"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
Who among us wants Our Heavenly Father glorified? To answer this question, we must become fruit inspectors and first and foremost we must inspect our own fruit. Have I been a blessing to anybody today other than my family? Have I given someone an encouraging word or an unexpected blessing? Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves.
Your money represents your productiveness. Most of us worked hard for the money we have and $1,000 represents xxx hours of our life at work. That money represents us for a period of time operating in our gifts. Money itself is not a bad thing. The flow of money is healthy to a community. Exchange is like a flowing stream and without the flow, the water becomes stagnant. Men accumulate money to build up wealth for various reasons. Some of those reasons are noble and other reasons have no benefit to society.
When I was in banking, one of our largest depositors was a man who reminded you of the Beverly Hillbillies and he even drove a similar pickup. His body odor alerted us of his arrival. His deposits were in the 8 digits. What a shame! He had the opportunity to be a blessing to so many people but he simply hoarded his money as though he was broke. To the average person on the street he looked like a hobo.
Jesus spoke a parable in Luke 12:
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
This rich man is not unlike the steward who buried the talent. He did not put his wealth to work, even if it would only generate interest. All he was concerned about was himself. What would happen if many of us were to pool our resources and operated a Kingdom Enterprise based on Love? The Pentecostal church era produced mega-churches by being in unity to a degree. I certainly don’t condone some of the methods used to generate funds but Our Heavenly Father IS sovereign and the Pentecostal infrastructure did get built. Christian TV did develop even with all of the scandals that came with it.
I expect a “Gideon” call to come soon. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east (China) have been in “control” of the system. Gideon was threshing wheat by the winepress, indicative of the transition from Pentecost to Tabernacles. When the call comes forth, who will respond?