Study Notes

I.      Abundant prosperity doesn’t begin to manifest until you start dipping into that which is yours

A.    Returning the tithe positions you at the place where you can give an offering

1.     EX: You can’t keep somebody’s car and then try to give them gas money for the gas you used in the car

2.     Malachi 1:6-10-They hadn’t given God the tenth, but were trying to give him something less than that and he didn’t accept the offering

3.     Tithing is returning to God’s what’s His, offerings are giving to God what’s yours

B.     We can’t just be tithers; we have to be people who live to give

II.     We must get the revelation that what we sow we WILL reap.  The carnal mind fights the idea that when I’m in lack I should sow more.

A.    The seeds/offerings you sow are designed to go out and multiply and come back to you (Luke 6:38-Are giving the “IT” that you want to be given back to you)

1.     It WILL BE given back to you-You can stake your life on that

B.     You will only reap what you sow: what you do not sow you will not reap (Galatians 6:7)

1.     Don’t be deceived-wander, led into error, away from the truth

2.     Are you sowing any money beyond the tithe?

C.    2 Corinthians 9:6-7

1.     You will reap in proportion to how you sow

a.    If you sow a little you’ll reap a little

b.    If you sow every once in a while, you’ll reap every once in a while

c.     If you sow all the time, you’ll reap all the time

2.     7-Purpose in your heart how you want to reap and then sow accordingly

3.     8-God is able, but his ability is limited or enhanced by what you sow and what you believe; if you’ll commit to be a faith-giver he can make your life look like this

4.     10-God ministers seed to the SOWER-show God you’re a sower and He’ll see to it that you’ll have seed to sow

a.    AMP-If he increases you’re resources for sowing, he just increased your resources for harvesting

5.     11-Thus you’ll be enriched in all things and in every way b/c you sow bountifully

D.    Sowing much and reaping little is part of the curse that you’ve been redeemed from (Deuteronomy 28:38, Galatians 3:13)

1.     Release your faith in your redemption from sowing much and reaping little

a.    You seed is protected by the blood that redeemed you from sowing much and reaping little

b.    Psalm 20:3-God never forgets a seed sown

2.     If you are sowing much and reaping little then consider your ways (Haggai 1:4-10)

a.    It’s not the act of giving that cause this to work, it’s the love and faith in your giving that causes the law to work

III.   Be a relentless giver

A.    Ecclesiastes 11:4-6-If you’re sowing all the time you’re guaranteed to always have something coming in

1.     Don’t wait for a good time to sow, it will never come

2.     Stay in the giving mode all the time

3.     Sparingly-Cautiously; don’t sow cautiously, sow recklessly being led

a.    2 Corinthians 9:9-He throws caution to the wind, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.

b.    Psalm 112:5-Be led by the spirit in giving, but you always stay in giving mode

(1)      The generous man appears to be reckless with his money because he gives it so readily, but this is not the case: He is prudent and cautious in his financial dealings because he has the realization that the money is not his own for his is merely a trustee for the distribution of God’s funds

B.     2 Corinthians 8:1-14

1.     2-In the midst of lack they sowed much

a.    MSG: Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit.  The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor.  The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts.  I was there and saw it for myself.  They gave offerings of whatever they could – far more than they could afford!  Pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

b.    The pressure of lack triggered abundant giving

c.     Luke 12:32-33-Why worry when you can sow?

2.     3-They gave beyond their ability to give

3.     4-They were begging them to receive their gifts

a.    They wanted to help out of love, but they also knew they had to get seed in the ground; In a time of lack you need to get seed in the ground

b.    The worse thing you can do for a man in lack is not receive his seed

(1)      1 Kings 17:12-Don’t eat your seed

4.     5-AMP-The entirely disregarded their own interests

a.    Selfishness and trying to be your own provider will keep you from sowing the key seed necessary to see the overflowing harvest

b.    God was going to take care of them; they were going to be givers

5.     5-Everything they had was available to God

6.     7-Abound in this grace of giving; Be this kind of giver

a.    If you’ll abound in this grace, this grace will abound to you (2 Corinthians 9:8)

7.     8-This type of giving proves the sincerity of your love

8.     9-Look at the grace of Jesus he became poor so that you could be rich

a.    He’s not asking you to be poor, He’s asking them to abound in that grace that even Jesus abounded in and through their giving they’ll be rich

9.     12-God looks at the heart in your giving, not the amount you give

a.    Are you and eager and ready giver?

10.  13-You don’t become poor in giving to the poor

11.  14-One purpose of Abundance is to meet someone else’s want

C.    Stare lack in the face and sow your way out (Genesis 26:12)

1.     There’s no better time to increase your giving than when you’re in lack

2.     In a time of lack you use you’re seed as a weapon to beat back lack and usher in abundance

D.    Exodus 35:20-36:7-Too much offering

1.     When it came to the work of God there was too much

2.     36:3,6-They kept giving and had to be commanded to stop-that’s relentless giving

E.     Relentless givers stay on the giving side of life and in giving mode all the time

1.     Matthew 25:35-Be led, but be open to give at every turn

2.     Proverbs 22:9-Always be looking for opportunities to give

a.    Constantly make what you have available  

IV.   You are a distribution center

A.    God wants you to be his distribution center in the Earth (1 Timothy 6:18)

1.     If you don’t have it in the Earth, then He doesn’t have it in the Earth

a.    If I’ve got it, He’s got it, and can have me distribute it

2.     He wants to get it into your hands so that through you He can get it into the lives of other people

a.    What’s not been given to you, you have to ability to distribute to others

3.     If you’re not willing to distribute what you have why do you need more?

a.    Distribution centers are not places that hoard up; they are places that are always overflowing with stock, while they are always letting go what’s been distributed to them (Proverbs 11:24-25)

4.     Are you willing to be the man?

B.     Covetousness is any enemy to your prosperity because it will keep you from letting go

1.     Covetousness and lack, faithfulness and prosperity

2.     Proverbs 11:24-25-Be a big-time giver

C.    Faithfulness in the least is key to going to the next level in financial prosperity

1.     Luke 16:10-How you act with what you have right now, is how you’ll act with more

2.     Matthew 25:25-If you’ll be faithful to hear God and obey with what you have now, he’ll make you ruler over more

3.     If you can’t handle properly what you have, you won’t handle properly any more

D.    Giving to the poor will cause you to prosper

1.     Proverbs 19:17-That which you have given the Lord will pay you again

2.     Proverbs 28:27-He that gives unto the poor will not lack

V.    Whatever you sow is being deposited in your Heavenly account

A.    Philippians 4:9-19-You have a account in heaven  

1.     9-The God of peace-Prosperity, security, and safety

2.     12-He knows how to be abased and how to abound and be content

a.    It didn’t say he was abased, it said he knows how to be content when he’s abased

b.    If your contentment is based on your circumstances, that’s materialism

3.     17-That fruit may ABOUND to your ACCOUNT

a.    Abound-Superabound, abundance

b.    Who’s counting?---Is your account empty?

4.     18-He’s abounding

5.     19-This is for the giver and the giver is who He’s talking to

B.     1 Timothy 6:19-What you sow, you lay up in store for yourself

1.     Lay up-To put away, to store up abundance for future use

a.    For yourself

2.     Foundation-Security

3.     Lay hold-Take possession

4.     So that you can take possession of fullness of life the way God has it

a.    You’re giving has nothing to do with your going to heaven (eternal life)

5.     Mark 10:21-That you may have treasure in heaven, not when you get to Heaven

6.     Matthew 6:19-20-Heaven is a safe investment

C.     What you sow into that account multiplies greatly