cannot afford that system, fake it until you make it. If you cannot go on a private jet, why not just photoshop yourself and put your one leg like this? And get a very good photo editor that can make that one leg on the staircase of the jet. Why not pack sand in front of your house and and sleep on it and snap yourself like this? Because if I cannot afford it, the next thing to do is to fake it until you make it. And so we come on the ground and want to have a form of godliness. An appearance of success. Because that is what we care about.
It's a system. It will amaze you how many people have become victims of that system. In pursuit of success and prosperity. And if your pursuit for kingdom wealth is driven by these things I'm saying, it is not God that will prosper you. Another bin can. Another spirit can. But it's not God. Because when you enter into a cycle of toiling, you won't know when your appetite would be modified. Either modified to survive or modified to value mundane things over eternal things. And in case, Jesus.
I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I do. Because in Matthew chapter six, Jesus was still teaching on this subject of prosperity. And he said, in verse 25, he said don't you know? Don't you know? That life is more than food. And that the body is more than clothing. You see life is more than food. And the body is more than clothing.
In other words, the subject I'm about to introduce to you is not about what type of food you eat or what type of clothes you wear. I want to understand first that life is superior to food, and your body is greater than what you put on. That means it's not what you wear that gives you value. A believer is made in the class of God, And the blood that was used in purchasing you was the blood of the lamb himself, the son of God. That alone makes you worth more than whatever cloth you can put on. And it... And God is... Jesus is now saying that don't you know that that body that was redeemed by the blood is more valuable than whatever cloth you can put on it. So why measure the value of that body by the cloth you put on it? Was it the cloth that was redeemed?
Did he die for the car? Did he die for the house? Sir. Did not die for you? No. So why then do you think that it is the car that gives you value? When I when I... You don't understand what Jesus is saying. You see your body is more than clothing. It means that you you you you are the one that gives value to things.
Things won't give value to you. The believer, therefore, should not begin to measure his life by the luxury of the clothes and the watch that he has on and think that what gives him some level of relevance is the kind of phone he holds. And when the new iPhone comes out, he wants to be the first person to get it. Because because he had status to him. You see the iPhone gives you status. What status do you need that Jesus has not given you? That's the question we need to ask. You you see, these are conversations you are not ready to have. Why should I ever buy something? Because it has value to me.
As a believer, that's not what we do. That's why extravagance is not part of our lifestyle. The height of the believer's realm in terms of prosperity is luxury, not extravagance. Are you with me? Sir. Not extravagance. Because we don't do things because of the value it has. We do things because of the function it has. So imagine me, I hold a phone, and I want you to know that I'm a good man. I'm a rich man of God.
Who has an iPhone? An iPhone 13 of of all these ones that have three cameras. Let it be obvious what I'm carrying. Ah. Ah. Now, see. Now, watch it. Watch it. Watch it. You see, the Bible says, Because in your subconscious, this thing, this thing has increased the value of this man.
You see that now? So if I get a new car, I must post it. You know why? Because that car increases my value. Increases my what? I have to see. And if it's not a big one, I sit down on the front, the the the bonnet like this. The bare big shoe. And post, you know, it it increases my value. Jesus says, is the body not more than cloths.
I use an Apple laptop. If I want people to respect me, I just go to a restaurant and open it. I just go just go to a restaurant and I open it. And when I start, the seat that's available is in front of the wall. I said, I don't want this one. Give me the one that is front of face of the light. That when I sit, they can see that light at the back. And and it's not a lie. Do you know it's not a lie? Do you know because it is the system, people will actually respect you.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The system makes it so. So that's why Jesus say, what shall it profit a man? By your attempt to gain the word, what you are willing to exchange for it was your soul. Yeah, that's it. What you are willing to exchange for it was your soul. One guy came for the manifest conference. I came to steal a phone. While lives were being transformed, what this guy was after was an iPhone.
It's a way to prosper by the system. You can sell that phone for a couple of hundreds of thousands of naira and cash out $405,100 k. I've not gone done well for himself. Yeah. That's to show you that you can gain 500 ks like that in this system. At the cost of your soul. At the cost of your eternity. At the cost of God. A man can call the woman to his house and say, yes, lie down. Give me what my wife is not giving me.
And you have 1,000,000 naira every time you service me. And once a week, the girl will go for servicing. That's 4,000,000 naira. Listen to me. You better listen. That's 4,000,000 naira per month. She comes back home, comes back, and she's holding a Chanel bag. And she's wearing high heels, dolls, Gabbana. And she has the latest Victoria's Secret line. And she comes and she rocks it.
And you see them outside when she goes for a party or an event. Or somebody's holding a camera. And all these guys that does content, you see them. You say, we know how much you are we putting on right now? He said, actually, actually, actually, actually, actually, actually, you see, this my bag now is $25,000. Jesus says it's not life more than food. It's not the body more than clothing. It's not what you wear that gives you value. This state is a very serious soulish disease. When you anchor your value on external appearance.
Jesus says the glory of a man is not misappearance. And when you hold material accumulation as a means of measuring your value and you live out your intrinsic worth, you have made yourself of no renown. The third expression of what toiling does to you in this system is that it now opens you to diverse kind of lust. Lust for different things. The the... Ah, lust for other things, diverse kinds of lust. Now he has gone beyond cars. Yeah. He wants to know how it feels to sleep to sleep in the tallest building in the world. He wants to drink champagne from Italy.
He wants to wear a bag from French. He wants to use a perfume that wasn't freshly made. He is diverse. The mind begin... The heart begins to originate lost. He wants to know how it feels to sleep with a Jamaican woman. And he can afford to fly to Jamaica or fly a woman from Jamaica. He can... Anyhow, his soul brings it out. He can afford to do it.
What does... I... Can can I can I hold my next birthday party on the sea, on air, in the sea, and in space? And in space. Can can I do that? Can I do that? And he calls them, let's have five yards. Let's have three submarines. Can you build a private jet for me especially for my next birthday that can take 200 people? Can you just build one for me?
Say, yes, we can. Yeah. At that point, the the the heart is originating lost. I want a chain that will be bigger than my neck. I will only ever maybe wear it once in my lifetime, but I want my head on the chain. Put my name on that and let it be all gold. He goes to brush his teeth one day. He says, this teeth is white. I don't like it. How about this gold?
Let me change one and say, it's it's diverse kind of lust. That the heart begins to originate because the money is now available. You can go to a clubhouse and spend 5,000,000 naira on one drink. And spend another one again. And spend another one again. And a lady will come and shake a bum bum in his front, will throw down 1,000,000. It's diverse kind of lust. Hey. It's what toiling. Toiling opens you up to.
It it redefines your appetite. It begins to create weird appetite inside of you. It begins to do what? It creates weird appetite. Because your ideology is, if I've labored for this, should I not enjoy it? And your quest to find enjoyment, your soul begins to... You will you will see weird cravings you never thought was possible. Because you have labored for that amount of money under the world system. And the more you go deeper, the more that system will gonna excavate. You're gonna dig cravings in your heart that will one day make you an animal.
So Jesus brought a message to those who are of the kingdom that it is possible for us to pursue these things, but pursuing them does not bring fulfillment. That there is another route. The route that the kingdom offers. The master himself begins to show us the kingdom route to prosperity. And he says, if you go by this system, it's not as though a man cannot prosper there. A man can prosper. A man can make wealth. A man can make a living. You can even envy those who have made a living for themselves by this system. But they would have lost one thing that is most important.
The eternal what is lost. The eternal destination is lost. Their fellowship with the king and his kingdom is lost. What is the word of life without Jesus? You will find that life is meaningless. It's a nothing but a snow shell. So to those who are hungry after the kingdom, Jesus now brings a message. In Matthew chapter six verse 24. He says no one can serve two masters. This is Jesus teaching about money, teaching about prosperity.
There's no one can serve two masters. For either you will hate the one and love the other, or else you will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is a spirit that controls money. In other words, the first path to prosperity according to Jesus. The master himself, the master rabbi, the way, the truth, and the life. Remember, it's not just the way. It's also the truth. And the truth is telling us that the first path to prosperity is defining your allegiance. Your ability to define your loyalty.
That if your primary and fundamental loyalty is not to God, it means on that subject of prosperity, you have not subscribed to the kingdom pathway. You may be taught different principles for world's creation, and they may be correct. But if you do not understand this, you will still be plagued by the world system. This is the reason why believers are toiling. Because we have not defined our loyalty. They've not stated their allegiance. There are many believers who are still serving Mammon. And the sign that you are serving Mammon is not that you kneel down and say, Mammon, I'm serving you. Your choices reveal your allegiance. Your choices.
That is what reveals who you are allegiance to. So when you find a believer who is capable of bending the system, changing the numbers because he doesn't want to offend the system and because he doesn't want to suffer the consequence, that's a man that is serving Mammon. A believer who is willing to compromise on his integrity, compromise on his value. Compromise on his integrity and compromise on his value. Just to make money or because he does not want to offend the boss, offend the system, or because he does not want to suffer the consequence. Because the consequence can be, I will lose that job. The consequence can be, I will lose that house. Like the comedian that came to me and told me that this is what I want to do. I want to sleep with the man to pay this amount of money. And if I don't get that money, this is what I will do.
I was a comedian. I was a comedian. I showed my workers the spiritual picture of that individual. That's a clown. That's a clown. Because that that that thing has already showed your tendency. It shows that your allegiance is not to God. It's to money. And it means you are willing to do anything, including sacrifice your loyalty. And sacrifice your integrity.
And sacrifice your Christianity. And sacrifice your what? Your value. Your intrinsic what? For money. Someone came to me and was telling me the story of someone very close to him, how that he wanted to go into the... Into movie production, and he he somehow met a director. He's a man. Met a director in the movie industry in Nigeria that wanted to put him and give him a role in a movie. But the price he has to pay is to sleep with the director who is also a man in Nigeria.
Nigeria. And he he came to ask the man of God who was talking to me what he should do. I said, your heart is gone. Your heart is gone. Your heart is gone. It does not even need to be that. That one is even broad. That one is even big. It's even big. How about how about people, ladies, who know that this guy has no place that is going in my destiny.
But he supplies me value. What is the value? And to and to ask to continue accessing that value. I will keep on with a form of relationship. You tell me I love you, you say I love you too. As I'm saying I love you, I can be doesn't matter. But is the money gonna come? When I have problems, I I have someone, a guy. The guy doesn't go to church. The guy does not eat.
That's the God, man of God. But he has money. He has money. And he's willing to give me that money. As long as he knows that or he thinks that I love him. So he start with midnight calls, everything like that. And then on Friday, will not tell him, you know, then guy, please, I need this amount of money. I know you love me. I don't mean to do this. You know, I don't like doing this, but Listen.
Listen. Yeah. I know. Know, I don't like I don't like doing this. I don't like but I I don't know that right now right now, I really, really need this because I've not eaten for the past three days. I I don't I don't know. I don't know. Listen. I don't know what I'll do. I don't even know what I'm do.
And then the guy sends money, my day only 5,000 naira. And the moment the guy, ah, my sir, God will bless you. My God will favor you. My God will. My God shut up. God shut up. I'd rather late bathroom around, so my God will help you. God will help all the prayer, you see, oh, the prayer, that's how you know how you use lesson yourself. After all, my God, my God, my God, the guy will now reply with kisses. In other words,.
The girl does not care. I don't know that I will still need his pocket next week. Let's do video call. And, David, can I see your breast? I know if he does not see that breast, there will be no money on Friday. That's mammon. He says you cannot serve to masters. What you are willing to do for money shows what you are allegiance to. What you are willing to do for money. What you are willing to do for physical reward?
How much? How much? Are you willing to lose God for physical reward? It shows who you are allegiant It's not by going to... It's not by going money. No. No. No. No. No.
It is reflective in the choices we make every day. People have gotten jobs and they have sent and they have sent to hell with my church, to hell with my pastor. I've experienced that by myself. People whom I've whom I've prayed for, who doors I've opened for, and the moment doors open for them, how? That's the end of it. That's the end of it. That's the end of it. That's the end of it. Jesus is teaching the believer prosperity. And he says before we begin to talk about principles, let's deal with your heart.
And let's find out what is your root. What is the root? Who is your master? Is it Jesus, or is it Mammon? Do you know that gone are the days where Christianity was genuine? I'm not someone to speak like this, But in this manner, you have lost something. I can tell you the truth. Go and ask many of our fathers. They will tell you during the time of the SU revival. Where Christianity was authentic, where banks and organizations, oil industries, different industries will come to deeper life, come to SUs to come and ask for recommendations of who should work with them, who they should employ.
Because they know if they come from deeper life, if they come from SU, if they come from these places, they cannot steal. Where you will come and meet a secretary, are you the one that changed these numbers? Were you the one that bent and the the the guy will feel as though his Christianity is cursed. For the fact that you can even suspect him. Not not that not that he did or he didn't do it oh. For the father, his name can even come to your mind as part of those you can think of. Is something wrong with me? The guy goes on a retreat. That people were willing to let go of jobs to cling on to God. She'll rather perish than lose God.
I'll reap the nations for you. So my life, so my life, I'll reap the nations for Sow my life. Sow my life. I'll reap the nations for you. Sow my life, sow my life. I'll reap my jeerio for So my life, oh, so my life. I'll burn in bad debt for you. So my life, so my life, I'll rip the nations for Heaven are cold. Heaven are cold. Reap Nigeria for you.
Reap Nigeria. Rip Nigeria for you. Rip Nigeria. Rip Nigeria for you. For you. Will you do something to me to me to me that my world would never recall? You hear me? Your choices reveal your allegiance. You come to a place where you are targetedly committed to Jesus because money is not your God. And Paul says the love of money is the root of all evil.
And so when a man loves money more than God, it is not God that will prosper him. Another spirit may prosper him, but not God. This is what Jesus taught his disciples. No wonder they were rugged. No wonder they were docked. No wonder they could not be moved. No wonder they could not be shaken. No wonder when he turned... When he when he sent them, he said, when I sent you, lackest thou anything. There was a basis behind that statement because money had not become their god.
And these people these people so much had this reality. And when they started teaching people, John, one of the disciples of Jesus came to a people and told them, wish above all things that thou mayest prosper even as thy soul prospereth. In other words, as much as I wish that you prosper, not more than your soul, don't prosper the expense of your soul. I learned something from Jesus, and he told us there is no profit in gaining the word and losing our soul. So when he came and disciple people, he told them, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper even as thy soul prosper. Even as thy soul prosper. That means the benchmark of God's prosperity to a man is the degree that that man knows and love of Jesus. Because God will not allow a man to have more than you know him. Jesus taught them. If you want to prosper by me, your allegiance to me must be superior to any other thing that man may sell, that man may hold, that man may value because you cannot serve two masters.
You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God and mammon. I'm your sacrifice. Help me never to betray, Lord. Always keep me on my post. Oh, Jesus. Emmanuel is your sacrifice. I've been offered to life I live is not my home. I've been offered to a diary. If I lose all and I have you, I lose nothing.
I lose nothing. Bright. I'll see it on the wrong hill. My life will raise your back. I'll Thank you, Jesus. Hear me. Hear me. Have yourself. Have yourself. Jesus says, once you find out that a man has made him a source and a sustainer, once you find out that a man has become allegiance to him on matters of money, on matters of wealth.
You see, I once heard a preacher say that when we sing songs like give me the word or take the word and give me Jesus, we don't know what we are saying. And he said the reason is because once you have Jesus, you have the word. That is true to an extent. But that is not the meaning of those who are singing that that's not what they are saying. That's an intentional misconstrution to make a point. And it is he'll gotten again when he wants you deemphasize something that has made the that has become the foundation of several people's Christianity. And you shake it just by improper doctrine like that. Do you know what came to the mind of people that sang those songs? What they were saying is, in as much we know that all is ours, does the bible not say the earth is the lord and the fullness thereof? And he has given us all of these things, the cartoon, the thousand hill is mine, the silver is mine, the gold is mine, everything is mine.
We know that if we have Jesus, we have all of these things. What we are saying is if any of these things will cost me Jesus, I would rather have Jesus and not it. What that song is saying is what shall it profit a man to gain the word? It is a scriptural song to sing. What that song is saying is if it will cost me my allegiance to the kingdom, I will not do it. If it will cost me and my allegiance to the king and his kingdom. There are some of that who begin to rise. You start receiving offers as God start blessing you. They will say, that that song that you sing, want to promote it. You are not okay with some lyrics you use.
Don't say Jesus, say God. When you say God, God is everybody knows one God or the other. Let's censor some of your lyrics, change some of your words. The world will make all kinds of offers. One of my guys got a job in Lagos. And every weekend, he has to travel down. Not because there are no churches in Lagos. Why would somebody do that? Every weekend, he travels from Lagos to Ibadan. Friday, serves in church on Saturday, serves in church on Sunday, goes back to Lagos.
We don't do that for money We do that because we love Jesus. We do that because we love Jesus. He was telling me, he was sharing a testimony with me. He said in his workplace, a very serene environment. And you will think because it is serene, everybody there has sense. He said he started asking him. So guy, do you smoke? Do you drink? What do you do for fun? In other words, the options that are available to do for fun is limited between drinking and smoking.
And if you cannot find any of it, you are an you are an alien. You are not a fun being. He said, I don't I don't joke. I don't I don't drink. I don't smoke. All of them were shocked, including the pastor amongst them. No. All of all of them were shocked. Is it okay? So do you...
What do you do you do women? They said, no. Do you... The guy was not looking like too good to be true. Because every question that they expect a normal human being that age to do is not in any of them. And they started asking themselves, ah, you watch your... You go every Friday to Ibadan. He said, yes. They started asking themselves, okay, what church do you go to say? Tried to remember the name of the church.
Then he later remembered. He said, what's name of your pastor? He can't even remember the name of the pastor. So when was the last time you went to church? He said, the December 1. That's what people are doing for money. That's toiling. And when you find a man who has not refused to bow down to the system, it it looks too good to be true. It looks like every old man's rep. Can you be a difference in the system?
Sir. Sir. That's the question we need to ask ourselves. And if God lifts me, God raises me. My allegiance is to Jesus and to his kingdom. God, check my heart. Check my heart. Then don't let it just be a statement I'm making. Vet me. Prove me.
It was David who said test my heart. Know my inward part. Don't let me claim this today and money comes more and I find out that what I claimed was not true. It's a prayer to pray. Test my heart. Why do I want to prosper? Is it because the cares of this world has gripped my heart, and I'm looking for a breakthrough, a way out, an urgent means of escape. And if I find that other means of escape, does not even have God in the equation. I'm willing to do anything as long as I'm no longer in this state. What will you not do for ministry breakthrough?
What if, what after, what, what of, what of when ministry breakthrough? Do you remember Deuteronomy chapter eight? Jesus was speaking to his people. God was speaking to the Israelite. I love those guys. You know why? Because their story explains and capture the life of the believer right from your salvation to manifesting your destiny. What is a picture of the promised land? Jesus told them. Give me verse 18.
Read that first line for me everybody. Pause. Read it again. Pause. Pause. Why is God telling them that you have to remember the Lord your God? Is a tendency to forget. It says for it is he who giveth you, who gives you the power to get wealth. In other words, in other words, when you have already gotten wealth, remember who gave you the power to get it. That's what Jesus is saying.
It is when you have already gotten the wealth, remember who gave you the power to get it. It means at some point, you cannot predict the wealth you have gotten to the system. You can say it's because I work hard. It's because I woke up by 4AM. I'm I'm I'm I'm I I know what I'm doing. I'm a very I'm a very hardworking person. By the time you don't know Jesus, those kind of foolish statement is what you say. Yes. You are credited to what you... What God did to robust portfolio.
The foolishness of man. The foolishness of man. Look at the next verse. Is it verse 10? Jesus told them the land. Remember, remember, he's telling them this land is full of wheat, barley, honey, all kind of things in from verse eight to verse nine. He told them, it's filled with this and that and that and that. But was that why he rescued them from Egypt? Remember, that was not the... That was not what he kept on emphasizing.
He never said, let them leave to go and eat food. He said, let my people go that they may serve me. But you will now realize that in serving God, there is money. In serving God, there is wealth. In serving... God does not want any believer to serve you in poverty. So he says, I want you to I want you to serve me in fullness. But it now brings a caution. It is so that when you have eaten and you are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God. It means there is a way you can only bless God when you are full.
Do you know that there is a kind of Christianity in Nigeria? We practice in Nigeria called survival Christianity. Survival Where we are pursuing after God because we need to pursue after God. The Christian... The the poor government in Nigeria has already made the average citizen religious. Because the thing that the government needs to produce, we now have to pray for. So the system already put you in a survival mode. That's why many believers go to other countries and lose God. Because what has become the foundation of their Christianity in Nigeria has become the answer that the government has solved in another country. So there's no more point anymore.
You'll find out that to to... In one exam is drawing near, the average Nigerian student needs God. Because the system will kill you. You will wonder, especially if you are in some department that they have no joy. You will wonder if those that crafted that system lacked the joy of the holy ghost. Because you you can't seem to fatten why you will program a system like that. In a department where every course is as bulky as anything. One lecturer can come to a class and drop 1,000 slides. For a course that 10 lecturers are are teaching. And when it is time for the exam, timetable would come out.
You see Monday to Friday, no break. Monday to Friday, no break. Monday to Friday, no break. And you'd expect student to... You see, you need you will need God. You need to draw close. That's why I even pity students who think that that is the first time to avoid Jesus. You are a fool. That that that state already shows you that you are incapable of this in your own power. You will need the wisdom of the spirit.
Father, direct my path. This is this is 1,000 slide in front of me of of a lecturer out of 10 lecturers in one course. You will sit down in front and you have to pray in tongues. Because the system is designed that way. You will now travel and find out that you are a student in another university in some way in another country, and life is as easy as as though as though they designed it to make you pass. One of my girls one of my girls in university told me that they did their monthly test for a particular course. The same way you do test in in in UI here. They did their very serious test, and that test, you see the result immediately. And she saw our results, and she had 60 over 100, And she was telling... Listen.
She was telling me... She said she wrote it again, and she had 98 over 100, and she was thanking God for it. And I said,. We thank God, oh, for it's the advantage of a good system. Because for most failures that people fail, they actually have the potential to pass. If only the system were different. If only the system were different. But that is not an excuse to fail because in that same system, people are passing. That someone is not supposed to thank you. Don't thank me oh.
Because the ones who are having first class in that system don't have to wait. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. Oh, you get my point? Yes, sir. I'm telling you that the the... There's a way the system makes you need God. If you're in Africa, for Jesus tells his people you have been delivered from Africa. You are now in the promised land.
When you are eating and you are full and you have blessed the Lord because of the good land which he has given you, look at the next verse. Beware that you forget not. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God. Because of the tendency to do so when you are full. It means you can never know the state of your heart towards God until you are blessed. Until you have money. Yes. There are many pursuit that it is suffering that is making us possible. There are many attendants that we attend church because we need something from God. What happens when all your prayers are answered?
Would you still remember you're a Christian? Would you still remember you used to be in the worship team? Would you still remember I used to serve in church? Would you still remember that every nine AM, you are always the first person to get to church? And you... There was a time when you took joy in it. But now you live in a good house and a good bed. And to stand up on that bed is a burden. When you have eaten and you are full, how you will know is whose servant are you? Jesus or mama?
Jesus or mama? There is nothing I won't give to you. There is nothing I won't give to you. There is nothing I won't give to you. Oh, there is nothing I would give to you. There is nothing I I would give to you. There is nothing There is nothing. Is nothing. You want my heart. You want my soul.
There's nothing I won't be for you. You are my heart. You are my soul and my body. There is nothing Jesus then thought again that if you trust God, if God becomes... If God owns your allegiance, how you will know? Is that you will trust him for provision. You see it in Matthew six twenty five, six, and ten twenty seven. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body. Just consider the lilies. Consider the birds of the air.
In other words, when God becomes your master in terms of wealth, when you insist that your allegiance is now to God, the second thing you must know is that you must now trust him for provision. Because it is possible for you to build your confidence on the system. That means no matter how impeccable the system becomes, you will never find yourself trusting the system as your sustenance. Even if the system makes it possible for every Nigerian to own a house. You will still not accredit the system for the reason for which you now own a house. That's what I mean by no matter how impeccable the system becomes. God still becomes your source. God still becomes your sustenance. Because the the time you accredit and the time you find yourself start trusting in the system, it means that your system is now your source and sustainer. That means the system has become your father.
That means you no longer know God as father. I might be working in an oil industry, but God is my sustainer. Even if I'm being paid 2,000,000 naira, let me buy a contract of $150,000,000 naira. God is my sustainer. God is my sustainer. No matter how impeccable the system can be, no matter how impeccable, reliable, trustworthy networks I've put in place can be, I must understand that my source is God. Prosperity does not begin with activity. It begins with your nature. It begins with your state. It begins with your provision, with your status in Christ, with your consciousness.
The activity may be right, but the hard posture is wrong. And the consciousness is wrong. The first two things that Jesus is pushing about prosperity does not have to do with activity. It has to do with your status. It has to do with your consciousness. And if your trust is in God, the proof will be that your life will be committed to obeying the instructions of God. Jesus says, do you see God as your source? As God become your master in terms of money and wealth and prosperity? Then let your trust be in God for provision. And how you know that your trust is in God for provision is that the principles and the instructions that God gives to you will become easy for you to obey because your trust is now in him.
Are you with me? If your trust is in God, the proof will be that your life will be committed to obeying the instructions of God. So the reason you give is not just because you want to receive from God. It is that in addition to that, your testimony is now that God is my sustainer. God is my source. And so even when you don't have much, you will give. When you have so much, you will still give. Because you don't give because you have, you give because you trust. But when you find people who give because they've been religiously programmed to do that, it is when they have that they give. When they feel that what they have is going down, they begin to save because the system of the world is saved to prosper, but the system of God is give to prosper.
But for you to do that, whether you are whether you are bound or you are based will be a product of your trust in God as your source. It will be a product of your trust in God as your source. It is easy to give when you have. But how you know that you don't trust God is what you give when you don't have much. If you did... If you find it difficult to give when you feel as though you don't have much, it means you're giving when you have is not because you love God or because you think you... God is your source and your sustainer. It is not even because you have that you are giving, you are just giving what you have left. In other words, this is what I can spare. That's why I give.
So if I have nothing to spare, doesn't mean I don't have anything. I just don't have to spare. That's how you know that God has not become my source. If I have a couple of 100 of thousands or tens of thousands in my account or a millions of account, I can give. But when God when God becomes my master and he becomes my source and sustainer, the reason why I give is different. In second Corinthians nine verse six, the Bible says, but this I say, he who sows sparingly, will also reap sparingly. But he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let everyone give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. A man who believes in God as his source. These are the five dispositions that he sustains with respect to giving.
The bible captured it in second Corinthians nine from verse six to verse seven. Number one is that he gives bountifully. Number two is that he purposes in his heart to give. In other words, he does not give because somebody charged him to give Because a man of God preached on giving. Mm-mm. He purposes in his heart to give to God. He's not just giving because he has. He's giving because he trust. And because he trust, he will keep on having. So his giving is deliberate.
Number three, he does not give grudgingly. He doesn't give grudgingly. He doesn't give as this being forced to do so. He doesn't give and then regret giving after. Then why give in the first instance? A man who has believed that God has become his source. These are the heart postures. The next is that he gives cheerfully. He gives what now? It gives cheerfully.
Before that, there is something there. Not grudgingly or of necessity. In other words, it does not give because there's a need. Many people give just because there's a need in the house of God. So when they announce, wanna buy this or wanna buy that, so they give to meet that need. But Paul says, when you love Jesus, you don't just give because there's a need. Oh, I wanna go for a building project. Okay. Let's give. We are having apostolic invasion.
Okay. There's a need now. Okay. The church wants to get this, oh, there's a need now. Such people who love Jesus, I was named ministers conference In Lagos. And it was a three days meeting. And on the third day, a pastor asked the man of God who was organizing the meeting a question. He raised his hand to ask a question. And when he was given the microphone, he asked, why is there no tight and offering taken in this conference? We have been here for three days.
But there was no type and offering taken. Is it that you people don't need money here or what? And the organizer laughed so much. I was there in my presence. Presence. The organizer laughed so much. And he said, I will say this because it's a minister's conference. Yes, I would not have said it. He said, if as a pastor, you are waiting for tithe and offering before you give, you will not prosper. Minister's conference.
I was there. The man said, if as a pastor, you have a church and you are waiting, you come for a conference and you are waiting for us to call out an offering. He said, he said, what you don't know is that since the first day of this meeting, even before the first day of this meeting, people have been giving and have been giving and have been giving to the meeting. But if you're waiting for a special time to be called for tithes and offerings so that you can give, it means you never really understand what giving is. Because in your mind now, you think that giving is to meet the needs of the church. That's why you're thinking, don't you cover that an orphan? Don't you have any need in this church? Glory to God. Do you know that? If we stop calling, if we stop giving, if we stop giving tithes and offerings on Sundays, on Tuesdays, The ministry will continue and be blessed.
And every service will hold. The difference is that you will not be blessed. Because deals that no giving will still give. Those that look for opportunity or or type an offering as a means to just crumble up nonsense. They will be saved of the pressure to do so. But the people who are givers will still give. Whether it is called or it is not called. To the ministry, we'll continue to prosper. The difference is that you likely will not be blessed. Are you with me?
Yes, sir. That's the difference. Because we do not call these things because we have need. The primary reasons why we give to God is not because there's need in the house of God. That's not the reason why we give to God. Our needs are met. We are a blessed church. Many a times, the offerings are not even capable of sorting out any needs. A man of God in Ghana said, the father of faith in Ghana said, the offering of this church for one month, a large church, a mega church, the offering of this church for one month is not even enough to sort the electrical bills of the church. The electrical bills of the church is not even enough to sort it.
Glory to God? Yes. So the reason why the church is holding is not so that we can extort money from people. No, that's not it. We're not looking for money to extort from people. Because God has blessed us. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. And if a man of God hear this, hear this. When you start a vision, when you start a ministry such as this, what happens usually is that there will always be pillars in this building that you are building.
And the mistake men of God make when they start is that they think that the finances to run the ministry should come from the blocks. There are assignment of the man of God is to build the church. Usually, the block to be present. Is that not so? And so as you begin to arrange the block as a man of God, you are building the church. You are building the people. You think that the people are the ones who finance the church. And there's nothing wrong with that thought because it's meant to be so. But if that is your mindset at the man of God, especially when you're just starting ministry, you will suffer. You'll suffer.
Because you will find out that that's not how ministry starts. A larger part of the time, who you are sent to are people that cannot even afford to pay for the rent of the church. And you have a responsibility to build them up. So what God does, whilst the blocks have been arranged, is that he will send pillars. Do you know that in the building of a church, the pit of a house, the pillars are always not as much as the blocks? In other words, what keeps the church running is not up to 10% of the membership of the church. It's always a very few pillars. Your own assignment is to rise and say I will be one of those pillars. That is the responsibility of the man of God is to ensure that the pillars also don't come from outside. Whether anyone gives or not to the church.
People are getting blessed by this ministry and they will give. One of my daughters sent the seat for the manifest conference from abroad. I'm out of the country, the country where she is. And because of the restrictions we have in Nigeria here, she has to go through a PayPal account of a source of mine in The US. So the source then sends the money to the ministry like that. And when she sends the money when she sends the money to the source, the source screenshotted the amount that was sent as he would always do. And then told me, he said, Emmanuel, are you sure this your members? This your member is a student? Look at the amount you sent. This country is a struggling country.
Are they doing it? I said my people are prosperous. You know, I heard the fact that you heard that this country is a struggling country. I let... That's... It's on my phone. Means us, it does not matter what country you are in, you can prosper. Why did I say that? I said that to mean that. There are several people who will be blessed by the messages, who will give to them.
It's it's a it's it's a principle. But that's not what makes me blessed. What makes me blessed is that those that I am feeding, those who see me as a man sent from God to them to build their life with this truth that comes scripture. That the result are seen in their own life. My my my my my joy is not that a politician come from somewhere and said, I wanna donate 100,000,000 to this church, and we all over Nakoma say, ah, once you add donate 100,000,000, God forbid. God forbid. People will give him billions and will not even know their name. Yeah. They they they will sit down somewhere. They just sit down.
Just sit Just sit down. Just sit down. Relax. Offering, you say 10 millionaire, somebody just give it an offering. No. No. No announcement. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
He told me the last time, they said, someone just dropped $1,000 in the offering basket and said that's his offering. With no name, no nothing, don't even know what the brother... That's how it's meant to be. That's my... That's how it's meant to be. In multiple numbers like that. Are you listening to me? Yes. The reason why we will be that is because God has become our source. This is a giving church.
That means that there is nothing we will intend to do for God that I will not be able to do. If we say that we are getting a building, the building is worth 150,000,000. What is in the heart of everybody is, how do I get my own 1,000,000 naira seed? How do I get my own 10,000,000 naira seed? How do I get my own 50,000,000 naira seed? Or how am I contributing my own 100,000? From my business, I I think my business can give 10,000 to this. Oh, my bills can give 1,000,000 to this. That is how believers are thinking. Yes.
That is how you know a revival has eat the land. Yes. And God has become your source. And God has become your what? Soul. Paul now says, when a man gives like this, when a man gives like this, he gives bountifully, not grudgingly, not with necessity, cheerfully, as God loves it. When a man gives like this, in verse nine, he now says all grace. He says, God is able to make all grace. God is able to make all grace abound unto him. When a man gives like this, all grace abounds towards him.
The bible says that you always having. It means when a man give like this, he's always having. He never lacks. When a man gives like this, he's always having. He never lacks anything. A man who always have is a man who always gives. This kind of thing does not happen because you are hardworking. It happens because God is able to make it happen. God is the one making it happen. That is why God must be your source, and your trust must be in God as source.
This is where God Jesus begins his teaching on prosperity. There are many people who when their income goes down, their tithing stops. There are many people who, when their income goes down, their giving stops. Why? Because they don't trust God as their source. So what they give is actually from what they have to spare. And whenever they no longer have to spare, they stop giving. That is why very few believers work in supernatural prosperity. That which I teach you is is Jesus' model for supernatural prosperity. These are lessons from the master on prosperity.
He says, let your trust be in me. Let your trust be in me. The third thing he says is don't... He says, he says, remove anxiety from your equation of prosperity. Because there's a way the cares of this world will hold your heart. It will launch you into worry and anxiety. So in that same verse 25, he says, he says, he says, which one of you by worrying can add a cubit to his own life, to his to his stature? Which one of you by worrying? It means when a man is pursuing wealth and the cares of this world has eaten into his soul, one thing you will find is that he's always worrying. And Jesus, can you see that?
Jesus, all these principles on prosperity are not external. They are false internal. They first deal with the heart of a man and the state and the posture, the consciousness of the man. You see man worried, worried, worried about what you will eat, worried about life, worried about what you will drink. 26. 26 says, look at, consider. Consider the breads of the hair. Are you not more... Are you not of more value than them? 27 says, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
In other words, if it comes to this business of prosperity and having all things in abundance, allow worry not to pierce your soul because worry can steal and rob you of joy. Anxiety over the things that are not yet met can rob a man of joy. And if God becomes your source, there will be no anxiety, there will be no worry. You see, this thing is a very difficult thing to say. How will you say, if I don't have my house rent paid, I should not worry. Because the cares of this world when they are lacking can normally lead to worry. The human being's natural response, the human being human being's default response, certain things are not available is worry. I've not paid so and so. Worry. My marriage is coming up.
I don't have money for bride price. I don't have money for the food that people will eat. We have not yet gotten the tent for the reception. We've not yet gotten this and that and that, and then worry begins to seep into the soul. Worry begins to seep into the soul. But whenever you allow worry is a signal that lack of trust is there. Worry is always a testament that you don't trust God. Worry is always a testament that God is not in control. Is God in control of your life? Is God in control of your life?
Take me and mold me. All I have is yours to start with. Take me and mold me. All I have is yours to end with my life. My soul, my spirit belongs to you. It is yours to start with my life. My soul, my spirit belongs to you. If you believe what you are saying, then there will never be worry in your life. If you believe it. If you believe that that your life your life your life belongs to him, if you believe that your soul belongs to him, then there will never be worry in your life.
Paul corroborates this by saying be anxious for nothing in everything. The secret to eliminating worry is realizing that God is my source. Trusting God removes worry. Please believe what I'm telling you. Trusting God removes what now? Removes what? And when a man finds out that his life is still bedeviled by that demonic sense of anxiety, And every time you lack something, every time you are in need, your first response is... Do you know that? Do you know that? Every time you are in need is an opportunity to see God manifest in your life.
Do you know? So why is your response anxiety? Why is your response worried? This is an avenue for a huge miracle. This is an avenue to say, God, I'm not sure how... What you're gonna do. I'm not sure how you're going to do it. But I know that my life is in your hands. I know that you've got this. I know that you are in control.
I know that you are in control. Oh, this contract fell through, but thank you, Jesus. I know that you are in control. I know that you're in control. Oh, I've just gotten a job. Glory to God. Glory to God. I didn't get a job. Glory to God. Glory to God all the same.
Yes. God doesn't get the glory only when things go go well. Oh, no. I've believed in God. I've trusted in God with my life. But everything that happens in my life, it regulates it. It controls it. I believe it oh. I believe it oh. I believe it Do you believe this?
Say my life is in his hands. My life is in his hands. I trust him with my life. I trust with him with my my business. Business. An investor is struggling to pull out. I still trust God. I invested and my my investment is turning down the hedge, I still trust God. Don't allow don't allow don't allow money become a reason why your emotions can spike. People can have cardiac arrest because of money.
Okay. So client did not come as you expected them to come and so what? Go and think again. Does not teach you to prosper? Does not teach you to prosper? If he's teaching you to prosper, does that not mean you're a student? If you are a student, are you not allowed to make mistakes? So like a student in every classroom, when a teacher teaches, he will give tests. He will give instructions. You write exams.
The exams will show you what you have mastered and what you have not mastered. Sir. They will show you what you have gotten, what you have not gotten. Your life is an exam. And there are times when exams are written even in life. And when the exams are written, the teacher will keep quiet. You will call the teacher and sometimes even ask him to explain the question. He will say, don't you have eyes? Because his responsibility ended when he was teaching. Now you're only to demonstrate, show your understanding.
And many times, you will go through exams in the school of life. And the holy ghost will say I've taught you what to do. I've taught you what to do. My silence does not mean I'm not there. You are writing an exam. Yes. Practice what you have been taught. Then you will remember there's joy in my spirit. Amen. There's joy.
In my life is in your hand. I have peace. I have joy. I have hope. My life is in your The question is not whether you remember this song now. The question is, do you remember it when you're writing an exam? Amen. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Because the teacher has now taught you that if you realize that your life is in his hands, then the result of that is that you have peace.
I applied for a competition. I invested so much in that competition. And they told me I came fourth place. So because you came fourth place now, did your life fall out of his hands? So what happened to your peace? It looks as though because the thing did not... You didn't... Because the thing fell through, your life has fallen out of his hands. There are times when the teacher is silent, and he says in this journey, do you remember the things you have been taught? In 14 stances, that's when you sing.
It's in your hands. In your hands. It's in your hands. In your hands. In hands. Listen. Listen. Do you believe what I'm teaching you? Stop. Stop.
These are the things I live my life by. I'm never under pressure. I'm not under... I don't think for a minute that physical things is what had value to my life. I'm not in competition with anybody. If this is what you are doing in ministry, you have been able to get your own property, you bought this land. Glory to God for you. I'm not under pressure. I'm not in this business to please anybody. I'm running an assignment, and that assignment is personal.
It is between me and God. The only person I will give accounts to is God, Not man. Not man. Oh, this man of God just bought a new car. They just they just opened a new branch in this... In that. Glory to God for them. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah for what you are doing. I never look at that and say, ah, when I was talking about one branch.
It is that people live their life. You are... You... It means you are doing ministry by the word system. You will toil. You will toil and you will labor. Your indecision is no longer God. Your standard has fallen. And so you will put yourself on down unnecessary anxiety. And the moment you no longer have, the moment...
Is it... Let me test another thing. That word system, as a default way, it places people in constant anxiety because it will always make... It will always show you what is missing in your life. Yes, sir. It always show you what you don't have yet as compared to somebody, as compared to that person. Even the academic system is like that. It is it is always competition, business competition, ministry competition, entertainment competition. People are willing to do anything, and and and if you're not careful, you allow anxiety into your heart. My mate has graduated.
That one has gone somewhere. That one has done this. Glory to God for what they've done. But your races are different. I thank God for how he's moving in my life because I know that Ahab can go ahead of Elijah. There's nothing wrong in Ahab going ahead of Elijah. It was even Elijah that told Ahab to go ahead of him. I know that even though Elijah is waiting, a hand can come upon Elijah. And when this hand comes upon Elijah, it does not matter how long he has been there. It does not matter who has over...
Overtaken him, who has gone ahead of him, who has gone ahead of him. It doesn't matter. There are times when times and chance has not yet opened for you. It doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong. If you put yourself under pressure, sometimes you always look for what you are doing wrong, and you may not be doing anything wrong. It might just be that your time has not come. And so the bible said the race is not to be swift. Doesn't mean the race will not be to him. It is that time and chance has not yet come. So what do I do?
I keep on being swift. I keep on being wise. I keep on being skillful. For I know that my time will come. And when that time comes, people will look at me and say, where was this guy since? Where was he since? All this while, we've always been there doing the same thing we have been doing. Yes, sir. But seasons changed. Yes, sir.
Seasons changed. Seasons changed. Seasons changed. The last thing that Jesus says seek you first. That is how he hands this strategize. He end this in verse 31. Is it 31 or 33? He says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these external things that people use to qualify value. Seek ye first the kingdom.
I don't have time to show you this one. Let's close. Let's close. Eyes up on your Can you pray one prayer? Jesus, try my heart. Know my inward path. Can we pray that prayer that David prayed? If there is anything that has in place at an high door over you, can you take it away today? Can you take it away today? Can you pray?
Raise your voice and pray. Raise your voice and pray. Is there any idol in my heart? That I cannot do. Listen. Listen. An idol is not a man made object that you bow to. An idol is anything that you cannot give God. Anything that you cannot give God. Whatever will serve as an hindrance to the blessings of God upon my life, Even as I begin to apply myself on this journey of prosperity and wealth, search my heart today and take it away.
Raise your voice in prayer. Pray. Let's pray. We believe you were blessed by this message to connect with the Disciples Christian network and get more from Apostle Emmanuel. Follow us on our social media platforms. You can follow us on Instagram at officialdisciples cn. You can follow us on Facebook at disciples christian network. You can also join our telegram page at dcn media for more messages by Apostle Emmanuel. If you have a testimony from this message, you can mail us at disciplecn@gmail.com. God bless you.