today I'm speaking to you with a heavy heart a heart weighed down by the realization of a new type of faith that has quietly but insidiously crept into our churches our homes and our lives this Faith which I have come to call profitable faith is not the faith of our forefathers it is not the faith of the Saints who have gone before us who walked through valleys of suffering and sacrifice with their eyes fixed firmly on Jesus no this faith is something altogether different something born of the Prosperity Gospel a gospel that promises much but
delivers little a gospel that has reduced the almighty God to a cosmic vending machine or worse a Santa Claus who exists to fulfill our every wish and whim the Prosperity Gospel has many faces and many facets but at its core it revolves around three Central tenants Faith wealth and health now I do not dispute that these are biblical Concepts faith is the foundation of our walk with Christ wealth can be a blessing from God and health is something we all seek and desire but the Prosperity Gospel has Twisted these truths perverted them into something unrecognizable
and in doing so has led many astray into a dangerous form of Faith a faith that only serves God when it is profitable let us pause for a moment and examine what this profitable Faith looks like it is a faith that is conditional a faith that clings to God only when there is a promise of personal gain it is a faith that thrives on the expectation that God's sole purpose is to make our dreams come true to grant us wealth to keep us perpetually healthy and prosperous and when these things do not come to pass
when the bank account is empty when the diagnosis is grim when the storms of life rage this profitable Faith begins to falter to crumble under the weight of unmet expectations how did we get here brothers and sisters how did we allow this Twisted version of Faith to take root in our hearts and in our churches it begins with a subtle shift in focus a shift away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and toward the gospel of Self in too many churches today the message has become centered on what Christ can do for you in this
life yes Christ offers us eternal life but what about the here and now what about your financial breakthrough what about your healing what about your promotion at work what about your dream house your dream car your dream life and so week after week people Gather in these churches not to hear a message about Sin and Redemption but to hear a message about prosperity and blessing they come not to be convicted of their need for a savior but to be reassured that God is going to make them Rich that he is going to make them successful
that he is going to give them everything they've ever wanted there are churches where you can attend for an entire year and never once hear a sermon on sin and yet was it not sin that brought Christ down from the glory of heaven was it not sin that nailed him to the Cross Jesus came to this earth to deal with sin your sin my sin the sin of the world he came to make a way for us to be reconciled to God but in many of today's churches that message has been all but forgotten replaced
by a message of personal success and financial blessing yes you will hear plenty of seron on giving you will hear about the importance of tithes and offerings you will hear that if you seow your seed God will bless you with a harvest of wealth but what about the condition of your soul what about the question of where you will spend eternity sadly there are pastors and ministers who are more concerned about the size of your offering than the state of your soul they care more about your tithe than they do about your salvation this may
sound harsh but it is the truth we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this reality the Apostle Paul warned us saying For the Love of Money is the root of all kinds of evil notice that Paul does not say money itself is evil but the Love of Money the insatiable desire for wealth and possessions leads to all kinds of evil and Jesus himself issued a stark warning watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed life does not consist in an abundance of possessions yet the Prosperity Gospel teaches the exact opposite
it tells us that life does consist in an abundance of possessions that God's favor is measured by the size of your bank account and the opulence of your lifestyle this is a lie a dangerous Distortion of the truth that Jesus taught in contrast to the prosperity gospel's obsession with wealth Jesus told us not to to store up Treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal instead he told us to store up Treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust can touch them and where thieves can profitable Faith Galatians
1:8 but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you other than what we have preached to you let him be a cursed the Apostle Paul had a particularly hard response to anyone who preached another gospel the Apostle didn't care who brought the false gospel even if it were himself or an angel from heaven that false gospel was to be rejected no negotiations no beating around the bush that gospel was to be rejected any person who spreads a false gospel was worthy only of a particular curse from God let him
be a cursed and there is another gospel that is in mainstream churches now and that is the profitable gospel in the sense that people no longer come to God because of who he is but rather they come to God because of what he can do for their life this is profitable faith it is based on the belief that I will believe and obey God only if he does something for me that is profitable Faith the theology behind profitable faith is believe in God and he will make you rich the theology behind profitable faith is believe
in God and he will make you 100% healthy the theology behind profitable faith is believe in God and all of your wildest dreams can come true you see this is wrong because the truth is God can indeed make you rich he can God can indeed make you healthy he can God can indeed make your wildest dreams come true he can he has the power and the ability to do so but one is he willing to do so and two does he promise this for all believers the theology centered around profitable faith is all about what
God can do and not who he is you hear sermons called 10 steps to God making you richer four ways to live the perfect life God wants you to two biblical steps for a prosperous life and so many Christian faiths are rooted in profitable Faith they State quote I believe in God because he answers my prayers suppose God didn't answer your prayer would you still believe in him or they State I believe in God because he healed me when I was sick suppose God didn't heal you when you were sick would you still believe in
him true Bible faith is not centered on what God does for you but rather who God is for if you know who he is you know he is the one true God who deserves to be praised and adored for if you know who he is you know he is the one true God who deserves all the glory and honor who deserves my praise and adoration and no matter what life may throw throw at me I will believe in him come hell or high water I will believe in God that is the faith of the three
Hebrew boys that is the faith of job in the Book of Daniel in chapter 3 we are introduced to three unusual young men of God Shadrach mesach and abedo King Nebuchadnezzar had a huge golden image built as a symbol of his power and Glory he then commanded his people to Bow Down and Worship this image whenever they heard the sound of his musical Herald those who disobeyed the order would be thrown into an immense blazing furnace Shadrach mesach and abedo however worshiped only the one true God and they refused to bow down to the false
idol these Brave Believers held on to their faith in God even when threatened with a fiery death they were literally threatened threatened with a fiery death now I want to show you what true pure faith is true biblical Faith the true faith of this gospel Daniel 3: 16-17 Shadrach mesach and abedo replied to him King Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter if we are thrown into the Blazing furnace the God we serve is able to Deliver Us from it and he will Deliver Us from your Majesty's hand notice
the confidence in the Lord and notice their choice of words the quote God we serve is able to Deliver Us from it like I said God is able to answer your prayers God is able to make you rich God is able to heal you God is able to remove you from whatever tough situation you are in right now he is able to do all those things but look at true Bible faith in verse 18 Daniel 3:18 but even if he does not we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods
or worship the image of gold you have set up that right there is true faith quote but even if he does not but even if God doesn't answer my prayers I am going to serve him but even if God doesn't heal me I am going to serve him but even if God doesn't give me that promotion that I I have been praying for I am still going to serve the Lord not because of what he does in my life but rather because of who he is regardless of what God does believe in him because it
is the right thing to do if your faith is resting on what God does and not who God is you have a profitable faith and I believe that a large number of people who depart from the faith and leave Christianity is because they were never in the faith initially they never had true Bible Faith they were only interested in the things that God could do for them and when the day came that God didn't give them what they wanted when the day came that God didn't answer their prayers they get angry at God they leave
God behind because God didn't answer their prayers Christian maturity is standing with God and not having a temper chantm when God doesn't say yes to your prayers Christian maturity is quote naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there the lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Christian maturity is even if my heart is broken because of the situation I'm going to stick with God right now there are some people who are listening to me and they are actively angry at God they are
so mad at God no you will never say it with your mouth you will never admit that you are angry at God but in the corner of your heart in the depths of your heart you are angry at God because he didn't answer your prayer thinking that God doesn't love you anymore God hasn't abandoned you God hasn't left you he will never leave you the three Hebrew boys had no idea whether God would deliver them but they believed in God regardless of the outcome of the situation that is Bible Faith the faith of job it's
a pure faith I can go as far as saying profitable faith is satanic the devil is using it to counterfeit the kind of faith that God requires from us it is unfortunate that many Believers have been deceived by the devil into thinking that God is a Santa Claus God is able to open doors God is able to bless you beyond your wild EST imagination he can move mountains he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly over all that you can ask or think and he has done this for many people and He will continue to
do this for many more people he is a father that loves to give God's gifts to his children however if your faith is based on what God does for you we have a problem if you are selective of the kinds of scripture passages you should read and meditate on you have a profitable Faith the Bible is a holistic representation of God's demand from the Believers that is why it says in 2 Timothy 3:1 16-17 that quote all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and
righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works it is therefore true that the scriptures are for our prophets but not only in terms of the blessings we expect to receive but also in our ability to accept reproofs Corrections and instructions our faith should not be built merely on what God has done for us or on the profits we intend to receive from him we should learn to obey God and humbly accept the corrections and instructions given in his word when we do we will get blessed we should not
allow the devil to deceive us into accepting that faith is all about receiving from God when we are committed to obeying all that God's word clearly spells out to us God will be committed to blessing us on every side God has given you eternal life that is more than anything you could receive here on Earth God has done the most amazing thing for you and that is to give you eternal life do you understand that eternal life
