THE TRANSFORMING CHURCH
SUNDAY SERVICE
June 30th, 2024 (1st Service)
YEAR OF FLOURISHING AND THRIVING SUPERNATURALLY
Minister: Pastor Sunday Adebamiro
Text: 2 Kings 4: 1 – 7 (NKJV)
Topic: FLOURISHING AND THRIVING THROUGH GOD’S WISDOM: WISDOM FOR FINANCIAL FREEDOM
“A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
There are two things that affect the church the most. They have serious impact on the lives of believers and can either make or mar the destiny of believers. Unfortunately, those are the two things that the church feels uncomfortable discussing about. They are: Money and Sex.
We pretend as if they do not affect us or we have nothing to do with them, yet they are integral parts of us. We come to church, put on holy dispositions as if we do not indulge in sex, and we all know that babies do not drop from Heaven. Additionally, we go to work everyday looking for money but we come to church as if it does not matter. Money is important in our daily lives.
There is a relationship between wisdom and wealth creation. Solomon was the wisest and at the same time wealthiest man that ever lived.
Proverbs 3: 16 – 18 (NIV)
“Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.”
For one to live long, it is essential that you embrace wisdom because
- it will show you things that can cut your life short and how you can avoid them;
- it will make you know that smoking everyday can destroy your lungs,
- it will make you know that using seven cubes of sugar in a cup of tea can harm you, so you avoid them.
Wisdom does not just protect, but it gives access to wealth. So if one does not pay attention to wisdom, you may be poor and not have honor.
WHAT IS FINANCIAL FREEDOM?
It is a state where your passive income is either equal to or more than your living expenses. In other words, when the income or profit returns on your passive investment is more than your monthly expenses, then you are financially free.
- A state of financial crisis is when you are in debt or when you depend on other people for money.
- A state of financial survival is when your income is almost equal to your expenses, that is, after taking care of your expenses, you have little or nothing left.
- A state of financial stability is when your income is above your expenses, you pay your bills and you still have enough left.
- A state of financial freedom is when not just your income, but your passive income is above your expenses and you have been able to put some more money into investment that is yielding another money for you.
There is a point in life where you work for money, but at the same time there should be a point in your life where money should work for you as well. A spiritual principle to financial freedom is that you should return a portion of your income to God, that is a covenant practice between you and God.
PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM
- Beware of Impatience:It takes time to build wealth. In essence, wealth creation requires a process and not an event. We do not just blow into wealth. People who are wealthy, either in the kingdom or secular world, are those who have been working in their respective business areas for a long period of time. There is nothing like overnight financial freedom. It takes time to be financially free. It can take you twenty to thirty years to be financially free when you follow the due process. There is a difference between being rich, wealthy and prosperous. You cannot claim you are rich or wealthy and not have peace, not know God, or your family is in a mess. The wealthy ones are those people that have taken time to do one thing consistently, either for the past twenty or thirty years. There are so many ways to be rich – either through career, growing companies, investments into different portfolios etc. The principle is still the same thing, which is that it will take time. You can never be wealthy jumping from one business adventure to another. There is no shortcut to wealth creation, you must pay the price. Do not waste the most active and productive part of your life. It is possible for you to have multiple streams of income. There is a way to do it, and that is you do not build all the streams at the same time, you build each stream exceptionally. The morning time of life is a time to do everything that needs to be done. Stop wasting your energy on things that are not relevant.
- Delay Gratification:To build wealth in the right way, you have to delay gratification. Wealth is like building a house – you lay a foundation and build on it. You must delay some comforts, expenditures and rewards for now. In other words, you have to sacrifice now so as to enjoy later. Wealth requires that you discipline yourself. In essence, do not eat away your future in the present. There are those who are riding and wearing their future today, they are using things that they are not ripe for.
How do we delay gratification? Do not use the major money you make in life to buy liabilities. The Jews, for instance, do not spend their first or second generation of their money, but the third. That is, they do not touch the first profits they make but invest it into the second and third phase, before spending from it. In essence, do not spend your money on things that are not priorities.
