 Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez, and you're watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. I want to talk to you about finances. Now, I know this subject has been covered and has been abused in the past, but I want to assure you we're going to take a biblical approach to this subject, but it's still important that you learn about the provision of God in the midst of famine. The first Stephen Mock to Zoom is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship, and then we're getting right into this message. Here's Stephen. So people ask me, do you believe the prosperity gospel? I can assure you I certainly don't believe the poverty gospel, but all joking aside, people do want to know. What do you think about the prosperity gospel, prosperity gospel, and there's all this talk of the prosperity gospel? Now, everybody defines the subject differently or I should say the term differently to one person. Prosperity gospel might mean one thing and to another prosperity gospel might mean another. So let me be very clear. I do not believe that we serve God for what we can get out of him. I do not believe that the Bible promises that every believer will be rich. I do not believe that money is a sign of God's love and favor. I do not believe that you can give money in exchange for a miracle or for a healing. I don't believe those things to me. That is the prosperity gospel. But if by the prosperity gospel, you think that it means maybe that God prospers the believer in times of difficulty. Yes, I believe that. But again, I must stress this. Not every believer is going to be a millionaire. Not every believer is going to be a wealthy business person. We have brothers and sisters all over the world who are under the threat of persecution. Their worry isn't what kind of car am I going to drive or what kind of clothes I'm going to wear. Their worries are about life and death. Their worries about where they're going to gather for church. So I want to approach this subject with integrity and I want to approach this subject with biblical truth. But I do want to encourage those of you who experience or are experiencing economic difficulty or economic uncertainty. And I want to show you what the Bible teaches concerning this subject. So let's go now to First Kings chapter 17. And I want to read verse number eight. I'm going to begin reading verse number eight. Here we go. Then the Lord said to Elijah, go and live in the village of Zarephath near the city of Sedan. I have instructed a widow there to feed you. Now that right there is interesting. Notice that God tells the prophet Elijah. I have instructed a widow there to feed you. So keep that in mind as we continue to read. So he went to Zarephath. And as he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks. And he asked her, would you please bring me a little water and a cup? As she was going to get it, he called to her, bring me a bite of bread, too. But she said, I swear by the Lord, you're God, that I don't have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal. And then my son and I will die. Now, this was interesting to me because remember, God told the prophet, I instructed a widow there. Yet when he gets there, she acts like she never heard the command of God. This is what people do in difficult times when they face difficult scenarios economically or financially. And God gives them a command. The first human response is to pretend like they didn't hear it or to really be dismissive of it or to try to make an excuse to get out of that command. So she tells the prophet, look, I don't have anything. I can't give you this because my son and I were planning on eating this. And then we were just going to die after we ate this. And she gave her excuse. But then the prophet says, don't be afraid. Verse 13, go ahead and do just what you've said, but make a little bread for me first, then use what's left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, there will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and crops grow again. So she did, as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continue to eat for many days. Think about this. She gave her excuse, yet the prophet still confronted her with a challenge to her faith. God had spoken to her. We know that because in verses above God says, I've already instructed her. Yet even though she was instructed by God, she tried to put her excuses out. Now imagine if a preacher were to do that today to some old woman who was in some financial hardship, everyone would criticize him. But the prophet Elijah heard from the Lord and he knew that encouraging her to give, even with her lack, that he was positioning her to walk in the provision of God. Now, let me make something clear. Every curse has been broken by the blood of Jesus. Whether or not you give financially to a ministry, God is going to take care of you if you're a believer. Whether or not you give financially, healing is still promised to you. I often tell people who come to our healing meetings, especially when taking the offering, I'll say, now, let me be very clear with you. This gift that you're sowing is in no way tied to your miracle. And I really resent when preachers tried to make it seem like it is because the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible doesn't teach that God won't heal you if you don't give. The Bible doesn't teach in the New Testament that you're cursed if you withhold a certain amount from a ministry or a church. But look at what the Bible does say. In verse 16, there was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers just as the Lord had promised to Elijah. Now, the Lord already declared through his prophet. Look at this. This is so key. I think very few preachers actually catch this. I want you to notice in verse 12 that that she says, I don't have anything. Me and my son are going to die. And then the prophet Elijah in verse 13 instructs her. And then in verse 14, he tells her that she will always have enough. Now, you notice he gave her that promise before she even gave. Really think about this. The prophet Elijah declared the word of the Lord over her that she would always have enough. So she wasn't giving in order to activate some supernatural flow. She wasn't giving to get that going again. She was giving because she believed and she knew that God was going to take care of her already. So when we give as New Testament believers, we're not giving to avoid some curse that God is sending down upon us. We're giving because it's a demonstration that we believe that God is going to take care of us. So when it comes to prosperity, the biblical definition of prosperity is that God meets your needs and then gives you enough left over to help others near to you. Never does the Bible promise that every believer will live a lavish lifestyle. Never does the Bible promise that every believer will be a millionaire. Never does the Bible promise that all believers will avoid all trials. No, but the Bible does promise is that God will meet your need and God will give you enough to be a blessing to those around you. So why do we give? Do we give to get? No, we get because what Jesus did for us is complete. And that love, that provision is already flowing. God provides for us even if we don't give. Have you noticed that even non-givers have meals? Have you noticed that even non-givers have a place to live? God isn't going to curse you, but you are missing out on the blessing of giving. What is the blessing of giving? The blessing of giving is the joy of participating in the kingdom of God. The blessing of giving is knowing that you're obeying the voice of God because it is disobedient to withhold, but there's no curse that comes on you if you do. But if you live consistently in that lifestyle, then it's that lifestyle that leads to lack. It's that mentality that leads to lack. It's that selfishness, that hoarding, that clinging to material goods that leads to lack. Again, I must stress to you, it is the mindset of the non-giver that leads to lack, not God cursing them from heaven. So I'm encouraging you as a believer, during difficult times, it's easy to say, oh, well, you know, you wring your hands, you say, oh, my goodness, things are getting scary, things are becoming uncertain. And then you start calling all the ministries. You you call your pastor, you say, pastor, I can't give this this month. Or you call the ministry say, you know what, I have to stop my giving because things are tough. Do you realize that when things are tough, the last thing you should stop giving to is the gospel? God is going to take care of you. Believe it. God is going to provide for you. Believe it. It's happened. It's it's already done in the heavenly realm. God has promised to provide. Now, if you believe that promise, you give. So again, getting back to why we give, we don't give to get. We don't give to receive a miracle. We don't give because we're trying to hoard more gain upon ourselves. No, we give because we love the Lord. We give because we trust the Lord. We give because we want to obey the Lord. We give to be a blessing to others. So I challenge you in the midst of economic hardship and the midst of financial difficulty, don't stop supporting the gospel. You may think that you have an excuse. You may think that it's reasonable. You may think that God's looking down and saying, you know what, you are in a tough situation. You really should be wise. Often, let me tell you something. This is the truth. I know it's going to offend some, but you need to hear this. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm trying to tell you the truth because I love you often. We use the word wisdom. To describe what is actually a lack of faith, say that again. We use the word wisdom to describe what is actually a lack of faith. So again, I say to you, we don't give to get. We give because we trust that God has provided. We give because we want to be obedient to his voice. We give because we love him. We give because we know that our future is secure. The world economy could collapse tomorrow, but not the kingdom economy. The kingdom economy is sustained by God and God is reliable. Never do you have to worry because God will provide for you. God will give you provision in the midst of the famine. Going on to read in verse 16 again, there was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised to Elijah. That's the promise of God enough. He'll give you enough to take care of you, your family, and he'll give you enough to be a blessing to others. So step out in faith, hold strong, don't give into fear. Don't believe your own excuses, instead obey the Holy Spirit and trust and know that God has secured your future. Your tomorrow is for sure because God is in control. Now, I want to pray with you. I want to pray that God would give you this faith. Now, when I say that tomorrow is for sure, I'm not contradicting the verse that nobody's promised me. I'm talking about that if you make it to tomorrow, God's going to provide for your needs. But I do want to pray for you. I want to pray that God would give you faith. God would give you courage to continue to be a kingdom supporter. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray now for an inspiration to begin to well up within that one who needs this. Father, there are people watching this right now. Uncertain about their future. Worried about their finances. I pray, Lord, that you would remind them that you are their source. Give them peace in the midst of the chaos in the name of Jesus. We pray I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Well, that is it for the lesson. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you can join the Spirit family, go to DavidHernandezMinisteries.com slash Spirit Church. When you join the Spirit family, you're joining thousands of believers from all around the world who call Spirit Church their church. This is an online church where we gather in spirit. And so I want you to join. It's absolutely free. Again, just go to DavidHernandezMinisteries.com slash Spirit Church. When you sign up, you're going to receive an email from me every single week with the brand new teaching, a brand new worship cover from Stephen Mock to Zuma. And the best part, you can reply to that email for prayer support from our ministry staff and join the Spirit family today. Now over 11,000 members strong. I want to read now your comments. And these comments are actually coming from Stephen Mock to Zuma's cover of the worship song, The Anthem. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to go check out Stephen Mock to Zuma's worship playlist on the Encounter TV Network. Wherever you're watching, be sure to connect with us. If you're watching on Facebook, like us on Facebook. If you're watching on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube in any way you can connect with this ministry. By the way, when you subscribe on YouTube, be sure to click that notification bell so that you can receive notifications from our ministry when we release new content. So going now to The Anthem, here are the comments. Oh, one more thing. If you want me to potentially read your comment on next week's edition of Spirit Church, leave a comment in the comment section right now. So here are the comments from The Anthem. Tony Ruiz 97 writes amazing song. My mom loves your voice and worship and it's so anointed. The next commenter writes, I love this track. Your voice is so beautiful. Kevin P Aquino writes, amen. Jesus won the victory. Condemnation has no place. The risen king lives in me. The move now is of conviction, not of condemnation. May his name be exalted. And Abigail Buffo writes, God bless you, Stephen. I love your worship to God. May God shower his blessing upon you. May God be praised forever in Jesus' name, amen. I love Stephen Moctezuma's worship. He is my absolute favorite worship leader. But I want to talk to you for a second. Don't turn off this video. I know there's lots of great content from EncounterTV that you might want to get to. But I want to talk to you for just a second. If you love this content, you love the ministry and you want to see us continue to release media like this and you want to see us continue to hold events all around the world. The ministry is continuing and during this season, this ministry is thriving. I'm telling you it's thriving. And I want you to connect with that favor. This content is quality. This content is excellent. And we want to keep it coming out. We want to keep doing these events for free. We don't charge for them. We don't charge registrations for our events. We don't charge a paywall to get into our videos. I can't imagine. Can you imagine somebody coming to an event wanting to receive a touch from God and they're walking in and they say, sorry, you can't come in because you don't pay them. You didn't pay the registration fee and that person can't afford it. Or they're wanting to see a video on YouTube and say, oh, my goodness, this is something I've been needing to hear. I want to hear how to overcome depression. I want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. I want to know how to pray for the sick. And then it says, well, actually, that's going to be $20. And they think, I can't pay this. I don't have enough. We don't want to do that. So here's our strategy. You ready? Here's our here's our well thought out strategy for continuing in ministry. Trust God. That's what our ministry does. We just trust God. We trust that God's going to provide in his way. And I'll tell you the way God provides. God provides for ministries through you. He did it with a Levitical priest. He did it with the early apostles. He does it still today as we minister the gospel. It's through you, our supporters. So if you've been considering giving to this minister, becoming a partner, now is the time. Don't let fear grip your heart. Don't believe your own excuses. If you have to cancel Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, all that, it's all it's not going to edify your spirit anyway. So let this be your streaming service. And while you're paying for this streaming service, you're actually blessing others with the content who otherwise could not afford it. So become a partner today, $10 a month, $20 a month, $30 a month. Some of you can do more monthly, but do it right now. You've been waiting. You've been thinking about it. Today is the day to do it. Give a monthly gift, sign up to become my partner, or give a one-time gift of any amount. Some of those larger one-time gifts, those really help the ministry move forward and help us thrive in any season. So this ministry is going and growing. Help continue to make it possible. Help us continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, all around the world, the events and media. Go right now, davidhernandezministries.com, slash donate, do something today. And that is it for this edition of Spirit Church here on the EncounterTV Network. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, make a one-time donation, or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.