Mo’ Money, Mo’ Purpose // Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (Part 1) – Pastor Michael Todd – Transformation Church

Introduction

This is week one of a new series about stewardship and generosity. Over the next 5 weeks, Mike is going to take you on a journey. This is a series that is going to be in your business and seems like he has had surveillance tracking your minds. It is going to confront your heart issues through your wallet.

Most people do not understand their finances, generosity, or giving. If you don’t have a lot or even if you are rich, and no matter what you are doing right now, your money and your heart are attached to each other. What God wants you to do in this life is not be attached to a tool (such as money). He wants you to manage that tool, but not love it. 

In this series, Mike is going to be the best person to talk to you about this because he used to be completely blinded when it came to money, cash, cheese, dinero, loot, bread (and other slang words for money).

He is starting with confession…money used to control him. It used to dictate his thoughts, actions, associations, as well as his self worth. Mike isn’t going to talk about you today…just about him. Money used to make him feel better about living and it used to make him feel worse if he didn’t have it. Each payday it’s like we get a dopamine hit. You don’t check Instagram first…you check that bank account. Sound familiar? Yes we have all been, or still are, that way. 

Why do you feel so good when you get a tax return? Why does it feel like your life got better when you found an extra $20? It’s your money to begin with…you just lost it. The truth is we are attached to this thing that God called us to manage, steward over, and give away abundantly! However, it’s very hard to give away what you’re attached to.

It’s hard to let go of what is holding you. Through this series, Mike will walk us in a very cautious manner through a subject that many churches fumble. Churches don’t like to talk about this but Mike is just putting all disclaimers out first to let you know that he’s thought through everything that he is about to do and the end is… you living a blessed life.

Blessed life…not a blessed wallet, but a blessed life. God wants every area of your life to be blessed but there is a connection between your resources and your relationship with God. Mike will walk us through this delicately but he wants to give you a few disclaimers. 

Relax.

Mike is not asking you to give TC money. All he is saying is there is no gimmick with this. His heart’s passion is that God’s people would form a right relationship with resources.

There are too many people in God’s house that have an incorrect relationship with resources. If you have a wrong relationship with resources, you can never become a conduit to give them away.

All of the things that God wants us to do as a kingdom of God takes us having resources to be able to be a resource. You can’t be a resource without a source, and you can’t be a resource if you do not give resources to other people. So we have to get a biblically principled idea and thought process around generosity and stewardship, or we are stuck.

So, most of the churches are stuck when it comes to finances, generosity, and stewardship. Therefore, Mike is going to be so real with you through this whole series that it is going to make you confront yourself.

When you confront yourself with God’s help Mike is praying that it will bring transformation. So, Mike is just telling you his goal upfront…he, through this series, with God’s help, wants to break generational cycles of poverty and selfishness. Both of these are evil. 

Poverty is evil. 

Selfishness is evil.

And most of you do not want either one of them but more than likely live at one of these poles. So Mike needs you to be able to get principles that help you live a…Blessed life.

Mike is telling you that where this came from is when he was 25 years old and broke. A pastor bought him $300 worth of books, CDs, and DVDs and told him not to call him back until he read and listened to all of it. Although Mike may not have understood at the time, the pastor wanted him to make an investment.

One of the books was titled A Blessed Life, and those principles jumped off the pages at him and he started telling everybody about it. He even came back to TC to tell everyone he wanted them to do a series called “A Blessed Life.” Recently Mike found the DVDs he made during that series.

He listened to himself at a time when he was broke and in credit card debt, and trying to speak to a group of people who were looking at him and wondering what he was trying to say. The faith that he had to declare that he would be somebody and live a blessed life inspired him and gave him a passion to give you this message today, and give you a word that will have the potential to change the trajectory of your life. This was a year before he became a pastor.

To look at his life eight years later and to know that everything he wants to say to you in this series is not from an idea, theory, or from something they are experimenting with. He has watched God turn his life from something that was broken, dejected, and really ugly, to something that is…

Blessed!

He lives a blessed life. Does that mean he doesn’t have problems? NO. Does it mean there is no suffering and situations he wishes would change? NO. But because he has honored God in the area of finances, stewardship, and generosity, God has transformed him. And Mike’s prayer for you is that by the end of this series, you will not be distracted by things that feel better. As long as you dial in to this series, Mike promises the principles that they are going to talk about will transform your life. 

Are you ready to receive it right now?

Why does Mike talk about this? During this series TC is not asking for any offerings additional to what people have already given. In fact, during this series TC will be giving away $1,000,000! Mike knows what God has done. This is million dollar March.

Mike wants us to know TC is doing the opposite of what people would think they would do in this season because they are called to represent God. Mike wants you to have no distractions receiving this message.

The following scripture is what Mike wants you to see…

Proverbs 11:24

24 The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. 

How big is your world? How much has God allowed you to be a manager over? The key to expanding this is to be more generous. The key to shrinking this is to be more selfish and stingy. And many people, because the paper (money) is priority, they have made a mountain of money, or they think cash is king, or they are committed to the coin. They do not follow God’s principles. That’s why in this series we have to make the kingdom of God a priority. The following scripture is the reason for this:

Matthew 6:33

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

Everything you need, resource wise, will be added to you but first you must seek the kingdom of God. God does not care about paper…He just wants priority. Mike’s question to you today is…

What priority is God in your life? Mike’s point is…

1. Money Should Never Be the Focus…it Should be the Fruit

Entrepreneurs that we see online have made money the focus and not the fruit. If you make money the focus, you will start to make it your idol and you will start worshiping it. However, Transformation Church is not focusing on money. They are focusing on what God has called them to focus on and what is that? They focus on people. When you focus on people, God always provides for people who are focused on other people. It is literally His MO.

If you would give to somebody else; help when they are in the hospital; and if you would meet their needs when they have a baby. If you put yourself in a position in the extension of God’s hands and feet, on this earth, He will always supply your hands. But most people are trying to hoard and be a reservoir when God wants you to be a river….FLOW.

God wants you to have a flow from Him to others. But if money is the focus, it can never be the fruit. Today Mike is challenging everyone. He can feel people’s mindset – He is saying people are thinking, “That don’t apply to me. He don’t know my situation.” … God Does! Mike is never scared. He promises that he has dealt with this in his own life. He broke his bag of poverty over this church and he is coming for you.

He’s coming for you and your family to live a blessed life, for you to be able to get your loved one out of drug addiction, and for you to be able to help the community. You have got to get these principles. Mike isn’t going to let an intimidation spirit come upon him. He’s ready to fight – ready to fight for our family – ready to fight for your freedom – ready to fight for your financial mindset – Ready to fight! Because you deserve to live a blessed life. But it comes from having the right principles. 

We are in a culture in which…

• Most people have $7000 of credit card debt
• $196,000 of mortgage 
• $27,000 of auto loans
• $56,000 of student loans

That is the society we live in but…

Deuteronomy 28:12

12 The Lord will send rain at the proper time from His rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.

Culture…Kingdom

Culture finances…Kingdom finances

Culture generosity…Kingdom generosity

What Mike is saying is that there is always going to be two kingdoms wrestling for your allegiance. And many people, when it comes to finances, would rather listen to a guru who has no spiritual backing, but because they pull up in a Lamborghini, you’d think they’d have the knowledge to help you do what God’s called you to do.

Just for this series, can you go back to the principles of God and make them the priority in your life as you look at your generosity, finances, and stewardship?

YES!

So these are two words you need to understand which will provide some clarity for you as we move forward…

Preparation (talk to yourself about this word because the blessed life isn’t going to come instantly) This is not a get rich quick scheme or a get out of debt so you can do some crazy scheme. We are in such an instant gratification moment that we would not invest now to see freedom later. But the bishop told Mike, “The moment right here of discipline can produce a life of freedom.” Get it in your mind that this is the time for preparation and (the 2nd word is)…

Stewardship which means managing something that is not yours. A lot of you think it’s your money, and your house, and your breath…give somebody else one. You can’t give somebody else a breath cause God gave that to you! When you understand everything you have, you will realize all good and perfect gifts come from the Lord. You are never an owner…just a manager. Everything I have…it ain’t mine. It is under my management under my stewardship. God is the owner…I am the manager. 

So why, when He asks you for something you act like He is doing something to you, instead of for you? God asks us just to manage this life…we have another life. And it is what you do in this life that will prepare you and see what you get in the next life because of how you stewarded right here….Oh Yeah…what is the phrase of the year? 

HERE IS HOLY

So maybe here and how you handle finances and generosity and money here is more important to your purpose and your destiny than anything you’re thinking about in the future. God is saying “Here is Holy.” Your debt here needs to be dealt with; your mindset here needs to be eradicated; your ability to give here needs to go up because you’ll never do it there if you don’t commit to it here. 

2. Preparation Releases Provision &Procrastination Releases Poverty

The only way God releases provision is if he sees preparation. Some of you have already been waiting to do what God told you to do and you’re so arrogant to think that you have another week to do it. He told you to make the budget last year and you literally are so arrogant that you are telling God… “I’ve got time to make the business plan” or “I’ve got time to go to the bank and open up an account.” Then God says, “You don’t know. Who said you got time? You don’t know what I’m trying to do or how I’m trying to do it.”

Procrastination has led to so much poverty, that the church is now needing organizations that do not even believe what they believe to give them a hand out. The reason for this is they will not obey in the seasons that God gives them wisdom of what to do in a world of knowledge. Now you’ve been praying in a compromising position. Do you keep a standard or take the money? 

Some of you have even taken money that was dirty money. You knew the means that this resource came in were not in a way that honored God. But you looked at your bank account and you looked at what you needed and you didn’t trust in what God was doing in your life; you trusted in a system that God uses to give us tools. You compromised your integrity for a little bit of cash? 

Everybody has a number. Some people, hopefully not you, for $15,000, would give up your Christianity. 

For $100,000? Some would literally turn another out…you’d give up your family by making a wrong decision in a bedroom with someone who offered you money. 

For $250,000? There is no amount of money in this world that is worth Mike losing his relationship with God. This is why he is submitting to you that even as we’re starting this series today, he wants you to confront you. Ask yourself how much money has become your God? 

Mike knows this is strong because at the end of the day, this is the stuff no one talks to you about. Do you know about how private we are about our money? Even husbands and wives have secret separate accounts.

People have secret hiding places for money because if something goes wrong and God doesn’t answer…money will. Today Mike wants to confront that thing in you because what God wants us to do is to prepare to get a fresh revelation or a new truth in everything that God has given us around money. 

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems 

When that song came out and Mike heard this it became something that was stuck in his head and began to give him a theology that was not based in the word of God. A lot of things we believe do not come from scriptures. They come from moments in our lives when something seemed right and repetitive and then becomes something that we adopt as the truth.

So as Mike was growing up, throughout college, and when he joined the church, he remembered more money, more problems. When he became a pastor he had a decision to make…was he going to take a concept that was given to him by culture and bring it into kingdom work, or was he going to take it through the filter of the word of God? He searched the scriptures and in the Bible he found out that…

More money, more problems was not at all biblical!

That is nowhere in the Bible. It was something he believed because it was something he confessed, something he said, and he saw other people say it and it became his gospel truth. 

3. What is Repeated and Regurgitated Becomes Gospel to You…Even if it’s Not the Truth. 

This will be true in any area of your life. There is stuff that your family has ideas about that is the mostly backwards and broken up ideas in history. It is what you do and say now because it was repeated and regurgitated.

Like racism… it has been repeated and regurgitated and it becomes your truth even though it’s not the truth. When it comes to this thing about stewardship and generosity, God is saying to us to stop believing that more money means more problems. Instead think about it this way…

4. More Money, More Problems is the Confession of the Poverty Gospel 

Everybody always talks about the prosperity gospel and how it’s bad and it’s gotten a bad rap but that’s not the only wrong gospel we’re suffering from. People are suffering…not from the prosperity gospel…they are suffering, dying, and raising kids in the poverty gospel. Today you need to identify where you are “here”.

God can only bless you from where you are at. Today Mike is presenting a few options to you and he needs you to identify am I here, am I here, or am I here because wherever you are that is where we are praying that God will  transform you from. But if you do not identify, God will not take you or heal what you do not reveal.

And there are tons of people under Mike’s voice right now that are suffering from the poverty gospel. You think, more money, more problems; more money, more responsibility; more money, more taxes I need to pay; I want a tax return…No you don’t.

A tax return means that you gave the government in a year more money than you were supposed to and they’ve given you your money back. You loaned it to them for free but if you need $1000, they are going to charge you interest. People are so poverty minded though they want $4000 so we can get fancy stuff like a TV, put more rims on the truck, take a vacation…more money, more problems. That poverty gospel is fueled by dysfunction and, let me help you…It is motivated and fueled by…

5. Poverty Gospel is Fueled by Fear

When you live in the poverty gospel it is motivated and fueled by fear. What does this mean? I cannot get more government assistance? If I actually get a job then I have to report my income? That means I’m not going to get this house for $300?

You would rather not have the freedom to live wherever you want, put your kids in whatever school you want and have a $300 payment in a cheaper house. Then you’ve sold your life out to the poverty gospel. You are on 7 others’ Netflix accounts? But when you start a business you want somebody to support you? You need to reap what you sow. So you’ve been stealing from the company but what happens when you become a big company? Would you want one of you as a customer?

That is the poverty gospel and that poverty gospel has got you so messed up; has got you not believing God? It’s got you looking at situations like more money means more problems and it’s rooted in the opposite of what God wants us to have. It’s rooted in fear. I need a hook-up or a discount on everything.

 

Mike doesn’t care what gas prices go to…God is the supplier. We will always have enough money to pay for gas because we are not rooted in a fear based on poverty mentality. You think you can’t go to church because you don’t have enough gas…yet you’ll drive out of town for a good time?

What ends up happening with the poverty gospel is that it has passed you by. Your family tells you to hold this and you are like, “No I don’t want it, or no I don’t want to live in that.” Your family tells you that this is your family. You’re like, “I want to apply for school even though we don’t have the money.” Your family asks you who will pay for it? You say, “Dad, I think I can get a scholarship.” And he says that yes you better get a scholarship, then a job, and take care of everything else. So you start holding these ideas, and mindsets. Then because your earthly father told it to you, you think your heavenly Father is saying you should struggle? 

If your earthly father knows how to give good gifts how much more does your Father in heaven give? When we have built up the poverty gospel so much in our head, we willingly receive the struggle because we believe it’s what we deserve.

Poverty gospel is not spending money on the counseling you need and buying a new Louis bag. That is a poverty mentality because you would care what somebody thinks about you rather than actually being whole.

Something else that is the poverty mentality is never being able to pay off your actual bills but walking around looking down on people and judging them cause they don’t drive the car you drive. And there are a bunch of people holding on to the poverty gospel and it is fueled by fear. You’re bootlegging everything like people used to with downloading music from Napster or Limewire. It took Mike 5 years to remove poverty gospel from his mind.

Some of you are living better than you’ve ever lived and you get in bed every night with a poverty mentality. 

Because you yell at your kids telling them to shut the door because they are letting your air out, they are becoming scared of you and you are damaging them forever based on $17 of air conditioning. Mike isn’t talking about being frivolous but is it really worth damaging the relationship with your legacy over a couple of dollars?

Many of our actions have been fueled by the gospel of poverty. Mike doesn’t need you to identify yourself but are you here? Because “Here is holy”. The Bible said that God has not given us a spirit of fear.

Fear is the motivator…fear of running out, fear of not having enough, or fear of losing a job. The only reason we hold on to this mentality so long is because we hold the fear over our heads when we go to work or wherever we go.

You can’t talk without it, love without it, or won’t meet anyone without it. In case God doesn’t come through you want to hold on to some extra money but He made a plan for you…He gave you a vision. But you still are over laying your poverty gospel over the plan of God. 

God’s children, however, will struggle to hold this mentality over their heads. Poverty gospel is too heavy for God’s children, yet many of us don’t just hold it…we pass it to our family members. Or maybe we hold on to it?

We go from being able to handle it to not even being able to stand up unless we hold on to it. We know this is what keeps us stable. Even though you say you work, grind, and hustle, you still have nothing at the end of the month? 

Somewhere along the way we have let the fear motivate us to the place where we believe in the gospel of poverty. A scripture example is…

Matthew 25:24-25

24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

He hid it in the earth or in other words, dug a hole because of fear. What is it called when we are in debt? …In a hole. Whoever has been living in this idea of poverty and has been holding on to the gospel that is rooted in fear, today is your day to be transformed because more money, more problems is an idea that God is not pleased with. And you need to change your thinking but wait…there is an extreme to this.

The extreme of the poverty mentality is the prosperity gospel. Most people/churches have gotten the idea of give and you’ll get but God is not a slot machine.

He is trying to teach you principles and there are results from giving but it is not the motivation of our giving and what ends up happening is the pendulum swings over to more money, more pleasure, which is how people think about the prosperity gospel….

6. More Money More Pleasure is the Confession of the Prosperity Gospel

If I could have more possessions… The more things I have, the more significance I have, the more square footage I have, the more designer stuff I have. People will manipulate to stay in this place so that they can live in the prosperity gospel. And the truth of the matter is God is not pleased with that either. Both the poverty gospel and the prosperity gospel, God is done with. He is tired of these dividing the kingdom because people are either on one or the other and most people are on the prosperity level everyday. 

The poverty gospel is fueled by fear but…

The prosperity gospel is fueled by futility, which means pointless or useless. All this stuff we are buying right now? …Pointless. All the places we are going? …Useless. It’s not going to produce anything in the long run for you but you are still holding it up. Religious people live in the prosperity gospel.

They judge other people and tell them what they should be doing with their money when they are actually the ones that have not found the heart of God around generosity and stewardship. God never meant for you to live in either one of these extremes of pressure. When one parent is in the poverty gospel and the other parent is in the prosperity gospel the kids who are in the middle get the blunt end of the discussions.

For instance, the prosperity parent says you can’t play on the ball team because uniforms are too much; the poverty parent says we are going on vacation but you can’t go on an airplane because it is too expensive so we will drive. You can’t believe God who gave you the resources so you could spend more time at the place instead of driving two days?

Someone who is 28 years old and never been on a plane but you have all the Jordan shoes? Can’t you see how confusing this is and how many hits the kids take? Because they were raised in two cultures that are not a kingdom. We either believe in the poverty gospel or we believe in the prosperity gospel. 

John 12: 5-6

5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6 Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it. 

Judas had a prosperity gospel mentality. He was over the money but when Mary came to pour oil on Jesus’ feet Judas said that she should have used the money for the poor. The poverty mentality and the poverty gospel will make you judge what other people do knowing that you’re a thief.

The reason this is a problem and the reason why we have to identify where we are at, is because God continues for you to give Judas a chance to transform his heart. You don’t think Jesus knew that Judas was a thief? But He let him steward over the money? Who was giving out these positions? Jesus!

For two years He let Judas steward over what he knew what he was stealing. Why?? Because of His love for Judas. Jesus said that He was trying to give Judas an opportunity to change and it was the very thing he sold Jesus out for. 30 pieces of silver…because he had the prosperity gospel running through his veins.

Judas along with many of us have the spirit of mammon. We start picking up the characteristics of the people we are around and there are people that God has brought into your life that you need to take out of your life because they have been giving you lessons from a gospel that is not rooted in the kingdom.

Thus, most of us have the spirit of mammon. Mike just wants us to learn today that there are things that are going on in you that you’ve never had language for but today he wants to give you language to figure out why you’ve been where you’ve been. 

Luke 16: 10-13

10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. This is one of the only places in the Bible that God directly compares Himself to something because nothing else is even worth being compared to Him. But He is telling us that it is either Him or Mammon so we should not serve it. And most people just translate it as money but it is way deeper than that. 

Mammon is an aeromaic word for riches. It was a serian god actually named Mammon and it came from the people in Babylon. Babylon comes from the Tower of Babel in the Bible. Babel or Babylon means confusion or sown in confusion. There was a group of people that felt like they didn’t need God so…

7. The Spirit of Mammon is a Belief That We Don’t Need God if we Have Riches

Most people feel like if I got money I don’t need God…I am God. I can pay for it. If you have cancer, do not worry about the cost, we’ll get the best treatment. I don’t need to worry about money. It’s… if I have resources I don’t need God. It’s an arrogant and prideful spirit that wants you to look to other things instead of God. 

8. Mammon Promises Everything Only God Can Deliver

Mammon promises you identity, security, and significance and only God can give you those things. It promises happiness and only God can give that. It is a lie when we believe in the spirit of mammon.

If I have more money then people will listen to me. That is a lie. If I had more money I would be more loved. That’s a lie. If I have more money I would be accepted…If I had more money they would approve me. Everybody has dealt with the spirit of mammon because all of us at some point have said either I need God to come through or I need somebody to give me some money.

And if you’ve ever said this you have experienced having the spirit of Mammon. Today by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mike believes that God is coming to break the back of that spirit that has been over your family, over your house, and over your life.

God wants you to live a blessed life! God wants you to be a resource and do things that no one has ever done. But you have got to identify where we are “here”. And the truth of the matter is most of us are hanging out at Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (poverty gospel) or Mo’ Money, Mo’ Pleasure (prosperity gospel). Where does God want ALL of us to actually be? 

9. Just Because You Have Experienced Prosperity Does Not Mean You Are in Purpose

People who have money does not mean they are fulfilling God’s plan for their lives. And in our culture we have equated success with acceptance from God. The number of zeros in your account has nothing to do with the purpose that God has placed on your life.

The reason that this is so hard for many of you to even accept is because you’ve attached your identity to money. And you don’t see your value outside of your value. If Mike could tell you anything through this series, you are worth more than anything you’ll ever make. You may not believe it yet. Mike didn’t even believe it for him. It took him years.

And did you know that you can live in both of these worlds at the same time? You can swing from one instance to another instance in your life. God is saying that He doesn’t want you at either extreme. He does not want you to believe either the prosperity or the poverty gospel.

God wants you to believe in the purpose gospel which is mo’ money, mo’ purpose. When we have more money, because our money is directed by God, more money means more purpose. With money we can reach people, help people, rescue people, send family members into rehab…mo’ money, mo’ purpose. The body of Christ is supposed to raise up and help the problem. 

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Purpose!

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Purpose!

The sad truth is most people do not have a purpose for their resources. Most of your money is used for selfish reasons, so that is why God stops flowing it to you. Why do you always just have enough? Because you haven’t found the purpose yet. Mo’ money, mo’ purpose…purpose gospel. Mike has used this whole message for you to see something very simple…to identify where are you? Is it based in fear (poverty gospel)? Or is it based in futility (prosperity gospel)? Or based in FAITH (purpose gospel)?

10. The Purpose Gospel is Fueled by Faith

I have faith that God will supply all of my needs according to His plan. It is not my pleasure nor is it my poverty. It is God’s plan. When He has a plan for my life, all of my resources have a purpose. 

Proverbs 19:21

21 You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

God is telling you that you can make prosperity plans or you can make poverty plans cause many are the plans of the man, but it is God’s purpose that will prevail. So never think again, more money, more problems cause that is a poverty mentality based on fear. And never again think more money, more pleasure because that is based on futility, which doesn’t mean anything. When we think more money, we think more purpose. The purpose gospel is fueled by faith, crazy faith. But this is what Mike wants you to understand…If your paper doesn’t have purpose it’s pointless anyway.

11. The Paper With No Purpose is Pointless

It is pointless because God is saying, “This has to be held up. If it is in poverty, you hold it up. If it is in prosperity, you hold it up.” However, if it is for purpose…it is very easy for us to hold it up because God is helping us. This is what it is like to have a blessed life.

None of the weight will be on you because it is right in the middle of the will of God. The budget for TC is $20,000,000 but Mike sleeps like a baby at night. Why? Because he is not living in the prosperity gospel nor is he living in the poverty gospel. Mike has decided that this church will live in the purpose gospel and as long as they are doing the purpose that God has called this church for, there will always be provision.

You don’t have to hold your weight up or keep it in place because God is doing that for you. As long as you stay in the place of purpose God will be the God of provision. This is what Mike wants you to get in this Blessed Life series. If you commit to the purpose of God for your resources, He will always give you provision.

When you do something in your life for purpose, God will give you provision. Mike started on YouTube and God blessed it because Mike gave every cent he first made from that to the church. He had gone to the poverty level when God told him to do this because the thought that was the only way God could provide for him was for him to take some of that money. But he did everything that God asked him to do and God gave him purpose. 

Who you are is not based on how much money you have. Mike still wants to encourage and ask you where are you at today? Do you believe in Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems? Or in Mo’ Money, Mo’ Pleasure? Or in what Mike is believing in for everyone at the end of this series…Mo’ Money, Mo’ Purpose? An example of this in the Bible is…

1Kings 3:5-14

5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 7”Now Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “ Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for – both wealth and honor – so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you long life ever be moreover. I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor…

What God was trying to give him through obedience was a blessed life. But look what Solomon asked for…purpose. Because Solomon chose purpose, God was pleased with him. Solomon was asking for purpose so he knew how to govern his people. Because Solomon asked to do his purpose, God gave him what he did not pray for which was wealth and a long life. 

12. Obedience = A Blessed Life

Mike wanted to give you, for the end of this sermon, to figure out where you may be at. Because some people drive really nice cars while in the poverty gospel. It does not matter what you have…it’s what is in your heart. That is what Mike will talk about next week. The heart is where God makes and sees what is really in there. 

13. If Your Money Doesn’t Have a Purpose There Will Be a Problem

The purpose with your money can only come from God. You can’t make a plan here and call it purpose. So many people on Twitter are making plans that they made…purpose. But you are in a degree that you will never use when you get in a purpose. That is why Mike tells young people to pray now for what God is calling you to do.

You’ll be either more money, more poverty, or more money, more pleasure but God says, “More money, more purpose.” Mike wants you to stop going back and forth between poverty and prosperity.

There is nothing that you will give up in purpose that God will not give back to you because you are doing it His way. For everybody who is tired of holding it up you need to submit it to God and live in purpose.

Mike promises that if you stay with him through this series, it will be so clear to you about why God gives you resources. God has no problem with money as long as it has His purpose.