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
Farming Money: How Tithes and Offerings Change Your Life
What if your financial breakthrough isn't just about working harder, but accessing a supernatural grace that transforms your economic reality? This powerful teaching unpacks the often-overlooked financial wisdom in 2 Corinthians 8-9, revealing how your words and giving activate God's abundant provision.
All right, open your Bible. 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, chapter 9, and we're going to receive the tithe and the offering this morning. Amen. Everybody say tithe and the offering this morning. Amen. I came prepared to give praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians, chapter 8 and 9, really two of my favorite chapters in the Bible, as well as in the New Testament 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 and chapter 9. And this is a teaching from the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, qualified to be called the Word of God. I'll try that one more time. This is a teaching from the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, qualified to be called what? The Word of God. Amen. And so it is in the canon of the scriptures. So the Bible, is God talking to you? Amen. Everybody say the Bible. Is God talking to me? Look at the person next to you and say the Bible, is God talking to you and say you better pay attention. Amen, god's talking to you. And so 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 and 9, these are two amazing chapters, but really this is a part of what we would call Paul's revelation. Paul's revelation is what the apostle Paul received post-resurrection, after Jesus was raised from the dead, and he wrote over half the New Testament in the light of what happened on the cross and the resurrection of Christ, the new covenant, the blood covenant. So this is a part of Paul's revelation. So a lot of times people talk about Paul's revelation, they talk about other parts, but this is a pretty major part of Paul's revelation. So a lot of times people talk about Paul's revelation, they talk about other parts, but this is a pretty major part of Paul's revelation.
Speaker 1:Second Corinthians, chapter eight and chapter nine. So if you have your Bible there, you want to look at this. It says in second Corinthians, chapter eight we could begin here with verse two, where he's talking to the churches about their generous giving, about their what, their generous giving. Verse 2 is a very interesting scripture. He says you had a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy. They had deep poverty and abounded to the riches of their liberality. He says they gave beyond their power. They gave and they begged us.
Speaker 1:In verse 4 he said to receive the offering. In other words, he said these people had a great trial and said in the middle of their trial, they got what? Real happy. That's pretty unusual, isn't it? They're going through trouble themselves and they said, well, we're going to get happy. Then it says they had poverty. But it doesn't say they had poverty. It says they had deep poverty. In other words, these poor people and in the middle of their own personal financial need. It says they gave generously. So a lot of times people say, well, when I get rich I'm going to be a generous giver. Well, these people really struggle financially. And paul says I'm amazed at your joy and your generosity. He says, really, they gave beyond their power, to the point that paul probably said, well, you need the money worse than I do, but they actually need to give it more than paul need to receive it. Keep going there, all right. So he says they gave beyond their power. So their generosity.
Speaker 1:And Paul says this in verse 5. He says they gave their own selves to God. Then they gave to us by the will of God, verse 6. He said we left Titus there to teach them, finish and use the same grace also. In other words, titus Paul's associate. And so they said we're.
Speaker 1:Paul said I'm going to leave titus here to finish this grace. What does that mean? Well, some people started in grace. They just need somebody to teach them so they can go further in grace. And so the facets of the grace of god you'll not be able to access if you don't have teaching. So titus stayed there. If you don't have teaching, so Titus stayed there to teach him why? Because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, and if you're don't have any faith, then you won't participate in the process of grace. You won't know how to access it. So Titus say that he saw how you like to know how to access this grace, I. So here's what he says here. He goes to verse 7 and he says as you abound in everything he's talking these believers you bound everything. You bound in your faith, your utterance, which you preaching, your teaching, your knowledge, your diligence, your love does see that you're bound in this grace also.
Speaker 1:So what grace is he talking about here? He's talking here about the grace of giving or the grace of generosity. But he's not just talking about the grace of giving. Really, we're going to see. He's talking about the grace of giving and receiving. All right, let's try that one more time. So he's not just talking about the grace of giving, he's talking about how you can give and receive because of the grace of god.
Speaker 1:Now here's the way the lord said to me. He said when you learn how to access this, one day you'll look at your checkbook and say amazing grace, checkbook. And say amazing grace, amen. In other words, the grace of God can affect you financially, not just spiritually. I mean I have amazing grace affect you financially. That means God's favor, or even God's ability or God's resources or God's blessing on your life. He said I'm gonna show you how you can abound in this grace. Abound means excel, come to the front and be known for. Well, this must be gonna. They must be coming out of poverty, they must be gonna come into blessing, amen. So he says I'm gonna show you how to access the grace of God in the area of your finances. And then he goes on to verse nine.
Speaker 1:While you're here in the chapter, you know the grace of our Lord, jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sake, she became poor, that you, through his poverty, might be made. What rich. In other words, he said Jesus on the cross not only took your sin, not only took your curse or your shame, your sickness, but he said he also became poor, or he took your poverty Right. He said so that you don't have to be poor, no more. And he said so that you could be rich.
Speaker 1:Now I know the word rich disturbs a lot of people, but the Bible says in Proverbs 10, 22, the blessing of the Lord makes us rich. Let's try that one more time. The blessing of the Lord makes us rich and adds no sorrow with it. What does that mean? That means you're rich and happy. Unusual combination. Believe it or not. Amen, I'm rich and I'm happy.
Speaker 1:So what's the word rich mean? That means plenty, more than enough. It doesn't mean everybody's going to have a Rolls Royce. It just means you got more than enough for yourself and you got plenty to give away to others, to be a blessing to others. In other words, you don't want to have just enough money to take care of yourself. You want to have enough money so you can be a blessing, to preach the gospel all over the world in your lifetime. Amen.
Speaker 1:So the blessing of the lord. Here he says that jesus became poor so you don't have to be poor. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. In that curse was poverty, so that you could be what blessed, coming in, blessed, going out. Be the head and not the tail, be above and not beneath. Be blessed in your, your body, blessed in your family, blessed in your work, blessed in your job, blessed your dog. Come on your cows. Whatever you got blessed, everything's blessed. You say where'd you get that? The blessing of the Lord, amen, what do you call that Amazing grace? Everybody say amazing grace. So Titus stayed there to teach them that they don't have to be poor. No more, amen. Praise the Lord. Now to teach on it.
Speaker 1:Dad Hagen pastored for 12 years and a Kenneth E Hagen. Dad Hagen was like a spiritual father to us for many, many years. But he said one of the churches he pastored he had to go back and pastor it again. He said Lord, how come I got to go pastor that church again? The Lord said because you didn't teach them on tithing and giving, because you were afraid of what they would say about you. He said you wouldn't teach them the word on tithing giving because you were afraid they'd say bad things about you, he said. But the Lord said what you really did is you robbed them of a blessing. Now you're going to have to go back and pastor that church again. So you're going to have to teach them on the tithe and the offering. Think about that when you're a tither.
Speaker 1:Malachi says when you titheithe, god will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. You don't have room enough to receive it, amen, do you? How many y'all could believe that happens in your life, that god opens up things that would not have been open, amen. So dad hagen said he went back there and teaching and he said there was a farmer that came up to him and said I've gone to church. He said most of my life, he said, and I've always tithed. He said but if anything supernatural has ever happened to me financially, I don't know it. You know what that means. That means I worked hard, I do well, he said, but nothing supernatural has ever happened to me financially.
Speaker 1:So Dad Higgins said well, now let's get into the scriptures and let's study the scriptures, what the word has to say, so that you can receive something supernatural financially, greater than just how hard you work, greater than just how smart you are. The grace and the favor of God come upon your finances. So he said, instead of just putting your money in the bucket when it goes by, get the scriptures out on tithing, get the word out on giving and sowing, and get that word out and meditate on that and expect supernatural results. All right, you say why in the world would you teach on something like this at church? Well, number one, because major part of Paul's revelation. Yeah, I mean, I could just tear it out of the Bible if you would prefer. No, it's still in there and there's a whole bunch of there about it, amen. And so when you're a tither, when you're a giver, if nobody teaches you on it, sometimes people give just out of habit and don't really expect supernatural results. But when you got the word on it you ought to say hold it just a second. I'm a tither, I'm qualified for that blessing, right there, come on, I'm a giver, I'm a sower, I expect that kind of blessing, amen. And so he said that farmer left came back in about two weeks with a big smile on his face and he said for the first time in my life, something supernatural happened to me financially.
Speaker 1:Are y'all still with me? In other words, you believe God wants to do something supernatural financially in your life? He smiled how many of y'all like to come back in a few weeks and say, big smile on your face, something supernatural happened to me financially? In other words, I work hard, come on, and I do the best I can, but something supernatural happened to me financially and I access this grace. Are going to second-grade chapter, not because I'm a show you how to access this grace. I'm a glad he went on the next chapter, I.
Speaker 1:He goes on the next chapter, chapter 9, and he says here's how you access this grace. And he says he calls your giving, he calls it sowing. Y'all got second, matthew 9, 6. All right, look at that. This, I say he that so sparingly shall reap sparingly. He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. Verse 7 every man according as he purposed in his heart. So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves what God loves a cheerful giver. Look at verse eight. And God is able. All right, let's read that out loud together. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you. Come on, everybody say me God is able to make all grace abound towards you, so that you always have all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work. Well, y'all should get happy already. Do you believe God has any ability in that area?
Speaker 1:Concerning your finances, it's not just up to you. There is grace available for your finances, so you don't have to be broke, no more, you don't have to struggle. No more, come on, you can have more than enough. You can give more than you've ever given and still have more than you've ever had. Let me try that one more time. I said you can give more than you've ever given and still have more than you ever had. In other words, god is not planning on you giving yourself broke. Ah, the Lord said to me I did not design giving for you to decrease. He said I designed tithing and giving for you to increase and open the windows of heaven. Come on, so don't think subtraction. When you're given, think what multiplication he's gonna multiply. Go ahead and smile just a little bit. Amen.
Speaker 1:How many like to show up in the next few weeks and say something supernatural just happened to me financially? And I give the glory to God. Go ahead and laugh about that. I said something supernatural happened to me financially. Come on, don't act like it all came from your work. It came from the blessing of the Lord, it came from the grace of God, amen. So there's two areas, these two areas that access the grace of God in the area of your finances.
Speaker 1:Somebody said well, how did you? Well, when I was left home, my daddy said there is a God and I'm not him, which basically meant he was not going gonna be giving me no money. My daddy basically said you leave home, you get a job, you learn how to work. Come on, you develop excellence in your work, he said. And then you better learn how to have faith in God, because I will not be your source. Furthermore, if he was my source, I could be very limited, but if God's my, my source, I could be very limited, but if God's my source, I could be unlimited. Let's try that one more time. Come on, if you make people your source, come on, got the lid on you. But if God your source, god said whatever you can believe for, if you can believe for you could have amen. So I had to study that because I had to keep my expectation on God, he's my source.
Speaker 1:How am I going to access the grace of God in this area? Two ways. Just write this down. I want you just remember this two ways you access the grace of God in this area. Number one is by your confession or by your saying. Just two areas. You say, you're saying and you're sowing. You're so. You're saying and you're sowing. You're saying and you're sowing. You're saying and you're giving. You're saying and you're sowing. You're saying and you're tithing. You're saying and you're sowing. You're saying and you're giving. You're saying and you're so.
Speaker 1:In two main areas you access this grace, two main ways that you access this grace. Number one is how you talk. Number two is how you give now how you talk, not just at church, because most people control their mouth for a while at church. How you talk at home, how you talk about your finances. So I learned this from Dad Hagen never talk lack, he said, because the Lord told him, if you talk lack, it will keep money from coming to you. Well, we certainly don't want that to happen, because you already got a problem with lack and if you talk lack, it's gonna keep money from coming to you. So you're just gonna have more lack. So I gotta change the way I talk if I'm gonna access this grace.
Speaker 1:Never talk lack. Always say the money will come. Y'all still with me here. Come on, when you're facing a challenge financially, don't talk lack, just do what. Say the money will come. Come on when you think about that situation on, maybe you're going to college, I got grandkids going to college. Come on, say the money will come. You wanna buy a house? Come on. You got a house payment? Come on, you need better transportation, the money will come. Or Dad Hagen would say say y'all ready for this?
Speaker 1:The 23rd Psalm, he would say, would say say the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I Do not lack for ability, I do not lack for opportunity and I never lack for money. He said say the last one twice, I never lack for money. He said say the last one twice, I never lack for money. Because if you're having conversation, people say about the price of gas and I the economy, and you say the Lord is my shepherd, I Do not lack for ability, I never lack for opportunity. In other words, god always gives me favor and opens the right door at the right time and I never lack for opportunity. In other words, god always gives me favor and opens the right door at the right time and I never lack for money. I never lack for money. Come on, I'm a tither, I'm a giver, and God opens the windows of heaven and he pours out a blessing. I don't have room enough to receive it. So my job is blessed, my business is blessed, my house is blessed, my family is blessed. The blessing of the Lord is upon my life. Come on, I don't just believe it, but I say it All right.
Speaker 1:R Smith Wigglesworth would say it this way. He would say my father, god, always takes care of me in grand style. Who's your daddy now? Listen, my father, god always takes care of me in grand style. When you talk lack, you're accusing God of child abuse. Come on. When you talk lack of wine, about the lack of of money, you're saying God really don't care about me, he ain't taking care of me. But when you say words of faith, you're saying what my father, god, always takes care of me in grand style. I drive the best where the best, eat the best, living the best, go on the best vacations the best. Eat the best, live in the best, go on the best vacations with my come on the best blessings. In other words, you say well, it don't look that way. Well, that's how you change. The way it looks is by what you say. In other words, you're saying will change your economy. So you don't just say that when the preacher is talking to you about it, you say it at home.
Speaker 1:Come on, if you start thinking about some of your cutting your kitchen somewhere, you say thank you, my father, god, always take care of me in grand style come on, the Lord is my shepherd. Unlimited expectation, unlimited expectation. Resources, I shall not lack. I do not lack. I do not lack for ability, I do not lack for opportunity. I never lack for money. You know, I just never lack for money.
Speaker 1:I am a tither, I'm a giver, I'm a blessing to others and money always comes to me. Go ahead and laugh about that. Now, if you want to stand out in the crowd, talk that way, because most people ain't talking that way. They're worried about money. You know. You say but I'm a tither, I got a covenant with God. Amen, all right. Here's the second tither. I got a covenant with God, amen, all right. Here's the second area. One is the saying, the second is in the sowing.
Speaker 1:So Paul calls giving sowing. That's an interesting term, isn't it? He says when you're giving your tithe, your offering your sowing. He said you're sowing. I call it farming money. If you could learn how to farm money, you could tell people. I got a secret. I have a money farm.
Speaker 1:I learned from 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, how to access the grace of God and do it through my sowing and he says and I got two ways, I can do it. I can do it sparingly or I can do it generously. Isn't it great that God just leaves it up to you? It's not like God's gonna go broke if you don't participate. It's not like God says please, please, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. No, god was doing real well before he ever met you, believe it or not. He didn't teach you this system to help himself. He teaches us this to help us because the whole economy and everything created by God responds to your saying and your sowing. How many like for something supernatural happened to you financially? You just go why? So you can testify. Say, pastor, I gotta testify, look what the Lord has done, woo hoo. So he calls it sowing. Now write this down real quickly. Because he calls it sowing. Now write this down real quickly because he calls it sowing.
Speaker 1:So sowing is not throwing. You know what I mean, just throwing money. Because a farmer don't just drive down the highway, roll the windows down and go. I'm ironing the sowing seed out on both sides, you know, in the ditches everywhere. No, he sows in a field that has been prepared. Or you could call it.
Speaker 1:Strategic sowing, number one harvest is you. So, where you're receiving the word from a revelation, knowledge, so in, so so, is not throwing when you're s, you always have two things working for you. Number one you have a purpose and a promise. The purpose of your sowing is so the preaching of the gospel can go around the world. People are going to get saved and healed and blessed, and I'm a partner with that. Amen, amen. So your sowing has a what? Purpose? And it has what else? A promise, what's the promise to? That gives me Expectation that if I'll do my part, god's gonna do his part. Or you could say it this way the seed is guaranteed. In other words, there's no risk involved.
Speaker 1:Boy, every one of your other investments. You better hold on to your britches, come on, because the economy's going up. Economy's going this way. Which way is the economy going to go? And some people are staring at it every day.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, what's happening to my retirement? Well, first of all, you need to believe God. You'll live long enough for that. But anyway, what's happening? Am I gonna have enough money, you know, when I get to be old? All right, so they're watching the stock market. Well, I have one investment that is absolutely 100% guaranteed. If I lost everything, I couldn't lose that one. What's that one? When I give into the kingdom of God, I got a promise. The seed is guaranteed. I got the Word of God. Come on and gotta move heaven and earth to make sure my harvest comes to me. Come on, guarantee all right.
Speaker 1:Now let's look. The sowing is giving. We call giving sowing the sowing. Let's set it this way your giving or your sowing is not always just because the church has a need, in other words the church. We can present projects and things at the church. The ministry's doing you thankful for that and you give. But sometimes you're so and you're conscious of your knee, or you're so in a seed. Come on, you're soowing a seed in expectation. I like to do it this way Do your sowing where you're going.
Speaker 1:Or your sowing will take you there faster than your savings will, or your sowing will outperform your saving. That doesn't mean that you don't save. That just means your sowing will outperform your saving. That doesn't mean that you don't save. That just means your sowing will get you faster results than just your saving. Because your saving, come on, and Bible teaches, god will bless your basket, bless your storehouse. He's not opposed to you having savings, amen. But your sowing will actually take you there faster than your savings. I've actually taken money out of savings so I could do some s, some so, and God not only replaced it back, but he actually increased it. Are y'all still with me? So you got to have confidence in your soul and more than just in your savings. Thank you for your enthusiasm. So he says these two things that will determine. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:I mean, I saved up some money, you know, to buy a jet. Years ago. I saved up, probably I had probably a couple hundred thousand dollars saved up and I was going to get a jet because the way we're traveling, you know, and exhausted. So I said well, I need to get a jet. So I went to Brother Hagin's camp meeting and they were taking him off and for his jet he didn't have one. So I thought well, I've learned about faith from him, so I'm just gonna give him my jet money as a seed. What if that don't work? Well, we had no jet, but I'm saving it. But I figured my sword would take me there faster. So I went ahead and sold the 200,000. Then the devil said now you ain't never gonna have. I said no, that just means I'm gonna have a better jet. Then I could have afforded come on and be able to do the maintenance, which is about $75,000 a month, and be able to fly where I wanna fly.
Speaker 1:Come on, are y'all still here? What took me there? Not my saving, but my sowing. Come on, don't act like your sowing ain't gonna take you nowhere. Come on, expect supernatural results. My sowing is not gonna cause me to decrease. My sowing is gonna bring increase. God said I'll fill your basket, I'll fill your storehouse. I'll bless you coming in, I bless you going out.
Speaker 1:Come on, you're saying would be what you're saying part the Lord is. And then you use your authority as a believer. You say Satan, take your hands off my money. Are y'all ready for this one? Go angels ministering spirits and cause the money to come, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and I'm an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. So the money will come. Go ahead and lift your hands and thank God for that. I said the money will come. Ha ha ha. Go ahead and laugh for a few minutes. I said the money will come.
Speaker 1:Come on, get the doubt out. I said get the fear out, come on, I'm a tither, I'm a sower, I'm a giver. I sow generously and I reap generously. Ha ha ha. And God makes all grace abound. Every favor and earthly blessing comes to me in abundance. What's the two main areas? My saying and my sowing. My saying agrees with the word my God shall supply what All of my need, according to his riches in glory. Ha ha ha. Now, y'all have heard me teach on this before, you know. But faith comes by hearing and hearing. Not just hearing once, but you hear it again Amen.
Speaker 1:So after I gave, worked my giving? Somebody said the whole you give through is the whole you receive through. All right, let's try that one more time. Picture this for a minute the hole that you give through is the hole you receive through. I decided just to bake a bigger hole. Does that make sense to you? In other words, I'm giving through a certain hole, you know, and I said let's see if I can just knock a little bigger hole.
Speaker 1:And so while I was knocking a bigger hole, then the devil said to me doubt, fear really came to my mind. The devil said what are you gonna do if all that tithing and giving don't work. That thought came to my mind. And when it hit my mind because I'd just given, I'd actually overdone it A little giver's remorse, a little anxiety. I think I gave too much.
Speaker 1:So I'm driving home and the devil, what you gonna do if all that giving don't work? And I was like, oh, because I'm not just giving personally, I'm giving off the whole church that I pastor. And I told them they all knew. I said we don't just receive tithes and offerings, we corporately give. And our whole church went right up high work for me individually. It would work for your business. Thank you for your enthusiasm. I said it worked for me personally, it worked for the business and it worked for the church that I'm pastoring. So we went up, kept going up and still going up Amen. So what are you going to do if all that giving don't work? I mean you're looking at your checkbook going hmm, what are you going to do if all your giving don't work? And so I started thinking about it, thought, well, it's not gonna be good.
Speaker 1:And the Holy Spirit lived in me. I thank God for the Holy Spirit. He lived in me and he said never let the devil intimidate you. He said you say back to the devil, mr devil, what you gonna do when it does work? All right, let's try that one more time.
Speaker 1:Come on, talk back to the devil, don't let the devil intimidate you. When you're a tither, come on, or you're so and generously, and say, oh, you're gonna tither. Come on or you're sowing, generously, and say, oh, you're going to be in trouble. Now you say, devil, what you going to do when God multiplies my seed sown, makes all grace abound, opens the windows of heaven, blesses me coming in and going out? Devil, what you going to do? Come on when I'm driving the best, wearing the best, and tell everybody the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not walk. Go ahead and laugh about that.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, what you gonna do? Cuz I'm gonna testify, ha ha ha that I can give more than I've ever given and still have more than I've ever had. I've ever given and still have more than I've ever had. Let's try this out over here. I said I can give more than I've ever given and still have more than I've ever had. Go ahead and laugh a few minutes, say hi. I said I can get more, never you. But I'm not giving myself broke Jesus. And when I give, it's gonna come back. Press down, shaking together and running. Well, lift your hands up and thank God. Ha ha ha, come on, thank the Lord. Thank you, lord, for your goodness and your mercy.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, let's say it out loud together the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I do not lack. I do not lack for ability, I do not lack for opportunity. I never lack for money. I never lack for money. My Father, god, always takes care of me in grand style. I give generously, I receive generously, I receive generously. God makes all grace abound towards me. I have all sufficiency in all things. In the name of Jesus, satan, take your hands off of my money. Go angels ministering spirits and cause the money to come, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Go angels ministering spirits and cause the money to come, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. I'm an heir of God, I'm a joint heir with Christ, and the money will come. I said the money will come. Houses and lands come into my hands. Give the Lord a shout. Hallelujah, woo Woo, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha. Amen, man, I had so much fun doing that. How many believe the word in that area of the Bible.