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A Person’s True Wealth – Ps Jeff Vines

by | Wed, Oct 18 2023

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What do you consider as the first miracle of the Bible? Pastor Jeff Vines believes it to be when Jesus tells His disciples to divide 20,000 people up into groups of 50. Can you see 12 men doing that? That’s a miracle in and of itself. But they managed it!

In his message, A Person’s True Wealth, Pastor Jeff teaches us that to understand a person’s wealth and worth, we must first have insight into the character and nature of God, our Heavenly Father. Everything in our lives has to be blessed before it can multiply.

Nothing is ever going to take the place of Jesus. We are safe and secure in our salvation because what Jesus did on the cross is not contingent on how good we are. But Jeff believes there is a way we can position ourselves so God will open the windows of heaven and bless us while we’re here.

God Wants to Bless His Children

‘There are some things about the Bible that I don’t understand,’ says Jeff, ‘and I don’t think that anyone understands all the Bible. But that doesn’t change the things I do understand. The Bible is very clear that Jesus came to redeem us, but He also revealed to us what God is like. In scripture, you find the identity of God and the metaphor Jesus uses to tell us what God is really like. God is a Heavenly Father who desperately wants to bless his children.’

While that is true, God is not an enabler. He does not reward bad behaviour and the principle of the first fruits is all through the Bible. It starts with the Garden of Eden and the tree. It goes to Cain and Abel. It goes to Abraham and on to Malachi, all the way through in the New Testament with Jesus speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees. It continues through Corinthians and Revelation.

‘If you want God to bless your life, your finances, your time, your talents, your abilities then the Bible is very clear,’ says Jeff. ‘It’s not just an Old Testament thing. You have to give God the first portions of that area, and when you do, He opens the windows of heaven and pours out a blessing on you.’

If you want God to bless your day, give the first of your day to Him and He will redeem it. If you want God to redeem and bless the rest of your week, give Him the first portions of your week on Sunday. That’s the day of the Lord. If you want God to bless your finances, then give Him the first fruits.

Blessing before Multiplication

Jeff is convinced that God wants to open the windows of heaven and bless our finances now. ‘In Luke 9, the disciples come upon this one scene where suddenly there are 5000 men present. The reason it says men is because there’s trying to tell you there’s about 15 to 20,000 people there.’

Jesus’s preaching starts about 9:00, but He doesn’t stop. It’s nearing 5.00, and one of the disciples goes up to Him and we can imagine what would happen. Jesus is in the middle of speaking, He’s been up there 8 hours. They interrupt Him to tell Him the people are hungry and need to eat. Then here’s what happens according to the text, and it happens in this order.

‘It’s important that you see this,’ says Jeff. ‘Jesus takes the bread that the disciples collected and He blesses it. Then He breaks it and gives it to the disciples and they give it to the people. This is where the first principle comes into place. Something must be blessed before it can multiply, and something can only be blessed when it’s given to Jesus.’

The second principle is that only what is given away can be multiplied. Jesus gives the disciples the bread, but the multiplication doesn’t happen until they start actively giving away what Jesus has blessed beforehand.

‘I’m not promising any of you that you’re going to get rich by tithing,’ says Jeff. ‘But I am going to promise you that if you give God the first, He’ll redeem the rest. Only that which is given away can be expanded. And the truth is that God knows your motivation. You can’t fool God.’

Heaven all things renewed Heaven – What will it be like? What will I look like? Will I go there? Join Pastor Jeff Vines as he answers these questions and more in this 3 episode teaching Heaven: All Things Renewed. A resource available from our Vision Store.

 

 

Listen to Jeff’s full message below, and for more resources on generosity and kindness visit our Vision Store.