Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Staking Your Financial Claim
With remarkable clarity, Pastor Griner unpacks 2 Corinthians 8:9, revealing that Jesus became poor specifically so we could access divine abundance. The theological foundation laid here turns conventional religious thinking upside-down: poverty isn't holy or spiritual—it's part of the darkness Christ delivered us from. Just as you wouldn't glorify God by remaining in sin or sickness, you shouldn't accept poverty when your freedom has been paid for.
But let's get into the Word together. The Word and the Spirit. We need both. Let's say this just lift your Bibles up, wave them around. Make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Say this together. Say, heavenly Father, I'm so glad for Sunday night I came to be replenished. I'm drinking deeply of the Holy Ghost. Holy Spirit, shine your light on the Word, give me revelation for the time that I'm living in right now. This Word is applicable to my situation. I do not rule myself out. I draw a circle around myself. This Word is speaking to me. I'm included in this Word tonight and I thank you for revelation that will build my faith to receive all that it contains. In Jesus name, amen. Let's turn to second Corinthians, chapter eight, and while you're turning, find Colossians, chapter one, and we'll get into the Word together and see what happens.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 8 and 9 says For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, everybody say my sake he became poor. That ye remember I say that's me through his poverty might be rich. So the might there is not on God's side. It's settled. He paid the sacrifice, the same sacrifice that took our sin, the same sacrifice that took our sicknesses, took our poverty, it's all the same sacrifice that we might be rich. Rich means have an abundant supply. Might is on our side. When you see the word might in the epistles, it's never talking about God's side. It's never talking about, well, god might or he might not. No, he's already done it. The might is on our side. We might receive it or we might not. I mean, if we don't believe it, we won't receive it. We won't walk in it. It will be paid for. The check has been paid and we left with a peanut butter sandwich when we could have had spare ribs, you know, or baby backs, or pork bellies, or whatever you're, you know, whatever. You see what I'm saying? All right. And then I'm saying All right, and then so it's. It's, it's part of what Jesus bought and paid for at the cross. All right.
Speaker 1:Now there's Colossians, chapter one, verse 12, giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet. The word meet really just simply means to be able or worthy, but it really means able. He's made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light, who hath delivered us past tense from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption. Through what? Through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is a poor translation. It's really remission. We have more than forgiveness we have the remission of sin. There is nothing that we have held against us.
Speaker 1:The devil will try to lie to people and bring up their past before they got saved. Well, I lived a sinful life. Well, I did too. I think everybody that ever was a sinner lived a sinful life. By definition, you know, I mean just a matter of degree. I mean, maybe I didn't do what you did, but I'm still a sinner period, end of story. And the biggest thing was I was lost and on my way to hell. That was the biggest thing. It wasn't even the sin that was the problem, it was the fact I wasn't born again. But no, the sin has been remitted. And yet there's millions of Christians that will let the devil lie to them and say well, you know, you're just paying for the sins of your past life. You're in this problem, you've got this trouble because of your sin. Well, that's a lie. Otherwise this scripture is lying. How many of you believe the scripture over some religious baloney that somebody informed you about? No, we have remission of sin. In other words, it's blotted out. So tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Staking your Financial Claim. Your financial claim. Staking your financial claim During the California gold rush, would-be miners some of them were miners and some of them were just, you know, excited about the gold.
Speaker 1:They didn't know anything about mining, they just showed up, you know, but anyway they showed up and they would stake their claim by establishing the boundaries with wooden stakes. I was watching this movie with Tom Cruise, this old movie, back in the 90s, and it was the story of the Oklahoma land rush. You know, remember, they all lined up, you know, and they fired the gun and they all ran out there in the middle of Oklahoma and they planted their flag, you know, and they each got how many acres, 160 acres, I think. I mean a lot of acres and they staked their claim, you know, and it's kind of similar, I mean, you know, there's a lot of cutthroat, a lot of action goes on, and so in the gold you had that too, because gold was valuable and there was a lot of it, they had discovered it, and so they went over there and they staked their claim, they put the boundary of their claim in a wooden stake. And don't you dare come on my property and start mining for gold. It's mine, I'm going to mine that property for gold.
Speaker 1:And then as they mined and they found gold, then they were able to from their own claim, you know, they were able to keep the proceeds from selling the gold. Now can you believe gold is like $3,200 an ounce now it wouldn't take a lot of ounces to make you pretty well, but I mean last year was $2,400 an ounce and the year before that it was $1,600. I mean it's just gone crazy and it'll go back down again. But it's always a valuable thing. Gold is valuable. But here in 2 Corinthians 8, 9, we had one who staked our claim for us. Jesus staked our financial claim for us. Jesus staked our financial claim for us.
Speaker 1:We have a right and Colossians talks about an inheritance. We have an inheritance that belongs to us because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and we can receive the benefit of that claim if we stake our claim by what? By faith. Everybody say I'm staking my claim by faith. And so when it says here in Colossians 1, we've, you know, in Colossians 1, let's get that verse back in front of us here who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. We've been delivered from the power of darkness. Darkness includes not only sin, but all the effects of sin. It includes sickness, disease, but all the effects of sin. It includes sickness, disease, bondage of all kinds. It includes poverty.
Speaker 1:Jesus said in Luke 4, 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. What could be the gospel to the poor? You don't have to be poor, no more. I mean Jesus. That was first on his list. He was sent to the poor to say hey, you've been released. I stake the claim for you. You've got an inheritance coming. That's the good news we have.
Speaker 1:But instead, you know, we get all wrapped up in helping the poor. We don't. We don't help the poor properly. You know, if we don't, if we're not telling them what, what their rights and privileges are in the word, it doesn't matter how much help we give them. We give them help in town, from now on They'll never have enough help. They'll never get enough food. They'll never get enough help. They'll never get enough help if they don't find the truth, because that's the gospel.
Speaker 1:And the gospel in Romans 1, 17 says the gospel is the power of God unto abundance. No, it doesn't say abundance, it says under, you know, under salvation. Well, salvation includes abundance. When you read the word salvation, it includes money. It includes what you need to live on this earth. You know God knows you have to have money to live. We're not trying to, you know, lift money up and be money grubbers and love money, but we do need it and we need to operate. How to receive it? How do we get what belongs to us so that we can be a blessing? You know, we're blessed to be a blessing, but if you don't receive what's yours, you can't really be much of a blessing.
Speaker 1:Listen, I've been rich and I've been poor, and when I was poor I wasn't much of a blessing. Any other way, except what I could say, I sure couldn't help anybody out of my pocket. I mean, I went for a few years there where I didn't even have a credit card. I was so broke they wouldn't even give me. I paid Visa off and they canceled my card. I mean, thank you very much. I paid the entire thing. I didn't ask you to forgive any of it. I paid the whole thing off and the next thing, I know you canceled my card. I don't even know why I do business with Visa. I guess I forgave them.
Speaker 1:Whatever, you rascals, now we know why they have these skyscrapers and marble lobbies, high-speed elevators going to the 100th floor. That's why they know how to make money off of folks. All right, so then we've been redeemed from poverty by the blood of Jesus, and so then all we have to do to mine our legal claim is that you're going to have to dig. You're going to have to dig into the word of God and find out what's yours. You've got some. You've got your part to play. I mean, in other words, you don't just go through life and all of a sudden this stuff starts coming your way. You've got to learn how to mine your claim.
Speaker 1:Have you ever watched that that gold show? You know where they get in there and they, they move all that, all that soil. I mean they've got these heavy equipment and I mean you know they're working and I don't know how many million dollars worth of equipment they've got on the job, but when they get through a whole day, they've got a handful of gold dust about this big. I don't know what that's worth, but it's not worth all that machinery. I can tell you that right now. But I mean, they're still up there in Alaska. Still they're mining the gold. They're mining for gold, it's gold. It's gold in a lot of places on the earth, but your supply is somewhere and you're going to have to mine your claim.
Speaker 1:Everybody say I'm mining my claim and all you have to do to mine your claim is to operate according to the laws of sowing and reaping, operate according to the laws of giving and receiving. We can put it that way. Everybody say giving and receiving, sowing and reaping, and so we have to stake our claim by faith. See that you might have an abundant supply. Jesus made poor so that you might have an abundance that you might have. So the might, then, is on us. So, by faith, I'm preaching this word.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of ways to preach the prosperity message. I've been a career. Oh, you're one of those prosperity teachers. The guy that I bought these yellow shoes from got offended. He looked me up on Facebook, looked me up online, found out, you know, I'm a pastor and I just, you know, spent a lot of money with him on shoes and he was stupid enough to call me and try to. Oh, you're one of those prosperity preachers. I said aren't you glad I spent a whole lot of money with you? You ought to thank God for me, boy. I mean, I gave it back to him. I was on the phone. I mean he wanted to get off the phone real fast because I would not listen to this goofball. And you know what? I found another company to buy my shoes from. For about two years he didn't get any business from me. How dumb can you get and still breathe? He's religious. You know he's been taught wrong. Hey, stupid, are you in business for? Are you a charity? I didn't realize you were a charity. You're selling shoes to people for charity.
Speaker 1:How come I didn't get a discount? Why didn't I get a 50% minister's discount? You know that's something I never do. I never ask for a discount. This church never asks for a discount. We pay, you know. We pay competitive. Now we're going to put stuff out on bid, we're not going to pay too much, but at the same time somebody gives us a price. I don't come back and say, well, now we're in charge. You know, can you give us a discount? My heavenly father takes care of me in grand style Anyway.
Speaker 1:So we have to stake our claim by faith. So you have to believe. What you believe makes all the difference in the world. And if you've ever been taught that somehow it's holy to be poor, that that doesn't just go away real easy, you've got to. You've got to dig down and get that. That's kind of like johnson grass. Have you ever had johnson grass in your yard? I mean it. They've got no-transcript. You start pulling it up and then there's root over here and you keep pulling up and finally the root breaks. Well, you didn't get it all. It's still going another six feet under the ground and you might have pulled up a little bit of it, but it's going to pop up right over there in a short time. And so that's the way religion is. If you've been taught wrong, I mean you know, I thank God that after I got saved I didn't get any of this junk In my recreated human spirit. I got taught right. Because if I had, if I had gotten saved and stayed in the Catholic church, where they, where they, you know, lift, lift up the vow of poverty.
Speaker 1:Everybody that was an authority figure in my life in my younger days the nuns and the and the and the priests, and we had a Monsignor. So he's a step above a priest, he's just under a bishop. So you got the Pope and you got the cardinal, and you got the archbishop and bishop, and then you got Monsignor and you got the priest. They got all these levels. Lord, we just believe that the cardinals are going to elect a good pope this time and stay away from these communists, these Marxists. What a lousy pope. That guy was man. I understand why they're saying all these good things and Trump's at the and you know he went to talk to the leaders. I mean, I know, but he's got a billion Catholics that are looking at him and a lot of these Catholics are deceived. They're calling this pope, who was, was a Marxist, the people's pope. What people? Is it Communist China? He sure isn't the pope of the American Catholics because he was against America.
Speaker 1:God told me before he took over and when John Paul was still alive, he said you know, john Paul's about to die. The next Pope is not going to last long and the Pope after him is going to be anti-Semitic. Well, I didn't understand that and I thought why is God telling me that? Well, god wanted me to know, because it's an important thing in our world. We ought to. You know, it's a prophetic thing to know that. So, sure enough, john Paul died, it wasn't a surprise. And the next guy took over and he didn't last. I thought didn't last. What does that mean he's going to die? No, he was the first Pope in 600 years to resign while he's still alive. And this guy was elected and he is a Marxist.
Speaker 1:As soon as I knew he was a Jesuit, I knew he was bad news and, I'm sorry to say, a lot of folks in our camp didn't know that. They just thought he was fantastic. Well, they were wrong. See, I thank God for inside information, but it's okay to pray for the Catholics because this next, you know what's going to happen. What if they get another one like him? I mean, that's I don't know. That's not good for a whole lot of people. There's a whole lot of people that are deceived. There's a whole lot of people that put a lot of stock in the Pope. I'm not one of them, but anyway, everybody that I was associated with as growing up.
Speaker 1:They had the vow of poverty, the nuns vow of poverty. They dressed in a little black nun's outfit. You know little Irish. You know Sister Mary Ernestine, sister Mary Fabian, sister Mary Immaculata, whatever all their names. And then the Pope, I mean the Monsignor, he was a very scholarly man, wonderful guy, he was sweet. But then their associate pastors came straight from Ireland. They spoke with that Irish brogue, you know, all of them took vows of poverty.
Speaker 1:So you think, as a kid must be holy to be poor. Of course they live in a two-story house and drive a 57 Cadillac, but other than that they didn't live poor, they didn't eat poor. I guess they wore poor black all the time. They didn't have anything. Well, they had the vestments. You know those priest vestments, you know. So those are fancy, but that's just for mass. They don't wear that, you know, every day. So the vow of poverty to me was holy.
Speaker 1:Well, when I got saved I learned something. I learned that God wants to bless me. I learned that the gospel to the poor is good news. You don't have to be poor. It's not holy to be poor. It's just as bad to walk around in poverty when Jesus paid the price as it is to walk around in sin and you don't ever do anything about the sin. You don't ever do anything about the sickness. You don't ever do anything about the bondage. You just go ahead and walk around sick and bound and broke and don't do anything. Well, that doesn't glorify God. Everybody say I'm glorifying God in my finances.
Speaker 1:So it's up to us to stake our claim by faith. I'm telling you how huge are the resources that go unclaimed. Unclaimed blessings because of ignorance, because of bad teaching, wrongly divided word of truth. People think that somehow it's just better to do without, it's just. Oh well, I just don't, I don't, I don't go for money. Well, you need money. You know I don't live for money. Money comes my way, it comes from because I'm a sower and a giver.
Speaker 1:The law it's, there's a law of sowing and reaping that just as powerful as the law of gravity, in fact more powerful. And if you learn to operate in it, you're blessed. And you're blessed to do what? To be a blessing? I mean all the years that I, that I fell off, you know, and, and and the reason that I fell off wasn't because I didn't know what god's will was. The reason I did is I didn't follow the Holy Ghost accurately in my business.
Speaker 1:So following the Holy Ghost is absolutely necessary for you to be blessed, because unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain that build it Unless the Lord keeps the city, a watchman waketh, but in vain. So you know, you start building houses, like I did when you just build in presumption, you presume, when God the whole time is trying to put the brakes on and saying, no, son, don't, don't start any more houses. This is not. I've got this other thing for you to do. I've got this other thing for you to do and I just I ignored the witness of the spirit and so that's why I went through a lot of trouble. I mentioned that this morning about living with my sister. You know that that wasn't a lot of fun, but I, we did it. Thank God for my sister, thank God she had a place big enough to for us all to be there. But uh, it wasn't God's best and it wasn't God's best and it wasn't because it was his will, it was not his will. Everybody say I'm following the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:So we in Luke 6, 38, it says Jesus said give. He said just one thing give. That's all he said. And then he tells you what all's gonna happen when you do it. It starts one thing give, that's all he said. And then he tells you what all is going to happen. When you do, it Starts a chain of events Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give unto your bosom? So you start giving and people line up to give back to you. That's how it works.
Speaker 1:And who gives it to you? Men, people, not necessarily a male, but a people. People will give to you. Where else do you think it's going to come from? Is it going to come from heaven? No, it's not coming from heaven. God doesn't have any money to rain down there. So if you give, your harvest is out there in the hands of men, and now those men are going to get.
Speaker 1:Finally. They're going to become kindly affection toward you and God can give you favor. With the right people that will cause money to come into your account. Maybe it's in the form of a good job, it might be in the form of a good customer, if you're in sales, or it might be in the form of somebody just plain old giving you something. And, of course, when you're in the ministry, people give. But we're not all in the ministry, most of us are working and so forth. So how do men give? Do men just come up to you and write you a check? Well, rarely. That's not how it's going to be. But God can give you favor. God can give you favor with the right people at the right place at the right time. I mean, you can hook up, you know, and your career can take off in a mighty way. I see it happen. So 2 Corinthians 9. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians, the next chapter, over Talking about staking your financial claim.
Speaker 1:This is your milestone. This is a year of milestone and I want you to stir yourself up that this is going to be milestones financially for you this year. We've got over half a year left. It's not too late for us to see some financial milestones that are just absolutely wonderful. I mean, how many can stand to have some things happen to you financially that you look back and say, wow, that took about a milestone Coming up Friday night? I believe that's going to be a milestone at Founders Dinner. I believe we're going to have the right people in the right place at the right time. They're going to help out. My God Votes. We've got the angels all poised, all right.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. Verse six. But this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. See, jesus said basically the same thing, except he said with what same measure that you measured out, it'll be measured back to you. He didn't talk about sparingly or abundantly, he just said it's the same proportion. But here Paul is talking about, you know, he's challenging the Corinthians to give more. He used the Macedonians as an example to provoke them to give to the poor saints in Jerusalem. He said those who you know, verse 6, 2 Corinthians, 9, 6. But this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Bountifully, so I like the Reap also bountifully. Bountifully, so I like the Amplified. Every favor and earthly blessing. He's able to make every favor and earthly blessing come your way. That's what it takes, and so your potential is proportional to your sowing. So if you're a hoarder, you're not going to have much benefit because you're just, you're limiting the multiplication that can come back to you. But if you're a generous giver and generosity is something that can grow, you know, none of us usually start off really hugely generous at first.
Speaker 1:Now, brother Osteen used to tell the story of a young man who heard about tithing and giving. And I think he was still in the Baptist church at that time when he was teaching this. And the man is a brand new believer, he just gotten saved and he got so he got so excited about the multiplication. I mean, he thought, man, I never heard anything like this. And so he back in those days he had a paycheck. He got paid every Friday. He took his paycheck and he endorsed the paycheck and put it in the offering, the whole thing. He put the whole paycheck in the offering, endorsed it, and back then you could, you know, you could process a check like that. And so Brother Osteen saw it and so he called this young man. He said now, wait a minute. He said you endorsed your whole paycheck. Now Are you sure? Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem, pastor Osteen, no problem. Well, brother Osteen just put it in the drawer. He didn't put it in the bank. And so week two, he did the same thing just endorsed his paycheck, put it in the offering by those things, put it in his desk drawer at the church office. So he's got two paychecks in there. Week three, he's calling the office. Oh, I'm in trouble, I can't pay my bills. Oh, he said okay, come by and pick up your checks. I've got them right here. All you got to do is put them back in the bank. He didn't have the faith to do that.
Speaker 1:No, it's not about giving it all, but it's about being generous and generosity can grow. You can grow in generosity so you can grow in fruit. You can grow in results in fruit. You can grow in results. So God's not holding up your claim. The devil is the one that holds your claim up. Colossians 2.15,. Let's turn over there. The devil, not God. See, don't let the devil tell you that God is not pleased with you. So he's holding up your wealth. No, all the all the wealth that was held up by in my case, where I had houses it didn't sell houses that that didn't make a profit. None of that was God. That wasn't God's will at all. That was the devil stealing and me letting him by, not following the plan of God. You know I've got to listen to him. He's the only one that knows where things are and how things are going to be. I mean if you'll listen. And when I say listen, I'm not listening for a voice, I'm going by the witness of the spirit.
Speaker 1:For instance, one time I had a uh. I had held off, things were bad and interest rates were high and sales were slow. But in a builder, when you don't have any sales and you don't have any construction, you have no cash flow. So I had to live off of my personal savings. My company couldn't even pay my salary. I have my own business, you know, and it pays my salary every month. Well, I didn't have any cash flow for my company to pay me, so I had to live off of my savings. Well, you know, you do that six months, you do that nine months and the savings are going like this they're going down, down, down down and you haven't gotten anything started. I mean, it's kind of nerve wracking.
Speaker 1:And so I got a call from one of the subdivisions that I had been active in and I think I had no houses left in there to sell. I had no inventory and I had one house left to sell in Candlelight Hills. I had two subdivisions, cypresswood and Candlelight Hills, so I had one house left to sell in Candlelight Hills. I had two subdivisions, cypresswood and Candlelight Hills, so I had one house to sell in Candlelight Hills and it was finished. So guess what it's interest. Interest is going out on that house.
Speaker 1:So not only do I not have a cash flow, I have a negative cash flow. Money's going to the bank every 90 days. In those days, every 90 days, I got to come up with a big old check. And also, once a year, I get to pay the taxes, the property taxes. I'll never forget going to the Klein Independent School District tax office there on Spring Cypress at Dory Road. I still know exactly where it is because I went in there. I mean I wanted to weep, I wanted to cry because I had to write a check for $11,000. And man, I mean it cleaned me out to pay the taxes on the unsold inventory. See, I'm trying to give you what? This practical thing.
Speaker 1:So anyway, they call me and said oh, john, we've got a great opportunity. We've got five lots. We want to sell these lots to you for $5,000 a piece. Now, that was really a good price because these lots were. I was paying anywhere from nine to $12,000 for about half the size.
Speaker 1:These lots were almost an acre, which is unheard of in a subdivision, most of your subdivision lots. Even back then, they're a quarter of an acre to a third of an acre. That's it. Well, these are almost an acre. They're real deep and they go all the way back to Cypress Creek, which is why they're so deep, and so the floodplain is way in the back. But up on the hill is where the house goes, and somebody's got a wonderful piece of property that got no neighbors in the back. You've got wildlife back there. You've got javelina hogs and rattlesnakes and cottonmouth moccasins lots of wildlife, gar, alligator, gar, maybe some alligators, I don't know and so they had this deal and I, you know.
Speaker 1:So I went and I talked to them and you know. So now I could start five houses, now I can start getting some cash flow, I can see my way to where my cash flow is going to come back and now I'm going to be able to pay myself, because my savings is just about gone and I'm putting all this money out on interest and I'm putting all this. Now I've got new construction and I can. I can get something going and I feel like, well, it's not so risky because the price is really good on this lots and I can build some houses on a lower price per square foot on these, on these almost acre lots, and, and so, you know, I, I kind of, but I still didn't have peace.
Speaker 1:See, I didn't have peace and I didn't understand it. My head got in the way, my head wanted to do it, but my heart kept holding me back and I kept hesitating. What was that? The witness, the witness of the Spirit holding me back. So finally they called me and said John, we're going to have to let these go. We can't hold them any longer. There's five of these lots. You know you need to get down here and sign this contract, otherwise we've got to give. You know, they didn't have anybody Lying dogs.
Speaker 1:They saw a chump. I was the chump, a pig and a poke. Y'all are just making fun of me. Y'all just think this is so funny. Anyway, y'all, y'all were kind of masochistic. I mean you, you're laughing at my pain. I mean I had to live through this, so anyway. So I went down to the office and I'm sitting there and I mean I'm almost physically sick. The Holy ghost is so negative. He's trying everything he can for me not to sign my name. And I signed my name and I bought those five lots and I built those five houses and they sold lots to Perry Homes. Perry Homes is listed on the stock market. I mean they built cheapo. They built $10, $15 a square foot, cheaper than I could build. They sold all their houses. I couldn't sell anything, and so that was the beginning of a 10-year time period where I wound up at the end of 10 years before I could recover.
Speaker 1:And when I recovered was when we started Glorious Way Church, because I got in the will of God. Are y'all with me now? I'm talking about staking your financial claim. It's just somebody that's lived through some things. So was that God that did that? No, the devil did it, and I let him. God is never going to steal from you. He's always going to perform his word, but you've got to do it his way, amen.
Speaker 1:So in Colossians 2, 15, it says that Jesus spoiled principalities and powers and he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it, that is, in the cross, in himself. On the cross, another translation said he led a train of vanquished foes. He defeated the spirit of poverty. He defeated lack. On your behalf, you don't have to put up with lack. Lack is not God ever.
Speaker 1:It wasn't God for me to have lack. It wasn't God for me to have to live with my sister. It wasn't God for me to have lack. It wasn't God for me to have to live with my sister. It wasn't God for me to go through 10 years of difficulty, but yet, at the same time, we're responsible for following the witness. He's the one that knows the way that we should go. Is this helping anybody in that?
Speaker 1:So, uh, first, john four four says we overcome him because we have the greater one. Greater is he that's in us and he that's in the world. I just didn't turn him loose because I missed God. Took me a while to understand all these things and then I had to find out. Well, I've got an inheritance, see, I've got an inheritance, I've got my claim. So I began to start where I was after. After all those years. I never stopped tithing, I never stopped being a giver, and God would give us relief. I mean, I remember one time. You know, we got, we saw, we built all those houses and none of them sold.
Speaker 1:So the bank comes knocking on my door wanting to me to do something and I said well, you just go ahead and take them back If you want them. I can't do any more about it. I've. I've paid you all the money I can pay you. I have no more money. So I have an alone and you can.
Speaker 1:You know the borrower is servant to the lender. You can foreclose. You want to foreclose on those houses? You go right ahead and I've got a personal guarantee that I've signed so they can come after me. Certain parts of my assets they can come and get. They can't get my personal house. They have to leave my furniture alone. They have to leave my at least one car. I had three. They have to leave one of my cars alone. They can't take all my cars. I knew what they could do and I said, I invited them. I said go ahead. He's a Baptist banker, rascal Used to call him spider, sit behind his desk like this. Anyway, oh no, we don't want to do that. So anyway, they, they kept, they didn't foreclose and they just loaned me more money to finish the houses all up, put grass in the front yard, put landscaping, put the air conditioning units, have them blowing coal. They were completely finished. And then I got a job in Corpus Christi paying me six figures.
Speaker 1:Say God supplied, god supplied the need. All those houses sold and they sold every one of them as soon as we left town. All the houses sold, except they didn't sell for enough to pay the loan off. So then they came after me for the deficiency. And that's what kind of finished me off, say I learned about bankers and I learned.
Speaker 1:See, I learned about bankers and I learned about banking. And I learned about how you don't get a gold star. You have to deal with bankers as a business person, not as an individual. Are you with me now? So, but none of that was God. God gave me the Holy Ghost. I learned so many things about it that I've been able to help people when they have difficulty with debt, when they have difficulty with bankers and difficulty with creditors. Listen, god's got a way out. I said God's got a way out. He is your way out. You can still keep your integrity and all of that, but you don't have to go by what they say because they have a rigged system. Everybody say they have a rigged system. It's still rigged and it's in their favor. I said it's in their favor. I said it's in their favor. It's not the way the Bible is written.
Speaker 1:So we have an inheritance, a claim, colossians 1.12. And we have to exercise authority over the thief, and I learned that all the way through this period of time and I learned that all the way through this period of time, god showed me so many ways that I could make my way through to the end and begin to receive the inheritance that he had for me Galatians 4, 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then you're an heir of God through Christ. Everybody say I am an heir. So if you're an heir, you're a joint heir with Christ and you have, by definition, an inheritance. Everybody say I have an inheritance. All right, were you going to stake your claim tonight?
Speaker 1:So now I had to learn about the ministry of angels. Hebrews 2.14 says Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister on behalf of those who are heirs of salvation? So angels are sent forth on our behalf because why we're heirs? Our behalf? Because why we're heirs they have something to do and something to patrol and something to enforce about our claim. You're not fighting by yourself. They're going to take care of the claim that you have. Psalm 103, 20.
Speaker 1:They hearken under the voice of the word. So you've got to quit having a pity party and whining and crying and begging and all of that and feeling sorry for yourself and all that kind of stuff. And you've got to rise up and take the word of god and you've got to speak that word and they will take that word and they'll go confront the devil that's trying to walk your inheritance off from you. But you have to dispatch them. You have to say now, angels, you go and cause the money to come, cause the men that are wanting to give to my bosom, cause them to be in my pathway. Man. I've had to pray that over and over and over. I still pray it. They fight against hindering spirits. The devil's got spirits that are trying to hinder your finances and they fight against them. And they also influence people who have wealth in their hands for you. They influence them to where they have a kindly feeling about you. They give favor. Angels are amazing creatures.
Speaker 1:You know, one time Brother Hagin tells a story of Jesus appearing to him and you know he's teaching him about how to hear from you, know by the Holy Ghost. And Brother Hagin had decided he was going to add on to his house. And where was it? His house was in Garland, his personal house. He's going to add on to the house and his ministry had grown. He was going to turn the house into an office and add on to the garage and he's sending out tapes back in those years, sending lots of tapes, lots of books. He's just the beginning of his ministry and so he had this plan.
Speaker 1:But he went up to Tulsa to visit somebody and the person said, hey, come on, I got to show you this building, tl Osborne's old building, and it'd be ideal for you and Aretha, you could just move up here to Tulsa. This is kind of the center of the universe up here. And he said, oh no, I'm just going to add on to my house in Garland. But when he went to look at that former headquarters of brother TL Osborne's, well, he had this kind of a witness in his. It kind of a like a buzzer went off, you know, and he didn't know what to think about that. Then later on the Lord appeared to him and behind the Lord was this big angel, big old, tall angel. And this angel was behind the Lord and the Lord was talking to brother Hagen and the angel was trying to talk to and he had his mouth, he was moving his mouth and he was pointing at brother Hagen, and yet Jesus was between him and the angel and you know. And he said now look, he said it's not my reason that you've been hesitant about adding on to your house. It's not my plan. I want you to move to Tulsa. But, lord, I've got plenty of room here. I can. No, my plan is for you to move to Tulsa.
Speaker 1:He said well, what about that angel? What is he doing here? Well, he's got a message for you. He said well, why can't you tell me You're here? Why don't you give me it? Why is he going to give the message? Why don't you give me the message? And he said well, he's got that message. I gave it to him to give you. Well, you're going to have to give me chapter and verse on that. Well, didn't you ever hear about Mary Heard from the angel? Didn't you hear about? You know? So, god, jesus had to go through the Bible and give him all the times that you can be led by an angel. I mean, it does happen. It's rare, but it happens. It's okay, lord, all right. So Jesus left and here's the angel. And the angel said now, I've got $4,000 that I'm going to cause to come in for you and it's going to pay for your trip, for your moving expenses to move from Garland to Tulsa. I mean, he had that. See, he was going to go out and cause the $4,000 to come in supernaturally. Come on, lift your hands right now. Glory to God. Now I'm not saying you're going to see angels and I'm not going to. You don't have to see them to know that they're working on your behalf, boy. They've worked on my behalf. If you don't want yours, you just let me have them. I'll put them to work. Got plenty of things for them to do.
Speaker 1:Early in 2002, we were in the Seventh-day Adventist church down West Houston. Seventh-day Adventist. We were there on Sunday. They were there on Saturday. That was a delight. For four and a half years Couldn't even put a sign out. We only could put a sign out on Sunday when everybody else has already found the church they were looking for. If they're looking for a church on Saturday, too bad, too sad, your dad, I mean it's going to be Seventh-day Adventist church, it's not going to be Glorious Way church out front. We're paying $16,000 a month for the rent. How many of you knew it was $16,000 a month? None of you did. Okay, it's a lot of money, but they were. I mean, we had favor with the head, everybody else. It was spicy.
Speaker 1:I remember being moved out of the sanctuary on Easter. We had to move out of the sanctuary on Easter and we're paying all this money and they wanted the church back on Sunday morning. We had to be out in there or whatever. We were in the garage or something. I don't know where we were On Sunday, easter Sunday, your best foot forward and we're in the leftover place. But anyway, you know, god just said that he saw us through all that.
Speaker 1:Anyway, god, you know, we had this property, 92.7 acres down the street and I heard from the Holy Ghost. He said sow a significant seed towards your building. And so I had it in my heart to sow a 50,000. And I said, lord, I'm not sure where to sow it. I'd prefer to sow it in a ministry, a national ministry that's doing a lot of good. That's not ashamed of the Holy Ghost. I want a ministry that loves the Holy Ghost. And I came up with two ministries Benny Hinn is not ashamed of the Holy Ghost and Ryan Hart Not ashamed of the Holy Ghost and a Reinhardt book. And so I just kind of went back and forth and I settled on Benny Hinn. So we wrote a $50,000 check.
Speaker 1:Now that was a lot of money for a church that we had lost about half our people when we moved from the Baptist church down the street to Seventh Day. We lost one half. And you're going down there and we're paying lots of money out for rent and all that. So 50K was generous. That's a generous seed and what am I sowing it for? Well, we have a need. We're going to build a building. I've got plans, I've got an architect that drew the plans, I've got a builder that's going to build the building and we settled on this kind of a building and we're headed down that direction. But we needed the money. We didn't have the money, we didn't have a loan, we didn't have anything. Have the money, we didn't have a loan, we didn't have anything.
Speaker 1:But we sold the seed and so early in 2002, so then by the end of May we went to another meeting of Benny's. We were invited because of this gift your gift will make room for you he invited us to come to San Diego to be part of a private meeting and we were the only pastors in the meeting about 110 people. We were the only pastors. Everybody else was rich business people that support his ministry, and we were the only pastors in the meeting. And so, you know, by the time that meeting stopped, I mean we gave another 20 and Gladys and I gave 10, because he had a word over Claire that she was going to meet her husband, which happened, and so we sold that seed on on her behalf. We sold 20 K on on the churches. So really, by the time we got to May of 2002, we had put 80 K in his hands. Everybody say generous. And so then you know, we were Gladys and I were traveling.
Speaker 1:We went somewhere to rest after that because there was a lot of work going to that meeting I mean, you're in meetings all day and all this and so we got back and we went away to, I think we went to Fredericksburg for a couple days. I'm headed back to call the kids. They were at the office. Well, we heard from the bank and you know they approved our loan, but it's not enough. They approved a loan that was not enough to build the building, not enough to. You know, we still owed money on the land. And so by the time you add $600,000 that we owed on the land, it just wasn't enough to build the building. So I said well, okay, lord, we've done what we could do. I'm ready for you to tell me what's next. I'm not sure exactly what's next, but I know we're supposed to build a building. We've sown a generous seed and this is going to. You know we're going to build a building. So, lord, this is your ministry, not mine. I'm just obeying your. You know your indication.
Speaker 1:So one month later I got a call from the guy that held the note on our 92.7 acres. He was our ex-landlord in our first building. He was our landlord in the first building, still had a good relationship with him, making monthly payments to him on the land for $5,700 every month. So $5,700 a month for land, $16,000 a month going to rent, that's $21,000. So you understand what level we're at.
Speaker 1:And so I got a call from his John. I got a problem. He said can we meet? I need to talk to you. Ok, I thought what in the world? I didn't know, I wasn't sure. And so he said look, I got a tax problem. I've made so much money last year I need a tax write-off. So I want you to give me the land back that you bought from me. Just give it back, deed it back to me. And I said deed it back to you. Yeah. I said well, you know we have a million dollars cash in it. I mean that's what we have in it. I mean we gave a huge down payment and then we've got all this, you know, other expenses plus the payments and all that. The whole thing is about a million dollars we have wrapped up. You want me to just walk away from a million dollars? He said well, no, you do that. You just give me the property back. I'll forgive the $600,000 debt. You won't owe anything on it. You just give me the property back. I wiped the $600,000 debt out. I said okay, I'm still listening. What's next? He said and I, on a separate, I've got 85 acres down. John, you should have bought the 85 acres down at the corner of Ritchie and Champion Forest Drive, 85 acres. I'll deed that over to you, debt free. I'll give you the 85 acres. So we got 85 acres for a million dollars. I said we got 85 acres for a million dollars. I said we got 85 acres for a million dollars and that meant that the numbers work for our loan and we were able to do the loan and build this building.
Speaker 1:Come on, lift your hands right now. I'm talking about navigating, I'm talking about staking your claim. How many of you are willing to stake your claim? This is the year of milestones. Come on, we need to stir ourselves up. We're flying higher, we're going further, we're going deeper. The Holy Ghost is taking us places we've never been. I mean, we've got to draw a circle around ourselves and not exclude ourselves.
Speaker 1:From this time, praise God ourselves. From this time, praise God. So quit begging God for your financial need. I mean, that's not the way to approach it. He's not holding it up, he's not the one that's that has it in his hands. It's down here. Everything you need is right here. All you need is the plan.
Speaker 1:So, number one I got four things. Number one claim what you need. That's what you need. A lot of times, people don't even know what they need. If you don't know what you need, well then that's part of the problem, because you're not going to know when it's met. If you don't know what you need and you just, well, just, whatever Lord, whatever you want, no, that's not going to be enough. That's not specific enough. Your faith can't work like that. Your faith has got to be something specific. You've got to claim what you need. And when you claim what you need, I mean it has to be a real need. That need that you've got. It's not pie in the sky, folks. I need a Mercedes.
Speaker 1:When you've been driving a, you know fender flapper. Do you know what a fender flapper is? It's the car that goes down the road and the fender goes like this because it's rusted out. I saw one the other day, on 16th. It's going down the road. I once had a Mercedes but it was past its prime and I was driving down 610 on my way to Lakewood one time and I got a letter in the mail from the Texas Air Quality Enforcement Agency saying you know, mr Griner, you were seen driving an 83 Mercedes 300 diesel down 610, emitting a large amount of smoke. Please have your car serviced. It's against the law to put out that much pollution. I mean, I've been there, I've driven that kind of car.
Speaker 1:Praise God, all right. So everybody say claim what you need. Our number two rebuke the devourer. You know, when you're a tither, god rebukes the devourer, but you need to rebuke him. You know, tell him you're through with him stealing from you. Get rid of it. Get rid of his influence. Number three act on your faith. I mean, you know, if you've got a claim, then sow a seed. That's what I did. That's what I've done over and over and over I mean over and over.
Speaker 1:When I find myself in a financial need, I sow a seed and I sow the best, the most generous seed I can find. Well, you're giving to get. Well, I'm just operating God's financial ways that he. It's not my heart just to give, just to get. I'm honoring God with my money. My whole life is to honor Him. But in the process, if he blesses me, then I can be a blessing. You've got to be blessed to be a blessing. I couldn't be a blessing when I was broke. I couldn't be that big a blessing when I was living at my sister's house. I had no job Filling out all these applications for employment. You're overqualified, mr Griner. You're overqualified.
Speaker 1:I kept on, I kept on, I'd go and I'd meet with people. I had a. I mean I networked, I talked to people. I had meeting after meeting. I, you know, I didn't just sit at home crying. I got out and I went and I engaged and you know, eventually I got a job and then I got another job, and then I got a business, and then, you know, then I got back in the home building business, and then, and then, and then, and then we started this church.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? So act on your faith, sow a seed and then tell the angels go and cause the money to come in, the money that you need, what you claim. Cause it to come in, angels, cause it to come in. Give men to give to my bosom. And I'm telling you, I gave you a testimony tonight of that major miracle. It's a double miracle the forgiveness of $600,000 in debt, the supply of a piece of property.
Speaker 1:This property, he had it appraised for $9.7 million and so he got the credit for that. I don't know that he ever got the write-off, but that's what he was aiming for, because he made a bunch of money in the stock market the last time. But guess when he made the money? He made the money after 9-11, when the economy went straight down. He shorted the stock market and he made money on the way down. See, you can make money in the stock market when it's going up or when it's coming down. All you need is a delta. He had a delta when it was going down, he knew enough about it.
Speaker 1:Every time I'd go to see him I'd bring him my monthly check. Or when I brought him our first building, when I brought him our rent check, he was in his office and the stocks were on his TV. Up in his office he's watching the ticker all day long, he's doing his work and he's looking at that ticker. So he was a stock trader besides being a real estate guy and had a lot of land and all of that kind of thing. He's a shrewd businessman, but he blessed us. He blessed us with this, and so what I'm saying is that I've staked my claim and mined my claim and I've received cars and I've received houses and I've received lands and I've received financial provision, and so can you.
Speaker 1:You're a stakeholder, and when you have faith in redemption and who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, when you act on the word, it brings results. Come on, let's just lift our hands and receive Stake in our financial claim. Hallelujah, glory to God. Come on, let's stand up right now. Hallelujah to God. Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1:Let's do a prophetic act I want you to think about. You've got a wooden stake in your hand and you've got a pretty hefty maybe not a sledgehammer, but a good-sized hammer You're going to drive a stake in the ground. We're just going to talk about claiming you're going to drive your stake. You're going to put your stake in the ground, amen. So let's everybody lift your hammer up. You've got your stake right here.
Speaker 1:Let's say this together Say, heavenly Father, I'm going to drive my stake in the ground. I'm staking my financial claim tonight. I have certain needs that must be met and I'm going to operate according to your laws of sowing and reaping, giving and receiving. I'm an heir of God. I'm a joint heir of Christ. I have an inheritance and in the name of Jesus, I'm staking, I'm driving my stake in my ground. I'm driving my stake in the ground. Devil, get your hands off my land, get your hands off my claim. You have no claim on my claim. It's my claim. I claim the blood of Jesus over it and I believe I received every need met in Jesus name. Now, come on, let's give the Lord a big shout tonight. Hallelujah, glory to God. Just think about what we've done tonight. We flew like eagles and we've staked our claim.