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Amen, so keep your place here in Hebrews chapter 11 book market. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11 and Hebrews chapter 12 several times throughout the sermon. So Hebrews chapter 11 of course is the as many times called the faith chapter in the Bible. We're going to talk about that a little bit later. But this morning what I want to talk to you about is the prosperity gospel. I want to talk to you about the prosperity gospel. And let me tell you what, this is a rabbit hole. So we're going to dive down the rabbit hole a little bit this morning and we're going to look at what is the prosperity gospel, what's wrong with it, and what does that mean for us and for our church and this ministry. So first of all the prosperity gospel, what is it? The prosperity gospel is basically an umbrella term for this group of ideas that's popular amongst modern day charismatic preachers that basically equates the Christian faith with material, financial, and well-being, even physical well-being and just success in general in your life. It has a long history in American culture in the last few decades especially with figures like Joel Osteen, maybe some of you who are a little bit older will remember Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, these glamorous, flashily dressed evangelical preachers, televangelists. Jim and Tammy Faye Baker actually had their own amusement park at one point called Heritage USA, which was one of the, it was like the top two or the second or third most visited site in the United States for a while. But look, it's big and really it's in the late 20th century is when this became a very popular type of doctrine. It's born out of Pentecostal and many times Calvinist roots and I'm going to explain to you kind of where it came from and then we'll look at some of the details of its doctrine. But basically Protestant Calvinists who generally believe in this idea of predestination or that God has chosen some people to be saved and others to be damned, that God chooses, that's Calvinist predestination, it's a way for them to basically justify their sense of importance. Because if I'm saved and I'm Calvinist and I think that God chose me, why am I saved and you're not? Well it's because God chose me and he didn't choose you. So it's not that hard of a leap for me to also think that because God chose me to go to heaven that he also wants me to be incredibly successful in this life. So this is kind of the same type of roads and this is where it was born out of. It makes perfect sense if God chose me to go to heaven that he would bless me with worldly material things, great health, all these things. So that's where it came from. It's heavy into Pentecostalism. You'll see that many of the examples I'm going to use for you today, they came out of Pentecostal roots. Then there's another part of this that I want to get into a little bit that I'm going to talk about as well called a section of the prosperity gospel is this movement called the word of faith movement. The word of faith movement is the Pentecostal wing of the prosperity gospel. It's late 20th century stuff with the likes of Kenneth Hagen, Benny Hinn, maybe some of you have heard of these names, Kenneth Copeland, Paul and Jan Crouch, Fred Price. Some people call it, if you've ever heard of it, if you haven't heard of the word of faith movement, maybe you've heard of the name it and claim it movement. It's the same thing. Basically this idea, it's this mix of mysticism and mind science with positive thinking mixed in with Jesus in there basically is what it is. The heart of the word of faith movement is the belief in this force of faith, meaning there's this faith force. It's kind of like Star Wars or something. But there's this faith force that we can control and we can literally have faith and speak things into reality. It's this idea that there's a faith force and that our speaking and our faith will control this faith force and that God is actually subject to this faith force. Meaning whether or not something comes true, someone gets healed, someone gets money, whatever, it all has to do with my faith, controlling this faith force. Are you starting to see the problems here? It's basically claiming, you know, name it and claim it, word of faith, it's claiming that we can speak things into existence when you boil it down. Now who speaks things into existence in the Bible? There's only one person that speaks things into existence. You'll even find preachers and beliefs written down in this name it and claim it movement that believe that before the fall, humans actually did speak things into existence. So it's kind of like, you know, it basically makes man into a godlike status, if you think about it that way, and reduces God to a man status. Because God is now subject to, you know, this faith force that we control. God becomes subject to us. You see the problems that this leads to? But here's the thing, here's the thing, it sells. It sells. On its simplest level, you know, Joel Osteen, we'll talk about him in more detail, you know, God will make you rich and successful. That sells to people, folks, especially in times of hard economic conditions. You know, Benny Hinn and others, you can heal yourself and loved ones. I mean, who wouldn't want that? The tenets, you know, of the faith are those two things, and we'll look at those two things. But I mean, the idea, the idea sells itself, that, you know, the gospel is that, you know, the idea is that God just, you can speak things into existence, you can control everything, and that God wants you to be rich and successful and healthy. It's thousands and thousands and thousands of people go flock to evangelists that spread this prosperity gospel. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Let's still, let's look at some of the tenets of the faith. Let's look at some of the tenets of the faith. Now the main tenet of the faith is this idea that God wants you to just have wealth and material possessions galore, okay? Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. Let's look at what the Bible says. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 9. Now we can't go to all the Bible verses on this, and like I said, I found myself down the rabbit hole. I had to dig myself out of the rabbit hole several times. This is a major, major, you could, I mean, it is, it goes deep in all these different directions. But let's just look at some of the basics of the Bible. I hope I can explain to you the basics of the prosperity gospel, and then just how the Bible basically just teaches not even close to that, okay? Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6, and look at verse number 9 first. The Bible says, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So verse 9 and 10, there's two things I want to point out here. It says they that will be rich. It says they that have a will to be rich. That's what that means. It means those that have a desire to be rich are going to fall into a snare, first of all. So if your desire in life is to be rich, you are going to fall into a snare, the Bible says. And then it says, you know, in verse 10, you know, people have coveted after this, meaning they're searching after this. They're coming after this love of money. And it's caused them to do what? It's caused them to err from the faith. Okay, so if you will be rich, if you have a will in your life, you're like, oh, I want to be rich. And I can't tell you how many people that I've met. You're just like, oh, I just need to be rich. And then then I'm going to serve God with my life once I'm rich. No, you must serve God now. You must serve God now because if you have a will to be rich, the Bible is telling you here that if your drive and your will is to be rich, you will never serve God. You will err from the faith. You will get snared by people and things and you will literally err from the faith. It won't work if you're one of those Christians that, oh, you know, I just need to be rich and then I'm going to help everybody. Then I'm going to serve the Lord. No, you will err from the faith is what the Bible is literally telling you here instead. So instead of having a will to be rich, what does the Bible say? So I mean, does God say, you know, I'm just promising to make you rich? No, he says if you want to be rich, you're going to err, you're going to leave me is what God is saying. He's like, if your desire in your life is to be rich, you're going to leave me. So why would God want, I mean, God doesn't want you to have a will to be rich. Look at verse six, go back. And this is what the Bible actually says. It says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Verse number eight, and having food and raiment, let us be there with content twice. The Bible says that we should be content with what we have, not having this desire to be wealthy, to be rich. Now here's the irony of the whole thing. If you have a will to be rich, you will fall into a snare, the Bible says. Let me introduce you to some snares. The snares are the men that are preaching the prosperity gospel. These are some of the snares. Kenneth Copeland wrote in Laws of Prosperity, do you want 100 fold return on your money? Give and let God multiply it back to you. No bank in the world offers this kind of return. He's the Lord. He's literally saying give me your money and you will get 100 fold return on your investment. The biggest player in this material and wealth prosperity gospel is a man named Joel Osteen. He has the biggest church in the United States the last time I checked. But look, let me give you a methodology on heretics, okay? The first thing, if you hear somebody preaching something that's not right, the first thing that you need to do, here's your methodology. You check their gospel. What gospel are they preaching? And if that is not right, turn to Galatians chapter one. So they're teaching all this doctrine and you're like, you know what, is this doctrine correct? I don't know if this doctrine is correct or not. Check what their beliefs on salvation are. That's the first thing. Turn to Galatians chapter one because Paul gives us some very specific instruction on how to handle somebody that preaches a different gospel, that preaches a twisted gospel. Look at Galatians chapter one and verse number six. Galatians chapter one and verse number six. So this is our methodology. Whenever we hear a doctrine that we want to check, you know, let's not look into the doctrine first. Let's look into the gospel that that person preaches. That's the first thing. And then many times we will realize that we don't even have to look into the doctrine because of Galatians chapter one. Look at Galatians chapter one and verse number six. The Bible says, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. So Paul here is writing to the church at Galatia and he's chewing them out. He's like, look, he's like, you've been called to another gospel. He's like, someone's preaching the wrong gospel in your church. Verse seven, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Verse number nine. And as we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than ye have received, let him be accursed. Look, he's saying if anyone perverts the gospel that we've given you, let that person be accursed. Pervert means to distort or to misconstrue. Pervert means to take what was there and twist it and turn it into something that's different. That's what was happening. They didn't, look, you'll never find that someone makes up their own gospel. They always take the true gospel and twist it and turn it and pervert it. Satan never comes up with his own ideas. He takes what God says and says, yea, hath God said? Did God really mean that? Maybe he meant it this way. And he twists it. He perverts it. He's subtle, the Bible says in Genesis chapter three. But then Paul says, if anybody does this, let them be accursed. Look at Romans chapter nine in verse number three. All these people that preach a different gospel are accursed, the Bible says. Romans chapter nine, look at verse number three. I'm going to read, start reading in verse number two. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. What does this word accursed mean? For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises. He's saying, in verse number three, he's saying, I wish that I could trade my salvation for theirs. He's saying, if I could give up my salvation for theirs, which of course he can't. But he's just saying, I would give my salvation for theirs. He's suffering that they're not saved. He's wishing that his brethren, his Israelites, the children of Israel, would get saved and accept Jesus Christ. And he's sad that they won't. He's sad that he's having a problem with that, so much to the point where he says, you know what, if I could trade my life, my salvation for theirs, I would. So look, accursed means damned. Accursed means damned, end of story. So let's check the gospel of Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen. Now first of all, whenever you go and you search for somebody's gospel, what they believe as far as salvation, if it's really hard to find, that's warning number one. If it's really difficult to put your finger on, on their website or whatever, and they use vague language, you know, that's warning number one. We are very clear what we believe in this church, and it's written on our website. We are very clear about that. Okay, look, here's the gospel of Joel Osteen. The scripture says, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you would like to know, I'm quoting this, okay, if you would like to know Christ, all you have to do is receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, sounds pretty good, by saying a prayer of salvation. Whoa, pray this aloud. Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart, wash me clean. I make you my Lord and Savior, amen. We believe that if you prayed that simple prayer, you will have been born again. I had to read it like three times, but that's what it says. I mean, talk about one, two, three, pray after me. That's exactly what that is. It says nothing. It says nothing about even what you believe. It literally says just pray the prayer. Then he continues, you are starting with a clean slate, and you have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Keep God first place in your life. Did you notice all those little things in there? He's Pentecostal. He's Pentecostal. You know, repent of your sins, make God Lord of your life. That's lordship salvation, you know. If you have, you know, if you do, if you are saved, you will do the works. I mean, it's all the same stuff. You can lose your salvation. Look, Osteen actually speaks against churches telling people that they are guilty before God and do not measure up to his standard of perfection. Notice how he didn't say anything about, you know, you're condemned, or that you're a sinner, and he's just like, you know, just pray this prayer, just pray this prayer. You know, look at what he says about churches that talk about people being guilty before God. You've got to get away from that. Quote, you've got to get away from that. God is smiling down on you right now. God is for you. He breathed life into you. I've learned that when you know God is for you, then you can rise higher. What does that even mean? What does that even mean? You can go further in life. Then it's just repent of your sins, make God Lord of your life, all this stuff. Look, so much for, you know, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Look, if people aren't saved, and you're going up to them and telling you, hey, you know, you know, rise. You know, rise higher. God wants you to rise higher. Look, the wrath of God abides on you. If you're not saved, the wrath of God, John 3 36 abides on you. That's why we talk to people about the fact that they're sinners, because look, if you don't think that you're a sinner, and the wrath of God, I mean, does God want people to be saved? Yes, but his wrath abides on them until they are. That's what Joel Osteen won't tell people. Well, look, here's the thing. They really, as you read into this guy, and you read into his ministry, not only is he not saved, not only is he preaching another gospel, not only is he, he's accursed. He's accursed. But they treat salvation as a side note. They really don't want to talk about it. They're just like, yeah, pray this prayer. Now let's move on to, you know, getting you on track in your life and being your best person now, because that's what God wants for you, right? So they treat salvation as this side note, and then they just want to get straight into this prosperity stuff. You know, look, and as far as the prosperity gospel goes, I will give them this. The Osteens are the smart ones. The Osteens are the smart ones. You'll find out why in a few minutes, but look, it's a super easy sell. God wants you to be rich. Please come to my church. That's a really easy sell, because a lot of people want to be rich. A lot of people want material possessions out there. Look, it's just, it's mixing the power of positive thinking and all these secular ideas in with, you know, the name of Jesus. That's all they're doing. That's what they're doing. And it sells. All heresy starts with some truth. Turn to Colossians chapter three. So here's what's perverted. They take, you know, Bible verses, and they take, you know, statements from the Bible and concepts from the Bible, and they twist those to preach this prosperity message. But first of all, they failed the test. The gospel is false. They're accursed. We know that. But let's look at the doctrine now. So they take some things that are true. You know, the Bible does teach. The Bible does teach work ethic. The Bible does teach that you should work hard. Look at Colossians chapter three and verse 23. The Bible says, And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto sin. So, I mean, what's the problem? You say, what's the problem? Won't this produce? If you follow Colossians chapter three, and you work hard, and you go to work every day, and you show up early, and you stay late, and it doesn't matter who your boss is, you're respectful, you're good at your job, and you work as you're working unto the Lord, I mean, isn't that going to go well for you? In general, yes. I mean, doing things God's way will generally work out for you. However, Jesus actually teaches something different. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter three. You're not promised that everything's just going to be great all the time. You're not promised this. And this is what they won't tell you. It's almost like, you know, they teach something, they teach some concepts, and it's more what they don't say than what they actually say. Look at 2 Timothy chapter three. The Bible says in verse number 12, yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So as you live godly, and you follow Colossians chapter three, you know what? That's probably going to give you some benefits in your life. Maybe you get promoted, and you're going to work hard. Maybe you get a raise here and there. Things like that. Those things, you know, are very possible that those things are going to happen. But look, the Bible also says that you will suffer persecution for your faith. You will suffer persecution if you live godly. So if you do the things that the Bible says you're supposed to do, you'll suffer for it, the Bible says. And more than that, look at Luke chapter six. Now I can't even read you all the verses about this. But the Bible says that if you live godly, now look, are all people that are saved going to live godly? No. Because it has nothing to do with how you live, whether or not you're saved or not. It has to do with what you believe. Look at Luke chapter six and verse 22. And the Bible says this, Jesus says this. He says in verse 22, blessed are ye when you become rich. No, he says blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the son of man's sake. So this is saying, blessed are ye when men hate you, they don't want to be around you, they talk about you behind your back, these are all things that are going to happen. Why? For my name. Because you believe in me. Because you're following me. And he says, rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, because I'll give you a million dollars. No, he says, leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in ten minutes. No, your reward is great in heaven. For in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Underline verse number 23, and then just put Hebrews chapter 11, right next to verse number 23 there. Because that's exactly what that is talking about, and I'll get to that in a few minutes. But look, this is why, this is why Joel Osteen can never bring up sin. He can never preach against sin. He can never preach about people getting their lives right. That's why you'll find people that go to churches like this, and they talk, they look, they dress, they act, just like the world. Because he can't have you getting the sin out of your life. Because guess what? That's gonna cause you persecution. He can't preach against sin, and have you, you know, he can't, oh he certainly can't teach separation. Because that's gonna bring persecution to you. If he teaches people to live godly in Christ Jesus, they will suffer for it. And that will go directly against his message of your life just being great, and wealthy, and rich, and all these things. If he has his people suffering, his church is gonna shrink, is what's gonna happen. Because when you talk about those things, you know, first of all, people don't like hearing it. That's the first thing. It doesn't sell. To tell people they need to get the sin out of their life, and that in order to love the Lord, they actually need to start living according to the Bible. It doesn't sell. It's work. It's separation which is gonna cause people to reproach you. It's gonna cause people to talk about you behind your back. Look, it's gonna cause discomfort to people. It's against what he's after. That's why they don't talk about sin, or especially God's wrath. I mean especially God's wrath, we'll get to that in a little bit. Let's talk about sickness and healing. So Joel Osteen is mainly focused on wealth, and you know, your career, and your best life now. I mean look, the Bible just said, you know, it's your best life in heaven. Your reward is great in heaven. It didn't say your reward is great right now. Your reward's great in heaven. But look, let's talk about sickness and healing. Let me introduce you to a man named Benny Hinn. Hinn teaches that God intends everyone to be healed of all their diseases. If people simply have the faith to believe they can be healed, God will heal them through a healer like himself. Give me all your money. What's his salvation message? Let's check it. No shock. It's repent of your sins. You can lose your salvation. The Bible says, Benny Hinn says, we must take seriously the warning in Hebrews regarding the gift God has given us. Hold on to your salvation, he says. Those who fall away are in mortal danger of permanent separation from the Father. So once again, you can lose your salvation. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. Lordship, works, repent of your sins. It's all the same thing using Jesus' name. But let's look into it anyway. Can God heal you? Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's ask this question first. Does God heal everyone? Does God heal everyone? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and look at verse number 5 because these guys will tell you, this is the name it claim it people. These are the people that will tell you, you know, if you can't heal yourself or God didn't heal you, it's your lack of faith. You're not, you know, believing hard enough to control the faith force or whatever they want to call it. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number 5. The Bible says this, this is Paul speaking, of such and one will I glory. Yet for myself, I will not glory, but in my infirmities. So he's got some kind of physical problem here. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool for I will say the truth. But now I forbear lest any man should think me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So Paul had some kind of problem. We don't know what it was. There was some kind of physical issue and he says, for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice. He asked God three times to take this physical issue away from him that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. God said no. God said no to Paul and God said, my strength is made perfect in your current condition. God not only said no to Paul, but he gave him a reason why he said no. He says, my grace is sufficient. He's like, you're saved, you're eternally saved. He's like, I need you to be right where you are right now for me. And then Paul says, most gladly, he accepts it, most gladly, I will glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He's like, I don't want anything. If this is what God says, he doesn't doubt. He says, if this is what God said, this is what I accept that I may have the power of Christ on me. And I mean, look, I guess Paul lacked faith because he didn't get healed. Come to James chapter five. I mean, that's what you would have to believe. Paul, I mean, demonstrated his faith in verse number nine, that even though, you know, God said to him, he's like, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. And I'll explain that to you in a few minutes. But many times that's the truth. God is, his ways are higher than our ways. Look at James chapter five. I mean, can God heal people? That's the next question. Look at James 5 13. Look what the Bible says, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with the oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of the faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man heals people every time. Is that what it, no. What God is saying here is that, look, if there's sickness, if there's somebody that's sick, he's like, pray, anoint them with oil, pray as a church, the people would be healed. These are good prayers. But it never gives us the promise that every sick person will always be healed. We never have that promise. Now look, I mean, here's one thing that I don't know about you, how many times you think about, but this is not lost on me, the fact that it was almost a year ago when this whole mess happened in this country and we're all fine. Is that lost on anybody here that shouldn't be? I mean, God can protect you. God can keep you healthy. These are prayers that God will answer. And as far as this ministry goes, he's answered those prayers. God has protected this church. I mean, you would have to try to not notice that in the last year. Look, but sickness, it's part of living in a fallen world, folks. People are going to be sick, everyone's not going to be the perfect demonstration of health, but in James chapter five, it's a good prayer to pray for health and to pray for healing, but we're never given that promise. Let's talk about this idea of faith. Go back to Hebrews chapter 11 where we began. Let's talk about this idea of faith. Hebrews chapter 11 is, you know, the faith. Now look, I mean, there's Benny Hinn, I forgot about Benny Hinn. This guy, let me get there, go to Hebrews 11, but Benny Hinn will have these mega conventions or whatever they call them, and look, the reason I said Joe Osteen is smarter because this Benny Hinn production, I mean, this, I mean, it is fraud at a very detailed level. He literally has groups of employees, ushers, whatever they call them, and they make sure, I don't know if you've ever seen it on TV or YouTube or whatever, he'll go up there and he'll be like, people will just like blow back and fall over into the hands of like these ushers. He's like, you know, in the name of, you know, Jesus, you're healed, and people are like blown back by his force, you know, and they all fall over. He'll go to entire groups of people, be like, and they'll all just fall down. I mean, it's a production, it's a production, and you find there's been like investigative studies like hidden camera stuff and, you know, where people have gone to these things like with their handicapped children in their arms hoping that he'll make their child walk again. And one of the jobs that it is, you know, people have come forth as is, you know, workers have come forth and exposed the truth of what really happens at these conferences. First of all, they always gather money. You should see that the piles of buckets that they go around in these convention centers, and they usually bring in like half a million to $700,000 on one of these conventions, one of these, you know, stadium type thing. But one of the main jobs has been, you know, these people have come forth and have been kind of whistleblowers in this whole thing, and the ushers, their main jobs is to stop anybody who's actually sick from coming up on the stage. It's usually people who think that they might be feeling bad or think that, and they've all been proven, and people have found people that said, I had cancer, and then he says, your cancer's now gone, and they follow those people and track them down, they still had cancer. Or that he cured, you know, whatever other diseases from people, and they always still had those diseases, or they never had it in the first place. It's just straight up fraud. But it's on a very detailed, you know, he's got it managed to where this fraud, it's a show. It's a show. You know, they have the, there's one documentary where the lady brought her child, she's literally carrying her child who has, you know, cerebral palsy, and his six-year-old child can't walk, and you know, she's literally carrying this child, and they put her off to the side, they won't let her go up there. And she's walking out crying, oh, I just wanted him to just, you know, make her walk or whatever. And it's like, look, but here's the thing. God is never going to have Benny Hinn heal that child. You know what God wants for that child? God wants for that child to be saved. And that child is never going to get saved from some devil like Benny Hinn. God wants that, God wanted that exposure to happen to that lady, for that fraud to be exposed to her. So you know, maybe someone will knock on her door and get her saved so she can get her child saved by giving her the actual gospel. That's what God wants for that child. It's much more important than whether or not that child ever walks or not. Their eternal destination is what's important. And God is never going to allow some demon to give her hope that maybe that's what her faith should be in. He's a fraud. He's accursed. And it's good that it's exposed to her. So I mean, the Benny Hinn thing, it's this, how it's still going on, I don't know if it still is, but how it's still going on just shows you, you know, I'll get to that at the end. I'll show you why people are following the Benny Hinns of this world. But look, let's talk about faith. Let's talk about faith. So we see that, you know, God never promises us that we're going to be rich. God never promises that every sickness will be healed. Like, look, Paul's a perfect example. If anybody, if anybody had the faith, if anybody had, you know, reason, if it was all about our lives and our faith, if anybody deserved to get healed, it was Paul. But we saw that God said no to him. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 in verse number one. Let's look at faith. Is God subject to faith? Is God, you know, are we controlling this faith force that is controlling God? Is God subject to it? Look at verse number one. Let's look at the faith chapter, who most people, we were talking about this last night at home, most people misunderstand this chapter. A lot of people misunderstand this chapter. Now faith is the subject, substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You hear that quoted a lot, for by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand, underline that. So it's this faith that gives us understanding that the works were framed by the Word of God, that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So first of all, we don't speak anything into existence. The worlds were framed by God speaking, by the Word of God that became Jesus Christ. The worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen are not made of the things which do appear. I love that verse. But first of all, two things. God speaks things into existence, number one. And number two, it's faith that makes us understand. It's by faith we understand. No, God is the subject of our faith. He is not subject to it. To say that God is subject to some faith force is to lower God to be a subject of faith. It's through faith we understand. Look at Psalm 147, right in the center of your Bible, the book of Psalms. Look at Psalm 147. It's through faith. Faith is this thing that we have that helps us understand in verse three. It's through faith we understand. I mean, how else do we understand? It's through faith. That's how we understand. Does God need understanding? Look at Psalm 147, verse five. Great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite. Infinity sign. He doesn't need understanding. You can't get better than infinity, folks. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Is God subject to our faith? Hebrews 12. Look at verse two. Hebrews 12, too. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Ephesians 2. I'll just read it for you. For by grace are ye saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. The faith or fact that we can believe God, that we can understand. It comes from God, it comes from our faith and God, this faith, God's the author of it. God's the author of our faith. He doesn't, he's not subject to it. It is complete heresy to say that God is, it doesn't even make any sense if you're reading the Bible. Name it and claim it turns us into gods. And as a matter of fact, not only is God not subject to anything, but Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, go back there. The faith chapter, Hebrews chapter 11, which I'm sure these prosperity gospel preachers use all the time. You know the irony of this whole thing? The faith chapter is actually about us not receiving the promises. Did you know that? It's actually about these men and Sarah that are listed in Hebrews chapter 11. It's about them not receiving the promises in their life. They didn't receive it, but by faith they continued anyway. Abraham, Abraham, it says twice, he was a stranger in the land. The promise, he never saw that promise. He never got that land. He was a stranger. He didn't receive that promise. He wasn't even close to receiving it. Look at Hebrews 11, 33. Look what the Bible says. It says, who through faith, it lists all these men, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped, now here's what they did receive, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens, women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Look at verse 36, and others, this is what they did receive, had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yay, moreover of bonds and imprisons. They were mocked. They were tortured. They were scourged. They were put in prison. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goat stands, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. That's what they got in their life. Of whom the world was not worthy, why? They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, and these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. They didn't receive it in their life. They were tortured and killed. But through faith, they continued. Through faith, we look back. So look, they didn't receive the promise, but through faith. That's why they're talked so highly of here. Because they continued in their lives and they became these great examples for us, of promises that they never even saw. We see those things now. Didn't we see Abraham's promise come true, as God did give the children of Israel the promised land, and they moved into the promised land? Abraham didn't see that. He wasn't even close to that. Turn to Genesis chapter 3. That's the faith chapter. What it really means is that they continued, like the evidence of things hoped for, not seen. They didn't see those things, yet they continued. They continued in their Christian life. The origins of the movement are this. Just in closing, let me give you some origins of it, really where it comes from at the roots, and then I want to show you why people actually follow this movement and why it's so popular. I know I'm running short on time here. Look at Genesis chapter 3. Look at verse number 1. Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat any tree of the garden? Did God really say that? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. This is the reason is that it's popular is because it makes people believe that they are as gods. It sells because it's great business. You know, it sells because you have the power to do anything yourself. You become a god. It's great business because give me your money and God will multiply yours. And if God doesn't multiply yours a hundred fold, if you're doing your math a year later and you're like, yea, brother Jared, you said I was going to have this much money and I don't right now, I'm going to be like, Hebrews 11, you have no faith. Go have stronger faith. It's easy. It sells great. There's an easy out. So look, you know, you aren't rich and successful, you have weak faith. Your sister still died of cancer, you have weak faith. You know, you must have more faith, brother. Get sold out. Give, give, give. It's very simple, but it makes people as gods and look, can the Christian be successful? Can the Christian be successful? Like, because most lies, as we saw in Genesis 3, most lies start with a little bit of the truth, right? Can a Christian be successful? Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Yes, a Christian can be successful. Can you follow God in your life and do well financially? Yes, you can. But here's what most of the time happens right here. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Most of the time, this is how it goes. When Christians get really successful, this is how it works out. And God knows this. This is not lost on God. That's why we have Ecclesiastes. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse 9. Solomon was rich. He had everything. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Look down at verse number 17. He had everything that he could ever possibly want. There was nothing that Solomon said, I want, that he could not have. This is the goal, according to the prosperity gospel. Now look at verse 17. Therefore I hated life, because the work that I wrought under the sun is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Wealth does two things to us, folks. The majority of the time, becoming wealthy does two things. The first thing is it fills us with pride. It fills us with pride. Look at all the, you know, we, and then you know what? So I was great. So I was great, he said. So I was great. You know, we think we're great. If we get wealthy and God blesses us, you know, we think we're great, and then we forget about or we turn our back on God. We err from the faith, as the Bible says. And then the second thing it does is, like I said, it weakens our faith. Because guess what? You get wealthy, you get prideful, guess who you start to rely on in your life? You start to rely on yourself. You start to think, you know what? I'm really something. I'm really something with these business ideas and with all these things. And we rely less on God. And then guess what? When times do get tough or hard, we don't have that faith anymore. It weakens us as Christians. And the main thing, look, here's the main thing, because everything starts with a little bit of the truth. Turn to John chapter 16. So it's not, it's not that, you know, you can't be financially successful or financially well off and be a Christian. But those are the two things that actually usually happen. Okay, it takes the mature Christian to, you know, keep his focus. Look, here's your, here's the methodology. Here's the methodology in your life. Okay, hey, I hope you all do well financially, but it's got to be a side note for you. I hope you all do really well in your jobs and your careers and with your families. I hope that everything works out and you can pay your bills, you get a little bit of money in the bank. I hope that's the way it goes for you. But it's all got to be a side note. And you got to always be focused on what you're supposed to be doing and focus on your faith. And everything else needs to be a side note. And if you can't keep it a side note, I hope you don't do well. If you can't keep it a side note, and if you're going to get successful, and your business is going to blow up, and you're going to have a lot of money, and you're going to pay off all your debts and all your house, and you're going to forget about God, I hope you stay broke. That doesn't sell. I hope you're all broke. Put that on the front page of the website. But if it's going to make you air from your faith, I hope you stay broke. That is what the Bible is teaching us. It's got to remain a side note. Look, it's just money. It's all going to burn. I hope you're not broke. And I hope you work hard because the Bible says you're supposed to do that stuff. But you know what? It's all going to burn in the end. It's all going to burn. Look at John 16. But here's what they leave out. Here's what they leave out, the prosperity folks. Because look, doing well on its face is not against the Bible. But here's what they leave out. John 16, verse 33. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Jesus is saying, I hope you in yourself have peace. Because as you follow me in the world, He's like, you're going to have trouble. You're going to have trouble out there. We talked about it already. You're going to have persecution. Things are going to happen. As people see you outwardly separating and living that godly life, you're going to have trouble. Turn to Hebrews 12. There's God's role too. So they leave out the world. They leave out the persecution. They leave out living godly, equaling persecution or tribulation. Here's another thing they leave out. And this is why they don't talk about sin. They leave out the God factor. Look at Hebrews 12, verse 7. First of all, none of them are saved. Because they're listening to a preacher who's accursed. You know, your odds of getting saved when you're listening to a preacher who's accursed, pretty low. Look at Hebrews 12, 7. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons. So look, here's the thing. You're going to suffer chastisement in your life too. That's why we preach about sin here. Look, that's my prosperity gospel to you, is that you don't suffer chastisement. That's why we're preaching against sin. That's why we're bringing up all these things about getting your lives right and separating and all these different things that nobody else talks about. So you can avoid the chastisement of God as saved believers. Because persecution, chastisement will come to the believer. Those things are left off. But first of all, they're for saved people. So it doesn't even apply to these preachers that we're talking about. But let me just end with this. Why does it sell? Why does it sell? Thousands of people come to these things. Joel Osteen has the largest church in the United States. What do we have here? About 50 this morning, if we're rounding up. But why does it sell? What is it? Riches, healing, all these things. Here's the answer. People are selfish. That's the answer. That's why it sells so well. Turn to Romans chapter 8. People are selfish. Turn to Romans chapter 8. People are, they're going to those places so they can get something out of it. So they can get riches, so they can get healing. They're selfish. Like what can I get out of this thing? And we're never, we looked at Paul, we are never given the promise of riches. We are never given the promise in the Bible of health. We're never given that promise. God says pray for it in James chapter 5. But we're never given that promise. But here's a promise we are given. Look at Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Here's a promise, let me explain to you why God did what He did to Paul. Here's a promise that you can take to the bank. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, the Bible says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. The Bible here is saying, did Paul love God? Did Paul love God? So Paul asked, he had a physical problem and he asked God to heal him and God said no. God said no. But did God work that for the good? How many, how many people, I mean, how many times in your individual life have you been inspired by Paul? How many times when you look at Paul, a man who was beaten and he was tortured and he wasn't even a good speaker, he says. And then he has a physical ailment on top of it all and he asked God to heal him and God says no and he says no, it's better that Christ is in me and powerful in me and whatever that takes, that's the right answer. That's inspirational. That's inspirational that somebody could go through the most difficult time. He says I have suffered more. And then he goes into the long list of all the things that happened to him just aside from his physical ailment. And if he can do it, so can we. So God has used that to our good. Did He use that physical ailment to Paul's good? It's more for ours. It's more for ours. Do you see the problem if you go to a church and you're just like, what can I get out of this thing? What can I get out of this thing? Here's just a shocking idea for you. Here's a shocking, just a revelation for you. Maybe it's not all about you. Me, this life, this Christian life that we're supposed to be living is not just about me. You ever think about that? Look at this prosperity gospel thing. It's the evangelical version of Catholicism. It's all it is. Come here and pay me money to get your relatives out of hell. Come here and pay me money to get yourself out of hell. Come here and pay me money and do all this stuff to keep yourself from falling out of salvation into hell. I could do this all day long. Give me money to keep everyone and your brothers and everybody out of hell. It's even better. They're in hell right now. There's an urgency to that one. Let's invent purgatory. They're suffering right now. Write me a check. Hurry. Write me another one. Come on. Come on. Come on. Okay, they're out. Look, it's just, it's the same thing. It's the same exact thing with better audio and better lighting. That's all it is. It's the same story. It's the same thing. It's just packaged. It's just packaged better. That's all. Because people, you know, Satan knows that people are just looking for what others can do for them. And by the way, it's the same reason that you'll see a lot of saved people leaving good churches. Because they'll be like, oh, you know, church. Church just becomes about them. Oh, people aren't paying enough attention to me or I'm just not, you know, maybe they came to the church and people were fawning all over them and then, you know, that just doesn't happen much anymore. You're like, oh, I'm not getting out of this what I should. But here's the thing. You know, maybe it's not about you. You know, because look, here's another thing that doesn't sell. Coming to church here is work. Coming to church here is work because we're focused on the first works, which are focused on other people, which are focused on other people other than us. It's about getting the gospel out, not to ourselves. I'm not trying to give myself the gospel every week. We're going out and we're working to get the gospel to others. That's what we're doing. And we take whatever comes with that on faith. That's Hebrews 11. We do what we're supposed to do and when the persecution comes, we take it and when the blessing comes, we take it. Whatever. If blessing comes, it's extra. But Jesus was telling us, persecution's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Why? So we won't be offended when it comes. You could never go to a church like those people that are listening to the prosperity gospel and preach on sin and preach on that they should be separated. I mean, say that they did have the right gospel and that that's all the preaching that they heard. You could never go in there and say, get your life separated, get your lives right and let's save your kids from the world, you know, and start preaching that kind of message because they're going to get hit with persecution. They're going to get hit with persecution. They're going to get hit. And if you don't preach on chastisement, you know, they're going to get chastised by God. I mean, it wouldn't work. It's like oil and water. There's going to be effects from sin, folks. There's going to be effects from sin. That's how you know that they're not saved, actually. Because here they are, they're Christians, they're living the worldly life. You know, they're Christians, they're living this worldly life and there's no chastisement. It's just all good, good, good. And that wouldn't be the case if they were all saved and they were living this worldly life and they weren't separating. It's, look, that's why we preach on sin here, because I don't want this chastisement coming on myself, you, any of us, because it's real. We're sons. We're not bastards. We're sons. So look, that's why we preach the way we preach. And this church is not focused on the individual. The church is focused on the first works which are focused on others. And that's really why it sells so well, because it just feeds people selfishness, is what it does. But God doesn't want people healed and rich from these heretics. He wants them saved. And He wants His wrath removed from them. And that's why we have to have a church like this, so we can get the truth to people and they can have that wrath removed from them. That's what the Bible teaches. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.