 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 a very controversial subject. This is a subject that is riddled with both misunderstanding and abuse. I want to talk to you about money. More specifically, what the Bible says about financial fruitfulness. Now, I know there is a lot of abuse and controversy surrounding the subject of money. This is why I'm going to take a Biblical and balanced approach. But 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. Let's worship now. When I think about the Lord, how He saved me, how He raised me, how He filled me up with the Holy Ghost, how He healed me to the other ones. When I think about the Lord, how He picked me up and He turned me around and placed my feet on solid ground. It makes me want to shout, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Lord you're worthy of all of the glory and all of the honor. You want to shout, thank you Jesus, Lord you're worthy of all of the glory. When I think about the Lord, how He saved me, how He raised me, how He filled me up with the Holy Ghost, how He healed me to the other ones. When I think about the Lord, pick me up and He turned me around and placed my feet on solid ground. You want to shout, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Lord you're worthy of all of the glory and all of the honor and all of the praise. You want to shout, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, Lord you're worthy. So let me begin by making this clear. Nowhere in all of Scripture do we see poverty in and of itself being described as a virtue. Neither poverty nor prosperity are in and of themselves indicators of your spiritual life. If poverty is a virtue and if wealth in and of itself is a vice, then why is heaven so heavenly? Why is there abundance in heaven rather than lack? Think of Father Abraham and many of the patriarchs in the Old Testament. They lived in great wealth. Think of Joseph of Arimathea, a New Testament example of someone who had great wealth. And Joseph of Arimathea was called a disciple of Christ. The culture of heaven is such that there is enough to meet my needs and to meet the needs of those around me. Now what about the love of money? Well, let's take a look at that in 1 Timothy chapter 6. I'm going to read verses 9 through 10 and then for context, we're going to jump down and read verses 17 through 19. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. So the Bible makes it very clear that the love of money is wicked. The love of money, the idolization of money is wicked. Now look down at verse 17 here, teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Now let's stop there at verse 17 just for a moment. Notice that the Scripture says that we are given all that we need, not just all that we need to survive, but all that we need for the enjoyment of this life. Read it again. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them, now this is to the rich, to the wealthy who, the wealthy believers, tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this, they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life, beautifully put there in 1 Timothy, just a powerful portion of Scripture. So there are those who have abused what the Bible says concerning financial fruitfulness. Let's just acknowledge that right up front. They'll say things like every believer is going to be a millionaire. They preach things like health, wealth and happiness as the sign of true spirituality. They teach that God exists to give us everything that we desire. They neglect to preach the cross. They neglect to preach sacrifice. They neglect to preach giving up your life for the sake of the gospel. They neglect to preach persecution and suffering. All of those things are missing in what is called the prosperity gospel. And I do not believe the prosperity gospel. This is why I think we should take a balanced approach to this. Now here's the problem. There are some believers who live on the extreme side of the prosperity gospel. In other words, they preach that if you're a true believer, you have true faith, you're going to live in great wealth and health and happiness. That's not what the Bible teaches. Let's just be clear there. But then there's another extreme and it's the poverty gospel. And they teach that if you have anything that could be considered abundant or a blessing materially, that you therefore must be evil. But neither of those extremes are true. In the scripture we see that the love of money, the idolization of money, the trust in money over God, that's wicked. And you don't have to be rich to love money. Even some people in poverty idolize money. So that is wicked and that must be rooted out from our lives. But then in verses 17, 18 and 19 of 1 Timothy chapter 6 we see that the scripture talks about this reality that we can use the resources God has given to us to bless others. Now here in 1 Timothy it doesn't tell the rich, stop being rich or you're going to hell. It doesn't tell the rich, give up everything or you're not considered a true disciple of Christ. We know that's what Jesus told the rich young ruler. That was a very specific example. But Jesus never told that to Joseph of Arimathea. In fact, he kept his wealth and used it for good works. 1 Timothy doesn't say throw away all your wealth and then you can be considered a true believer. No, it says use your wealth to do good works. Use your wealth to bless people. Now what about for example when Jesus said that it's easier to fit the camel through the eye of a needle than it is to get someone who's rich into heaven? Well here it's debated first of all what that analogy specifically means but even in this context Jesus is not saying that no rich person could ever enter heaven because of their riches. He's talking about that materialistic greedy heart that keeps them bound in the world and tethered to the cares of this world and we as believers must rise above greed. We must rise above those things that ground us in this world in an unhealthy way. We must be focused on eternity. The Bible never condemns wealth in and of itself. The Bible never condemns financial stability in and of itself. It condemns greed and it condemns selfishness. It condemns the idolization of money, the love of money and it condemns putting your finances before the Lord. Now why am I saying this? I'm saying this because many believers have bought into this lie and because believers have bought into this lie that God wants you poor and lacking, because of that lie the gospel message is missing out on the support that it can have to go around the world. Yes, woe to the rich but not because they're rich but because they love their riches and trust in their riches and put their riches before God. People say you shouldn't talk about money, Jesus talked about money. People say you shouldn't take offerings, Paul the Apostle took offerings, just look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9. You know I'll notice that people sometimes will comment on a video or something. Let's say I'm teaching on spiritual warfare or I'm teaching on prayer or I'm teaching on the gift of tongues or I'm teaching on any one of the subjects that I'm covering. They'll listen to the message on the Holy Spirit or on prayer and they'll say I didn't once hear the gospel of salvation in that message and they therefore dismiss the ministry. These are hypercritical people and I'm thinking you know there are some chapters of the Bible that don't talk about the salvation message. There are some chapters of the Bible that don't talk about the gospel, why? Because there are many doctrines that need to be covered to bring us to the fullness of our faith and this especially, this critical hypercritical spirit arises especially whenever someone teaches on finances. People who watch a whole teaching and enjoy that teaching will dismiss the entire teaching because all at the end he took an offering, at the end he talked about money. People are quick to call preachers fake because preachers take offerings but let me tell you something just because a pastor or your pastor or a teacher or an evangelist or a prophet takes an offering for the sake of the gospel doesn't mean they're fake. That doesn't mean that they're a false prophet. Now depending upon how they use those finances, if they say you're giving to the gospel and then they go and use ministry funds for something that they did not say it was for, that's when we're talking about trouble. But here we see not a virtuous attitude, not a righteous attitude. These people who are hypercritical, what it really is, it's mammon. It's greed. It's that which is in their heart that causes them to be offended when people teach on finances. Think about the fact that you can teach on other controversial subjects. You can teach on sin. You can teach on compromise. All these other things and nothing is ever said. But the moment you begin to talk about money, something rises in them. When we talk about financing the kingdom, who wouldn't get behind the cause of the kingdom? Who gets upset when you talk about supporting the cause of the gospel? Now here's what the Bible says, Proverbs chapter 10 verse 22. The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs chapter 8 verse 1 and 17 and 18 says this, Listen as wisdom calls out, Here as understanding raises her voice, I love all who love me, Those who search will surely find me, I have riches in honor as well as enduring wealth and justice. Do you realize that wisdom properly applied brings wealth? Now, if wealth is a benefit of wisdom, how can wealth in and of itself be wrong? Wealth is a tool that helps to establish generations and helps to establish causes. Money is actually a good test of your heart. Matthew chapter 6 verse 21 says, Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also. Now I could stand here and go through example after example after example with you in the scripture. And we can even address those scriptures that people will say, Well, here the Bible condemns wealth and I could go down each and every one of those verses and show you how it's not the wealth in and of itself being condemned, but the heart that pursues wealth above God. So let's be clear here. I'm not preaching the prosperity gospel. I'm not preaching the poverty gospel. There is a biblical and balanced way to approach finances and that is through truth. That is through understanding. Don't go to either extreme. Look, it is wicked to love money. It is wicked to be greedy. It is wicked to be influenced by the spirit of mammon. We understand that, but at the same time, we must not become critical of ministries that ask for resources to further their cause. We must not become critical of ministries that speak biblically and truthfully about finances. Now you know me. I'm just going to teach what the word says. I love you. It's never my goal to offend, but if I offend you by sharing truth, so be it. The Bible is the word of God. And when you're faced with the word of God, you're faced with the decision. Do I adjust my own personal preferences around this? Or do I just take what the word of God says? Many times the way people complain is based not on the word of God, though they say it is. It's actually on their personal preference. They say things like, well, Christians shouldn't have wealth or Christians should be poor and this should be the lifestyle that they live. And that is not at all God's will. Is poverty God's will? Let me ask you, is poverty God's will? Poverty brings stress. Poverty produces sickness. Poverty produces starvation. Poverty produces lack. Poverty crushes dreams. Poverty destroys hard work. Is that God's will? No. Now again, I'm saying this again and again and again because I want to make sure you're not hearing what I'm not saying. There must be a balance. Don't go to the extreme of prosperity preaching and don't go to the extreme of poverty preaching. Stay with biblical preaching. There are three biblical keys and I'm going to give them to you. Three biblical keys to seeing financial fruitfulness. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9. This is where Paul the Apostle takes an offering. Now imagine people writing to Paul the Apostle. Paul, we saw that you took an offering but you shouldn't talk about money. Just trust God. That's religious thinking but that's not biblical thinking. Paul, you shouldn't talk about money because it makes you look bad. That's religious thinking but that's not biblical teaching. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 60-15 say this. Remember this and he's talking about money here. A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And I love this part right here. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. There is a biblical key right there. When people start to manipulate you for your money, run the other way. It's one thing to be challenged. It's one thing to be motivated. It's one thing for someone to present a need, present a project, present an idea that they want to get funded. It's another thing for someone to tell you that if you don't give this exact amount of money, if you don't give this quote, $77 seed end quote. And I'm not quoting anyone in particular there but you kind of get the idea of the types of offerings that maybe go along those lines. They'll say things like a $77 seed. And in seven days you'll have seven fold of all the debt that you lost. And I'm thinking, man, that's a gimmick. When it comes to generosity, we mustn't give in response to guilt. We mustn't give out of greed. And we mustn't give in response to gimmicks. Greed, guilt, and gimmicks are not reasons to give. We give because we have generous hearts and we believe in the gospel. It's just that simple. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. Watch this now. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Now that really right there is the definition of biblical prosperity if you want to even call it that. God will generously provide all you need. Well there your needs are met. Now watch this, then you will always have everything. It doesn't say you will sometimes have some things. It says you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. I love that. That is the biblical definition of financial fruitfulness. Your needs are met and you have the resources to fund an orphanage. You have the resources to pay someone's grocery bill. You have the resources to help a friend with the medical bill. You have the resources to help someone pay off a student loan. You have the resources to feed the hungry and house those who are homeless. You have the resources to do good in this world for the sake of the gospel. How are we supposed to do those things if we're stuck in poverty? How are we supposed to do those things if we're being weighted down by debt? God wants you free from debt not for the sake of your own greed, not so that you can live a lavish lifestyle, but so that your needs can be met and so that you can be a blessing to others. Continuing to read as the scriptures say, they shall freely and give generously to the poor. I love that. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. Now verse 10 says something powerful, for God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bred to eat. In the same way, he will provide an increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Guys, Paul is still talking about money here. He's saying, God will increase your resources. Why? Not so that you can consume it upon your lusts. He will increase your resources in proportion to how you give. In other words, if you're a generous giver to causes of the gospel, then God will take note of that and say, I can trust that one with resources. I can trust that one to be a blessing to others. I can trust that one to feed those who are hungry. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. There's the purpose of it. Let's read that again. It's so powerful. Yes, you will be enriched in every way. Why? So that you can be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving. The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God for your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift, too wonderful for words. So the Bible is absolutely clear on this. Yes, there are instances in the Bible where the rich are condemned because of their hearts, because they withhold this, because they're greedy. Here the Bible gives us a clear picture of what generosity looks like. Fear grips finances and holds it close. Love releases it. So number one is generosity. Now I'm all for the practical, but the practical isn't supernatural. God's plan for supporting His work goes all the way from the Old Testament to the New. Think about the Levites who were supported by the offerings of the people. Think about the Book of Acts. The apostles were supported by the offerings of the people. The people of God fund the work of God. Generosity releases the flow of God's provision in your life. Can you surrender this part of your heart? Do you know why people have such issues with preachers talking about money? Because in their heart, they don't want to let go. They may say, well, I am a giver. Well, yes, but to a certain degree. God wants us to be generous. God wants us to be godly in our giving. In other words, reflect His heart in generosity. And when we give to the gospel, we're producing that harvest of generosity. Give and it shall be given. Not it shall be given, then give. You want God to touch your finances, but will you let your finances touch Him? We surrender so many areas in our lives. And most people, they want their ears tickled. They just tell me what I want to hear. Don't tell me the truth. I want to compromise. I want to know the lie that comforts me. I'm not going to be that preacher. I can't be that preacher that tells you a comforting lie or that tells you what you want to hear. The reality is, is that money is the test of the heart. And we must surrender this area of our lives as well. We join our gifts together for impact in the gospel. We're a blessing. We're a blessing to others through generosity. So number one, generosity. Number two, stewardship. Now, in 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse 10, let's read this verse again. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In other words, God's the one who gave you the resources to give. God is the one who supplied you with that. God is the one who trusted you with that resource. And if we can't be trusted with earthly resources, how can we be trusted with heavenly resources? In Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 30, we see a powerful illustration of stewardship. And God takes from the one who has little and actually gives it to the one who has more. Why? Because the one who has more was responsible with what he had given to him. Society has it wrong. Society has it backwards. It's actually greed that causes people to hate the successful. Not realizing that God has given them that same power to succeed. And in good stewardship, you find success, but you need generosity and stewardship. Some people, they give to God's work, but they don't take care of their finances. And so their finances are in disorder and they remain in debt. They remain in lack. Some people have great stewardship. They take care of their money. They know down to every penny what they should and should not spend, but they lack in generosity. We need both generosity and stewardship if we're to see God bring financial fruitfulness. When you can give with what you have now, it is a sign to God that you are ready for more, taking care of what you have, that practical management, that practical stewardship, doing what you're supposed to do with what you have right now. That's godly stewardship. Look, I love God's people. And I want you to be equipped, especially for the days ahead. I want you to be equipped to know that you're walking in faith, to know that you're walking on that path, to know that you're sustained by the hand of God as you obey Him. Generosity and stewardship. Can God trust you with abundance? Can God trust you with overflow? You know how to answer that question. Can God trust you with abundance and overflow? You answer that question by how you handle what you have right now. That is stewardship. Without generosity, the stewardship of your finances requires no faith. Without faith, how can your financial management be pleasing to God? So number one is generosity. Number two, stewardship. Number three, faithfulness. Galatians chapter six, verse nine says, so let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Whatever you do that's good, keep doing it. Most good things take time. And as you persist in this spiritual momentum, you will see results. Some people are great stewards and they're great givers and they say, Lord, I've been doing this for a couple of weeks. I've been doing this for a couple of months. How come I haven't seen the change? You will see the change as you persist in what is right. If you will persist with good stewardship, stop spending what you don't have. Stop spending money that you don't need to spend. And you are a generous giver. In other words, you plan generously to give. If you will do those two things, be a good steward and be generous. You will see biblical financial fruitfulness in your life. Some people begin to sow into ministries and after only a few months, stop because their financial situation doesn't seem to be getting as they would put it, blessed. But what God blesses is long-term generosity and stewardship. And so those are the three biblical keys to financial fruitfulness, generosity, good stewardship and faithfulness, consistency in your stewardship and generosity. Let's pray now. Let's pray that God would give you the faith to be a giver. Let's pray that God would bring a blessing, not for you alone, but so that you might be a blessing to others. And if you're struggling in this area, there's that part of your heart that you just can't let go. It's time to let it go. And it's time to surrender to God right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray you would stir our faith to be generous givers to the gospel. Speak to us. Speak to us. Show us how we can sacrifice. And Father, I pray for those who struggled in this area. I pray for those who've been hurt, who've been abused by spiritual leaders, who pressured, who applied guilt out of greed. I pray you help them to trust again, Lord. Help them to trust that they may be participants in your wonderful work. I pray today, Lord, that you would bless your people, meet every need, Lord, as your word declares, and bless them that they might be a blessing to others, to their family, to their loved ones, to their friends, to those who don't yet know Christ. In the name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Well, that's it for the lesson. I wanna welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you, we're praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you can join Spirit Church, go to davidhernanisministries.com slash spiritchurch. And now to your comments. These comments come from the video. It's a short sermon. How to grow spiritually. Three keys. If you're looking to strengthen your spiritual life, make sure you go and watch this teaching. It's very short. Again, it's how to grow spiritually three keys. And while you're searching that out, make sure you're following us on all of our social media platforms. And make sure when you're on YouTube subscribing that you click the notification bell so you can receive notices when we put out new content. So here are the comments from how to grow spiritually three keys. Word culture writes, thank you David for your obedience to Jesus. I love every word you minister by the Holy Spirit. It's literally changing my life by adding depth to my walk with the Lord. White tea, Samuel BR writes, thank you brother David. This message really helped me and is so timely. This is the Holy Spirit's ministry. God bless you. Cyrene Jarte writes amen and amen. Thank you for this very important message. Emanuel Efrain writes, thank you Pastor Diga. Your ministry has blessed me. May God bless you more. Well, it's the Holy Spirit's ministry. This is the Holy Spirit's channel. This is the Holy Spirit's work. And to Jesus belongs all the glory. Gretchen Tiangzon writes, hello Pastor David, waving from the Philippines. Ever since I was a young Christian, your teachings have helped me with so much of my growth. I will always come back to your YouTube channel to watch your videos because you are an amazing man of God. God bless you always. I'm so privileged to be even a small part of your spiritual growth. And remember, I'm just the messenger. I'm just the mailman. You're the one receiving messages from God Almighty. And it's the Holy Spirit who does the work. And really lives are being touched all over the world because of the work of the Holy Spirit through this ministry. Now I wanna share something with you that is really actually a big announcement. We announced this a while back, but maybe you've not heard, but we are building a second studio in Austin, Texas. We're gonna keep this studio here in Southern California, but we're building a second location in Austin, Texas. This second location isn't just going to be another studio. Here we have a studio. We have a small audience sometimes that comes in. People, partners wanna come in and sit in on the tapings. That's something we said we would do and we're doing it. But we wanna expand that even more. In this new studio, we're gonna have seating capacity much larger than here. In this new studio, we're actually even going to build servers that will help us to build our own video platform so that we don't have to worry about censorship. And we can build that platform, I believe, by the wisdom of the Spirit. We're gonna also build what's called the Revival History Museum. It's gonna be on site. There's so much to this new studio. I want you to check it out and take a look at our progress in our fundraising. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash expand. To get the latest on this amazing project, this project will be transformative. This project will help our ministry grow exponentially and therefore to reach more people than ever before. So go today, look at our progress and then ask the Lord, how can I be a part of this? Ask God to show you in your heart where you can surrender, where you can sacrifice and then give generously to this project that we might see even more soul safe. See, sometimes we look at big projects like this and we say, well, let me see if everyone else is gonna give and then I'll jump on board. I assure you of this, we will raise every dollar that we need to complete this project. It's gonna happen because God gave us the vision. Now you can participate in what God is doing but don't wait for others to jump on board. Jump on board now, give sacrificially and be a part of this amazing next chapter in our ministry. Again, to see the progress update and to see even concept photos there's even a 3D tour you can take to go see all of this and to give. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash expand. Well, that is it for this edition of Spirit Church Here on the Encounter TV Network. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching Encounter TV. 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.