 Amen. So keep your place here in Hebrews chapter 11, book market. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11 and Hebrews chapter 12 several times throughout the sermon. So Hebrews chapter 11 of course is the as many times called the faith chapter in the Bible. We're going to talk about that a little bit later. But this morning what I want to talk to you about is the prosperity gospel. I want to talk to you about the prosperity gospel and let me tell you what, this is a rabbit hole. So we're going to dive down the rabbit hole a little bit this morning and we're going to look at what is the prosperity gospel, what's wrong with it, and what does that mean for us and for our church and this ministry. So first of all, the prosperity gospel, what is it? The prosperity gospel is basically an umbrella term for this group of ideas that's popular amongst modern-day charismatic preachers that basically equates the Christian faith with material, financial, and you know well-being, even physical well-being and just success in general in your life. It has a long history in American culture in the last few decades especially with figures like Joel Osteen, maybe some of you who are a little bit older will remember Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, you know these glamorous, flashily dressed evangelical preachers, televangelists. Jim and Tammy Faye Baker actually had their own amusement park at one point called Heritage USA which was one of the, it was like the top two or second or third most visited site in the United States for a while. Okay, but look it was a, it's big and really it's in the late 20th century is when this became a very popular type of doctrine. It's born, it's born out of Pentecostal and many times Calvinist roots and I'm going to explain to you kind of where it came from and then we'll look at some of the details of its doctrine, but basically Protestant Calvinists who generally believe in this idea of predestination or that God has chosen some people to be saved and others to be damned, you know that God chooses that's Calvinist predestination. It's a way for them to basically justify their sense of importance because if I am saved and I'm Calvinist and you know I think that you know God chose me why am I saved and you're not well it's because God chose me and he didn't choose you. So it's not that hard of a leap for me to also think that because God chose me to go to heaven that he also wants me to be incredibly successful in this life. Okay, so this is kind of the same type of roads and this is where it was born out of. You know it makes perfect sense if God chose me to go to heaven that he would bless me with worldly material things, great health, all these things. Okay so I mean that's where it came from. It's heavy into Pentecostalism. You'll see that many of the examples I'm going to use for you today they came out of Pentecostal roots. Then there's another part of this that I want to get into a little bit that I'm going to talk about as well called a section of the prosperity gospel is this movement called the word of faith movement. The word of faith movement is the Pentecostal wing of the prosperity gospel. It's late 20th century stuff with the likes of Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, maybe some of you have heard of these names Kenneth Copeland, Paul and Jan Crouch, Fred Price. Some people call it if you've ever heard of it you haven't heard the word of faith movement maybe you've heard of the name it and claim it movement it's it's the same thing basically this idea it's this it's this mix of mysticism and mind science with positive thinking mixed in with Jesus in there basically is what it is okay the heart of the word of faith movement is the belief in this force of faith meaning there's this faith force okay it's kind of like you know Star Wars or something but there's this faith force that we can control and we can literally you know have faith and speak things into reality it's this idea that there's a faith force and that our you know speaking and our faith will control this faith force and that God is actually subject to this faith force meaning whether or not something comes true someone gets healed someone gets money whatever it all has to do with my faith controlling this faith force are you starting to see the problems here it's basically claiming you know name it and claim it word of faith it's claiming that we can speak things into existence when you boil it down now who speaks things into existence in the bible there's only one person that speaks things into existence like and and they even believe you'll even find preachers and beliefs written down in this name it and claim it movement that believe that before the fall humans actually did speak things into existence so it's kind of like you know it basically makes man into a godlike status if you think about it that way and reduces god to a man status because god is now subject to you know this faith force that we control god becomes subject to us you see the problems that this leads to but here's the thing here's the thing it sells it sells on its simplest level you know Joel Osteen will talk about him in more detail you know god will make you rich and successful that that's that sells to people folks especially in times of hard economic conditions you know Benny Hinn and others you can heal yourself and loved ones I mean who wouldn't want that the tenets you know of the faith are those two things and we'll look at those two things but I mean the idea the idea sells itself that you know the gospel is that you know the idea is that god just you can speak things into existence you can control everything and that god wants you to be rich and successful and healthy it's thousands and thousands and thousands of people go flock to evangelists that spread this prosperity gospel turn to 1st Timothy chapter 6 let's still let's look at some of the the tenets of the faith let's look at some of the tenets of the faith now the main tenant of the faith is this idea that god wants you to just have wealth and material possessions galore okay look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 let's look at what the bible says 1st Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 9 now we can't go to all the bible verses on this and like I said I found myself down the rabbit hole I had to dig myself out of the rabbit hole several times this is a major major you could I mean it is it goes deep in all these different directions but let's just look at some of the basics of the bible I hope I can explain to you the basics of the prosperity gospel and then just how the bible basically just teaches not even close to that okay look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 and look at verse number 9 first the bible says but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have aired from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows so verse 9 and 10 there's two things I want to point out here it says they that will be rich it says they that have a will to be rich that's what that means it means those that have a desire to be rich are going to fall into a snare first of all so if your desire in life is to be rich you are going to fall into a snare the bible says and then it says you know in verse 10 you know people have coveted after this meaning they're searching after this they're coming after this love of money and they it's caused them to do what it's caused them to air from the faith okay so if you will be rich if you have a will in your life you're like oh I want to be rich and I can't tell you how many people that I've met you're just like oh I just need to be rich and then then I'm going to serve God with my life once I'm rich no you must serve God now you must serve God now because if you have a will to be rich the bible is telling you here that if your drive and your will is to be rich you will never serve God you will air from the faith you will get snared by by people and things and you will literally air from the faith it won't work if you're one of those Christians that oh you know I just need to be rich and then I'm going to help everybody then I'm going to serve the Lord no you will air from the faith is what the bible is literally telling you here instead so instead of having a will to be rich what does the bible say so I mean does God say you know I I'm just promising to make you rich no he says if you want to be rich you're going to air you're going to you're going to leave me is what God is saying he's like if you if you're desiring your life is to be rich you're going to leave me so why would God want I mean God doesn't want you to have a will to be rich look at verse six go back and this is what the bible actually says it says but godliness with contentment is great gain verse number eight and having food and raiment let us be there with content twice the bible says that we should be content with what we have not having this desire to be wealthy to be rich now here's the irony of the whole thing if you have a will to be rich you will fall into a snare the bible says let me introduce you to some snares the snares are the men that are preaching the prosperity gospel these are some of the snares Kenneth Copeland wrote in laws of prosperity do you want a hundredfold return on your money give and let god multiply it back to you no bank in the world offers this kind of return praise the lord he's literally saying give me your money and you will get a hundredfold return on your investment the biggest player in this material and wealth prosperity gospel is a man named Joel Osteen he has the biggest church in the united states the last time I checked but look let me give you a methodology on heretics okay the first thing if you see here somebody preaching something that's not right the first thing that you need to do here's your methodology you check their gospel what gospel are they preaching and if that is not right turn to Galatians chapter one so they're teaching all this doctrine and you're like you know what is this doctrine correct I don't know if this doctrine is correct or not check what their check what their beliefs on salvation are that's the first thing turn to Galatians chapter one because Paul gives us some very specific instruction on how to handle somebody that preaches a different gospel that preaches a twisted gospel look at Galatians chapter one and verse number six Galatians chapter one and verse number six so this is our methodology whenever we hear a doctrine that we want to check you know let's not look into the doctrine first let's look into the gospel that that person preaches that's the first thing and then many times we will realize that we don't even have to look into the doctrine because of Galatians chapter one look at Galatians chapter one and verse number six the bible says I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel so Paul here is writing to the church at Galatia and he's chewing them out he's like look he's like you've been called to another gospel he's like someone's preaching the wrong gospel in your church verse seven which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him be a cursed verse number nine and as we said before so I say now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you then ye have received let him be a cursed look he's saying if anyone perverts the gospel that we've given you let that person be a cursed pervert means to distort or to misconstrue pervert means to take what was there and twist it and turn it into something that's different that's what was happening they didn't look you'll never find that someone makes up their own gospel they always take the true gospel and twist it and turn and pervert it satan never comes up with his own ideas he takes what god says and says ye hath god said did god really mean that maybe he meant it this way and he twists it he perverts it he's subtle the bible says in genesis chapter three but then paul says if anybody does this let them be a cursed look at roman's chapter nine in verse number three all these people that preach a different gospel are accursed the bible says roman's chapter nine look at verse number three i'm going to read start reading in verse number two that i have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart what does this word accursed mean for i could wish that myself were accursed from christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are israelites to whom pertain at the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of god and the promises he's saying in verse number three he's saying i wish that i could trade my salvation for theirs he's saying if i could give up my salvation for theirs which of course he can't but he's just saying i would i would give my salvation for theirs he's suffering that they're not saved he's he's wishing that they his brethren his israelites the children of israel would get saved and accept jesus christ and and he's he's sad that they won't he's sad that he's having a problem with that so much to the point where he says you know what if i could trade my life my salvation for theirs i would so what accursed means damned accursed means damned end of story so let's check the gospel of joel ostin joel ostin now first of all whenever you go and you search for somebody's gospel what they believe as far as salvation if it's really hard to find that's warning number one if it's really difficult to put your finger on on their website or whatever and they use vague language you know that's warning number one we're very clear what we believe in this church and it's written on our website we are very clear about that okay look here's here's the gospel of joel ostin the scripture says whosoever calls upon the name of the lord will be saved if you would like to know i'm quoting this okay if you would like to know christ all you have to do is receive the free gift of salvation through jesus christ sounds pretty good by saying a prayer of salvation whoa pray this aloud lord jesus i repent of my sins come into my heart wash me clean i make you my lord and savior amen we believe that if you prayed that simple prayer you have been born again i had to read it like three times but that's what it says i mean talk about one two three pray after me that's exactly what that is it says nothing it says nothing about even what you believe it literally says just pray the prayer then he continues you are starting with a clean slate and you have entered into a personal relationship with jesus christ keep god first place in your life did you notice all those little things in there he's pentecostal he's pentecostal you know make repent of your sins make god lord of your life that's lordship salvation you know if you have you know if you do if you are saved you will do the works i mean it's all the same stuff you can lose your salvation look ostin actually speaks against churches telling people that they are guilty before god and do not measure up to his standard of perfection notice how he didn't say anything about you know you're condemned or that you're a sinner and he's just like you know just pray this prayer just pray this prayer you know look at what he says about churches that talk about people being guilty before god you've got to get away from that quote you've got to get away from that god is smiling down on you right now god is for you he breathed life into you i've learned that when you know god is for you then you can rise higher what does that even mean what does that even mean you can go further in life then it's just repenting your sins make god lord of your life all this stuff look so much for you know but the wrath of god abideth on him right look if people aren't saved and you're going up to them and telling you hey you know you know rise you know rise higher god wants you to rise higher look the wrath of god abides on you right if you're not saved the wrath of god john 3 36 abides on you that's why we talk to people about the fact that they're sinners because look if you don't think that you're a sinner and the wrath of i mean does god want people to be saved yes but his wrath abides on them until they are that's what joel ostin won't tell people but look here's the thing they really is you read into this guy and you read into his ministry not only is he not saved not only is he preaching another gospel not only is he he's a cursed he's a cursed but they treat salvation as a side note they really don't want to talk about it they're just like i pray this prayer now let's move on to you know getting you on track in your life and being your best person now because that's what god wants for you right so they treat salvation as this side note and then they just want to get straight into this prosperity stuff you know look and as far as the prosperity gospel goes i will give them this the ostens are the smart ones the ostens are the smart ones you'll find out why in a few minutes but look it's a super easy self god wants you to be rich please come to my church that's a really easy self because a lot of people want to be rich a lot of people want material possessions out there look it's just it's mixing the power of positive thinking and all these secular ideas in with you know the name of jesus that's all they're doing that's what they're doing and it sells it all heresy starts with some truth turn to colossians chapter three so here's what's perverted they take you know bible verses and they take you know statements from the bible and concepts from the bible and they twist those to preach this prosperity message but first of all they failed the test the gospel is false they're accursed we know that but let's look at the doctrine now so they take some things that are true you know the bible does teach the bible does teach work ethic the bible does teach that you should work hard look at colossians chapter three and verse 23 the bible says and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not unto men so i mean what's the problem you say what's the problem won't this produce if you if you follow colossians chapter three and you work hard and you go to work every day and you show up early and you stay late and it doesn't matter who your boss is you're respectful you're good at your job and you work as you're working unto the lord i mean isn't that going to go well for you in general yes i mean doing things god's way will generally work out for you however jesus actually teaches something different turn to second timothy chapter three you're not promised that everything's just going to be great all the time you're not promise this and this is what they won't tell you it's almost like you know they teach something they teach some concepts and it's more what they don't say than what they actually say look at second timothy chapter three the bible says in verse number 12 yay and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution so as you live godly and you follow colossians chapter three you know what that's probably going to give you some benefits in your life you maybe you get promoted and you're going to work hard maybe you you know get a raise here in there things like that those things you know are very possible those things are going to happen but look the bible also says that you will suffer persecution for your faith you will suffer persecution if you live godly so if you do the things that the bible says you're supposed to do you'll suffer for it the bible says and more than that look at luke chapter six now i can't even read you all the verses about this but the bible says that if you live godly now look are all people that are saved going to live godly no because it has nothing to do with how you live whether or not you're saved or not it has to do with what you believe look at luke chapter six and verse 22 and the bible says this jesus says this he says in verse 22 blessed are ye when you become rich no he says blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man sank so this is saying look this is this is saying blessed are ye when men hate you they don't want to be around you they talk about you behind your back he's like these are all things that are going to happen why for my name because you believe in me because you're following me and he says rejoice in that day and leap for joy because i'll give you a million dollars no he says leap for joy for behold your reward is great in 10 minutes no your reward is great in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets underline verse number 23 and then just put hebrew's chapter 11 right next to verse number 23 there because that's exactly what that is talking about and i'll get to that in a few minutes but look this is why this is why joel ostin can never bring up sin he can never he can never preach against sin he can never preach about people getting their lives right that's why you'll find people that go to churches like this and they talk they look they dress they act just like the world because he can't have you getting the sin out of your life because guess what that's going to cause you persecution he can't preach against sin and have you you know he can't oh he certainly can't teach separation because that's going to bring persecution to you if he teaches people to live godly in christ jesus they will suffer for it and that will go directly against his message of your life just being great and wealthy and rich and all these things if he has his people suffering his church is going to shrink is what's going to happen because when you talk about those things you know first of all people don't like hearing it that's the first thing it doesn't sell to tell people they need to get the sin out of their life in that in order to love the lord they actually need to start living according to the bible it doesn't sell it's work it's you know it's separation which is going to cause people to reproach you it's going to cause people to talk about you behind your back look it's going to cause discomfort to people it's against what he's after that's why they don't talk about sin or especially god's wrath i mean especially god's wrath we'll get to that in a little bit let's talk about sickness and healing so joel ostin is mainly focused on on wealth and you know your career and your best life now i mean look the bible just said you know it's your best life in heaven your reward is great in heaven it didn't say your reward is great right now your rewards great in heaven but look let's talk about sickness and healing let me introduce you to a man named benny hyen hyen teaches that god intends everyone to be healed of all their diseases if people simply have the faith to believe they can be healed god will heal them through a healer like himself give me all your money what's his salvation message let's check him it no no shock it's repent of your sins you can lose your salvation you know the the bible says or benny hyen says we must take seriously the warning in Hebrews regarding the gift god has given us hold on to your salvation he says those who fall away are in mortal danger of permanent separation from the father so once again you can lose your salvation it's the same thing it's the same thing lordship works repent of your sins it's all the same thing using Jesus's name but let's look into it anyway can god heal you turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 what let's ask this question first does god heal everyone does god heal everyone look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and look at verse number five because these guys will tell you this is the name and claimant people these are the people that will tell you you know if if you can't heal yourself or god didn't heal you it's your lack of faith you're not you know believing hard enough to control the faith force or whatever they want to call it look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number five the bible says this this is paul speaking of such and one will i glory yet for myself i will not glory but in my infirmities so he's got some kind of physical problem here for though i would desire to glory i shall not be a fool for i will say the truth but now i forbear less any man should think me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me unless i should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure so paul had some kind of problem we don't know what it was there was some kind of physical issue and he says for this thing i besought the lord thrice he asked god three times to take this physical issue away from him that it might depart from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will i rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me god said no god said no to paul and god said my strength is made perfect in your current condition god god not only said no to paul but he gave him a reason why he said no he says my grace is sufficient he's like you're saved you're you're eternally saved he's like i need you to be right where you are right now for me and then paul says most gladly he accepts it most gladly i will glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me he's like i don't want anything if this is what god says he doesn't doubt he says if this is what god said this is what i accept that i may have the power of christ on me and i mean look i guess paul lacked faith because he didn't get healed turn to james chapter five i mean that's what you would have to believe paul i mean demonstrated his faith in verse number nine that even though you know god said to him he's like my strength is made perfect in your weakness and i'll explain that to you in a few minutes but many times that's the truth god his his ways are higher than our ways look at james chapter five can i mean can god heal people that's the next question look at james five thirteen look what the bible says is any is any among you afflicted let him pray is any marry let him sing psalms is there any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with the oil in the name of the lord and the prayer of the face shall save the sick and the lord shall raise him up and if he had committed sins they shall be forgiven him confess your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man heals people every time is that what it now he what god is saying here is that look if there's sickness if there's somebody that's sick he's like pray anoint them with oil pray as a church that people would be healed these are good prayers but it never gives us the promise that every sick person will always be healed we never have that promise now look here i mean here's one thing that i don't know about you how many times you think about but this is not lost on me the fact that is almost a year ago when this whole mess happened in this country and we're all fine is that lost on anybody here that shouldn't be i mean god can protect you god can keep you healthy these are prayers that god will answer and as far as this ministry goes he's answered those prayers god has protected this church i mean you would have to try to not notice that in the last year look but sickness it's part of living in a fallen world folks people are going to be sick everyone's not going to be the perfect you know demonstration of health but in james chapter five it's a good prayer to pray for health and to pray for healing but we're never given that promise let's talk about this idea of faith go back to heber's chapter 11 where we began let's talk about this idea of faith heber's chapter 11 is you know the faith now look i mean there's benny hin i didn't i forgot about benny hin this guy let me get there go to heber's 11 but benny hin will have these mega conventions or whatever they call them and look the reason i said joe ostin is smarter because this benny hin production i mean this i mean it is fraud at a very detailed level he literally has groups of employees ushers whatever they call them and they make sure i don't know if you've ever seen it on on tv or youtube or whatever he'll go up there and he'll be like bad people will just like blow back and fall over into the hands of like these ushers he's like you know in the name of you know jesus you're healed me to think bad people are like blown back by his force you know and they all fall over he'll go to entire groups of people would be like and they'll all just fall down i mean it's a production it's a production and you find there's been like investigative studies like hidden camera stuff and you know where people have gone to these things like with their handicapped children in their arms hoping that he'll make their child walk again and one of the jobs that it is you know people have come forth as his you know workers have come forth and exposed the truth of what really happens at these conferences first of all they always gather money you should see that the piles of buckets that they go around in these these convention centers and they usually bring in like half a million to seven hundred thousand dollars on one of these conventions one of these you know stadium type thing but one of the main jobs has been you know these people have come forth and have been kind of whistleblowers and this whole thing and the ushers their main jobs is to stop anybody who's actually sick from coming up on the stage it's usually people who think that they might be feeling bad or think that and they've all been proven and people have found people that said i had cancer and then he says your cancer is now gone and they follow those people and track them down they still had cancer or that he cured you know whatever other diseases from people and they always still had those diseases or they never had it in the first place it's it's just straight up fraud but it's on a very detailed you know he's he's got it managed to wear this fraud it's a show it's a show you know they have the there's one documentary where the lady brought her child she's literally carrying her her child who has you know um cerebral palsy and his six-year-old child can't walk and you know she's literally carrying this child and and they they put her off to the side they won't let her go up there and she's walking out crying oh i just wanted him to just you know make her walk or whatever and it's like look but here's the thing god is never going to have benny hin heal that child you know what god wants for that child god wants for that child to be saved and that child is never going to get saved but from some devil like benny hin god wants that situation god wanted that exposure to happen to that lady for that fraud to be exposed to her so you know maybe someone will knock on her door and get her saved so she can get her child saved by giving her the actual gospel that's what god wants for that child it's much more important than whether or not that child ever walks or not their eternal destination is what's important and god is never going to allow some demon to give her hope that maybe that's what her faith should be in he's a fraud he's a cursed and it's good that it's exposed and to her so i mean the benny hin thing it's this how it's still going on i don't know if it still is but how it's still going on just shows you you know i'll get i'll get to that at the end but i'll show you why people are following the benny hints of this world well look let's talk about faith let's talk about faith so we see that you know god never promises us that we're going to be rich god never promises that every sickness will be healed like look paul's a perfect example if anybody if anybody had the faith if anybody had you know reason if it was all about our lives and our faith if anybody deserved to get healed it was paul but we saw that god said no to him look at heber's chapter 11 in verse number one let's look at faith is god subject to faith is god you know are we controlling this faith force that is controlling god is god subject to it look at verse number one let's look at the faith chapter who most people we were talking about this last night um at at home most people misunderstand this chapter a lot of people misunderstand this chapter now faith is the subject substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen you hear that quoted a lot for buy it for buy it the elders obtained a good report through faith we understand underline that so it's this faith that gives us understanding that the works were framed by the word of god that the worlds were framed by the word of god so first of all we don't speak anything into existence the world's were framed by god speaking by the word of god that became jesus christ the world's were framed by the word of god so that the things which are which are seen are not made of the things which do appear i love that verse but first of all two things god speaks things into existence number one and number two it's faith that makes us understand it's by faith we understand no God is the subject of our faith he is not subject to it to say that God is subject to some faith forces to lower God to be a subject of faith it's through faith we understand look at Psalm 147 right in the center of your Bible to book of Psalms look at Psalm 147 it's through faith faith is this thing that we have that helps us understand in verse 3 it's through faith we understand I mean how else do we understand it's through faith that's how we understand does God need understanding look at Psalm 147 verse 5 great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite infinity he doesn't need understanding you can't get better than he fit in infinity folks now turn to Hebrews chapter 12 is God's subject to our faith Hebrews 12 look at verse 2 Hebrews 12 to looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith Ephesians 2 I'll just read it for you for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves it is the gift of God the faith or fact that we can believe God that we can understand it comes from God it comes from our faith and God this faith God's the author of it God's the author of our faith he doesn't he's not subject to it it is complete heresy to say that God is it doesn't even make any sense if you're reading the Bible name it and claim it turns us into God's it is a matter of fact not only is God not subject to anything but Hebrews chapter 11 the faith chapter go back there the faith chapter Hebrews chapter 11 which which I'm sure these prosperity gospel preachers use all the time you know the irony of this whole thing the faith chapter is actually about us not receiving the promises you know that it's actually about these men and Sarah that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11 it's about them not receiving the promises in their life they didn't receive it but by faith they continued anyway Abraham Abraham it says twice he's a he was a stranger in the land the promise he never saw that promise he never he never got that land he was a stranger he didn't receive that promise he wasn't even close to receiving it look at Hebrews 11 33 look what the Bible says it says who threw faith it lists all these men who threw faith subdued kings and kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the miles of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped now now here's what they did receive escape the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned the flight turned to flight the armies of aliens women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection look at verse 36 and others this is what they did receive had trial of cruel mockings and scourging's yay moreover of bonds and in prisons they were mocked they were tortured they were scourged they were they were put in prison they were stoned they were saunas under they were tempted they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goat stands being destitute afflicted tormented that that's what they got in their life of whom the world was not worthy why they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise they didn't receive it in their life they were tortured and killed but through faith they continued through faith we look back so look they didn't receive the promise but through faith that's why their talk so so highly of here because they continued in their lives and they became these great examples for us and of promises that they never even saw we see those things now didn't we see Abraham's promise come through come true as as God did give the children of Israel the promised land and they moved into the promise night Abraham didn't see that he wasn't even close to that turn to Genesis chapter 3 that's the faith chapter what it really means is that they continued like the evidence of things hoped for not seen they didn't see those things yet they continued they continued in their Christian life the origins of the movement are this just in closing let me give you some some you know origins of it really where it comes from at the roots and then I want to show you why people actually follow this movement and why it's so popular and I'm running short on time here we get Genesis chapter 3 look at verse number one now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman ye hath God said you shall not eat any tree of the garden did God really say that and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die for God doth know that you're in the day then the day that ye ether of your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil this is the reason is that it's popular is because it makes people believe that they are as gods it sells because it's great business you know it sells because you have the power to do anything yourself you become a God it's great business because give me your money and God will multiply yours and if God doesn't multiply yours a hundred fold if you're doing your your you know if you're doing your math a year later and you're like yeah brother Jared you said I was gonna have this much money and I don't right now I'm like Hebrews 11 you have no faith go have stronger faith it's it's easy it's it sells great there's an easy out so look you know you aren't rich and successful you have weak faith your sister still died of cancer you have weak faith you know you must have more faith brother get sold out give give give it's very simple but it makes people as gods and wrote look can the Christian be successful can the Christian be successful like because most lies as we saw in Genesis 3 most lies start with a little bit of the truth right can a Christian be successful turned Ecclesiastes chapter 2 yes a Christian can be successful can you follow God in your life and do well financially yes you can but here's what most of the time happens right here look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 most of the time this is how it goes when Christians get really successful this is how it works out and God knows this this is not lost on God that's why we have Ecclesiastes look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse 9 Solomon was rich he had everything so I was great and increased more than all that were with that were before me in Jerusalem also my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever my eyes desire I kept not from them I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor look down at verse number 17 he had everything that he could ever possibly want there was nothing that Solomon said I want that he could not have this is the goal according to the prosperity gospel now look at verse 17 therefore I hated life because the work that I wrought under the sun is grievous unto me for all his vanity and vexation of spirit wealth does two things to us folks the majority of the time becoming wealthy does two things the first thing is it fills us with pride it fills us with pride look at all the you know we and then you know what so I was great so I was great he said so I was great you know we think we're great if we get wealthy and God blesses us you know we think we're great and then we forget about or we turn our back on God we air from the faith as the Bible says and then the second thing it does is it like I said it weakens our faith because guess what you get wealthy you get prideful guess you start to rely on in your life you start to rely on yourself you start to think that you know what I'm really something I'm really something with these business ideas and with all these things and we rely less on God and then guess what when times do get tough or hard we don't have that faith anymore it weakens us as Christians and the main thing look here's the main thing because everything starts with a little bit of the truth turn to John chapter 16 so it's not it's not that you know you can't be financially successful or financially well off and be a Christian but those are the two things that actually usually happen okay it takes the mature Christian to you know keep his focus look here here here's your here's the methodology here's the methodology in your life okay hey I hope you all do well financially but it's got to be a side note for you I hope you all do really well in your jobs and your careers and with your families I hope that everything works out you can pay your bills you get a little bit of money in the bank I hope that's the way it goes for you but it's all got to be a side note and you got to always be focused on what you're supposed to be doing and focus on your faith and everything else needs to be a side note and if you can't keep it a side note I hope you don't do well if you can't keep it a side note and if you're going to get successful and your business is going to blow up and you're going to have a lot of money and you're going to pay off all your debts and all your house and you're going to forget about God I hope you stay broke that doesn't sell I hope you're all broke put that on the front page of the website but if it's going to make you air from your faith I hope you stay broke that is what the Bible is teaching us it's got to keep it's got to remain a side note it's got it look it's just money it's all going to burn I hope you're not broke and I hope you work hard because the Bible says you're supposed to do that stuff but you know what it's all going to burn in the end it's all going to burn look at John 16 but here's what they leave out here's what they leave out the prosperity folks because look doing well on its face is not against the Bible but here's what they leave out John 16 verse 33 these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Jesus is saying I hope you in yourself have peace because as you follow me in the world he's like you're going to have trouble you're going to have trouble out there we talked about it already gonna persecution things are going to happen as people see you outwardly separating and living that godly life you're going to have trouble turn to Hebrews 12 there's God's role too so they leave out the world they leave out the persecution they leave out living godly equaling persecution or tribulation here's another thing they leave out and this is why they don't talk about sin they leave out the God factor look at Hebrews 12 verse 7 first of all none of them are saved because they're listened to a preacher who's a cursed you know your odds getting saved when you're listening to a preacher who's a cursed pretty low look at Hebrews 12 7 if he endured chastening God deal with with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chasing it not but if you be without chastisement we're of all our partakers then you're bastards and not son so look here's the thing you're gonna suffer chastisement in your life too that's why we preach about sin here look that's my prosperity gospel to you is that you don't suffer chastisement that's why we're preaching against sin that's why we're bringing up all these things about getting your lives right and separating and all these different things that nobody else talks about so you could avoid the chastisement of God as saved believers because persecution chastisement will come to the believer those things are left off but first of all they're for saved people so it doesn't even apply to these preachers that we're talking about but let me just end with this why does it sell why does it sell thousands of people come to these things Joel Osteen has the largest church in the United States you know what do we have here about 50 you know this morning if we're rounding up but why does it sell you know what is it you know riches healing you know all these things here here's here's the answer okay people are selfish that that's the answer that's why it sells so well turn to Romans chapter 8 people are selfish turn to Romans chapter 8 people are they're going to those places so they can get something out of it so they can get riches they can get healing they're selfish like what can I get out of this thing and we're never we looked at Paul we are never given the promise of riches we are never given the promise in the Bible of health we're never given that promise God says pray for it in James chapter 5 but we're never given that promise but here's a promise we are given look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 here's a promise let me let me explain to you why God did what he did to Paul here's a promise that you can take to the bank in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 the Bible says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose the Bible here is saying did Paul love God did Paul love God so Paul asked he had a physical problem and he asked God to heal him and God said no God said no but did God work that for the good how many how many people I mean how many times in your individual life have you been inspired by Paul how many times when you look at Paul a man who was beaten and he was tortured and he was he was he wasn't even a good speaker he says and then he has a physical ailment on top of it all and he asked God to heal him and God says no and he says no it's better than Christ is in me and powerful in me and whatever that takes that's the right answer that's inspirational that's inspirational that somebody could go through the most difficult time he says I have suffered more and then he goes into the long list of all the things that happen to him just aside from his physical ailment and if he can do it so can we so God has used that to our good did he use that physical ailment to Paul's good it's more for ours it's more for ours so you see the problem if you go to a church you're just like what can I get out of this thing you're like what can I get out of this thing here here's a here's a here's a just a shocking idea for you here's a shocking just a revelation for you maybe it's not all about you maybe this life this Christian life that we're supposed to be living is not just about me you ever think about that look this this prosperity gospel thing it's an evangelical version of Catholicism it's all it is come here and pay me money to get your relatives out of hell come here and pay me money to get yourself out of hell come here and pay me money and do all this stuff to keep yourself from you know falling out of salvation into hell you know I could do this all day long give me money to keep everyone and your brothers and everybody out of hell or it's even better they're in hell right now that there's there's an urgency to that one let's invent purgatory they're suffering right now check hurry come on come on come on okay they're out look it's just it's the same thing it's the same exact thing with better audio and better lighting that's all it is it's the same story it's the same thing it's just packaged it's just packaged better that's all people because because people you know Satan knows that people are just looking for what others can do for them and by the way it's the same reason that you'll see a lot of saved people leaving good churches because they'll be like oh you know you know church church just becomes about them oh people aren't paying enough attention to me or I'm just not you know maybe they came to the church and people were fawning all over them and then you know that just doesn't happen much anymore like oh I'm not getting out of this what I should but here's the thing you know maybe it's not about you me you know because look here's another thing that doesn't sell coming to church here is work coming to church here is work because it's a way because we're focused on the first works which are focused on other people which are focused on other people other than us it's about getting the gospel out not to ourselves I'm not trying to give myself the gospel every every week we're going out and we're working to get the gospel to others that's what we're doing and we take whatever comes with that on faith that's Hebrews 11 we do what we're supposed to do and when the persecution comes we take it and when the blessing comes we take it whatever if blessing comes it's extra but Jesus was telling us persecution is coming it's coming it's coming why so we won't be offended when it comes you could never go to a church like those people that are listening to the prosperity gospel and preach on sin and preach on that they should be separated I mean say that they did have the right gospel and that that's all the preaching that they heard you could never go in there and say get your life separated get your lives right and let's save your kids from the world you know and start preaching that kind of message because they're going to get hit with persecution they're going to get hit with persecution they're going to get hit and if you don't preach on chastisement you know you're they're going to get chastised by God I mean it wouldn't work it's like oil and water there's going to be effects from sin folks there's going to be effects from sin that's how you know that they're not saved actually because here they are they're Christians they're living the worldly life you know they're Christians are living this worldly life and there's no chastisement it's just all good good good and that wouldn't be the case if they were all saved and they're living this worldly life and they weren't separating it's look that's why we preach on sin here because I don't want you know this chastisement coming on myself you any of us because it's real we're sons we're not bastards we're sons so that's why we preach the way we preach and this church is not focused on the individual the church is focused on the first works which are focused on others and that's really why it sells so well because it just it just feeds people selfishness is what it does but God doesn't want people healed and rich from these heretics he wants them saved and he wants his wrath removed from them and that's why that we have to have a church like this so we can get the truth to people and and they can have that wrath removed from them that's what the Bible teaches let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer