How Big Is Your God? Shifting From Scarcity to Abundance Through Faith

How big is your God?

Let me start with some foundational truth we need to remember: God is not going to ask you to do what He has not equipped you for. God will never ask you to do something outside of your ability to perform. He will not ask you to do something that He has not already empowered you to do. God will not ask you to do what He doesn't already know the end of.

Remind yourself: I'm just a vessel being used by God.

Understanding Who You Are in Christ

I know I'm redundant and I repeat things all the time because I know you have a bad memory. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! So I have no problem reminding you who you are in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, 'Let us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, make man in our image, according to our likeness.'" Not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness. And let them have what kind of authority?

Remind your self, "I am made in God's image, God's likeness. That means I'm special."

Psalms 139:14 reminds us: "I give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well."

God said that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. So that should get rid of all your self-esteem and self-worth issues, all this stuff we stress about. Say it: "My middle name is wonderful."

The Scarcity Versus Abundance Mindset

Stephen Covey, a business expert, coined the term "abundance mentality" or "abundance mindset" in his best-selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In the book, there's a contrast between abundance thinkers and scarcity thinkers.

What's the difference?

The abundance thinker thinks: "I can win and you can win too."

The scarcity thinker thinks: "If you win, I can't win."

This is where we get the crab mentality, if you win, it's going to take away from me, versus understanding we can all win. Hallelujah!

Have you ever seen the ocean run out of water? Who made the ocean? That means there's abundance. Have you seen anyone say, "Listen, I'ma hold on to my air because see, if I take my air, you're not going to have air"?

But see, if you don't lock your mind into understanding that God has enough, you will start to do things fear-based.

Me being blessed has nothing to do with you.

You can go through the dealership, they got a Honda there too. Me buying a Honda don't stop you from buying a Honda or whatever car you want it to be. Glory to God!

The Feeding of the 5,000: A Lesson in Faith

Today I'll be teaching a story of how Jesus was trying to shift their mindsets from scarcity to abundance. We're teaching from John chapter 6.

After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following Him wherever He went because they saw His miracles, His signs, as He healed the sick.

Notice: people follow signs. They weren't just following Him, they were following because they saw signs.

Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with the disciples around Him. It was nearly the time of the Jewish Passover celebration. Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for Him.

Turning to Philip, He said, "Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?"

Now, the reason why He referenced Philip is because this was about 9 miles from Philip's neighborhood. So if anybody should know where to get some food, it should be Philip. That's why He asked him.

Questions With No Natural Answers

Of course Philip thinks to himself, "Okay, I know You want me to find where we can get food, but let's be honest, let's be real."

If I asked you today, where can we feed in one sitting 5,000 people in Riverview. Is there an answer? No.

So if there wasn't an answer today, there sure wasn't an answer back then.

Now here's my point: Jesus is asking a question that has no natural answer. Meaning, I have to get you out of the natural thinking. I have to stretch you because see, I'm trying to do something supernatural, but see, your brain going to block it.

There's some things God wants to do for you, but you can't think that big. And see, as a man thinketh, so if you can't think that way, you'll never get there.

Then in Luke it says, late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to Him and said, "Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms so they can find food and lodging. There's nothing to eat here in this remote place."

So the recommendation of the disciples was to send them away so they can figure it out.

You Feed Them: God's Stretching Assignment

Look what Jesus said in verse 13: "But Jesus said, 'You feed them.'"

You know, sometimes you want to push it off on somebody else. "Y'all go." No, no, Jesus says, "No."

Now remember, if Jesus already knows the answer, and when He's telling you to do something, it means you already have the power to fulfill it. Because God will never ask you to do something you can't do.

So when He's telling them, "You feed them," they're looking at the mass, they're looking at the numbers and saying, "We can't do it in our own strength."

"I never told you to do it in your strength. I'm trying to stretch your faith. I'm trying for you to see bigger, because sometimes the greatest limiter of our next level is 'I can't do it.'"

John 6:6 says, "He was testing them."

Sometimes in life, my brothers and sisters, God will put you in a situation where all He's really trying to do is stretch your faith.

When Work and Money Won't Fix It

Philip replied, "Even if we worked for months", notice he said "we," meaning all twelve of us, "we wouldn't have enough money to feed them."

I said, "Holy Spirit, what You trying to tell me?"

He says two things, son:

Number one: Work may not be your solution. Because even if we did work, it still would not answer this problem.

Then the second thing He told me was: Money wouldn't answer either.

Okay pastor, what you trying to say?

There's some problems that God put in your life that work and money can't fix. He put it in your life to stretch your faith.

Because see, until I stretch your faith, you can't walk on water. Until I stretch your faith, you can't speak to your mountain. So the goal of the problem was never for you to work your way out of it. The goal of the problem was for you to faith your way into it!

What Is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance, the title deed, the confirmation, of things hoped for, divinely guaranteed, and the evidence of things not seen."

So faith is, let's repeat after me, church: Faith is believing it so when it's not so, in order for it to be so.

Say it: "Faith is total obedience without total understanding."

The evidence of things not seen. The conviction of the reality. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.

Meaning, when I'm in faith, it will not make sense to people.

Some of you were here when we toured the concrete of this building. And as we're touring the concrete of this building, I'm telling you of the next building. This building was not complete, and I was talking about the next building.

So people will say, "How do you see that?"

I said, "Well, I've written it on the canvas of my imagination."

Remember, we are made in His image. God made us through His imagination. And if I'm made in God's image and God's likeness, my imagination can pull in my reality. As a man thinketh!

Everything created was created in someone's imagination before it ever came to life. Hallelujah!

Walking by Faith Pleases God

Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith, it's impossible to please God."

Guess what? The disciples were walking with God. So how can I please God? I have to walk by faith.

So then He is saying the reason why I'm asking you to do this is because, see, for you to stay walking with Me, you have to walk by faith. So now I have to give you a faith test.

Romans 4:16 says, "Therefore, inheriting the promise depends entirely on faith."

So all the promises of God are received, accessed, made available by faith. So if you're not in faith, you don't have access to the promises. Because the promises are received by faith. The just shall walk by faith.

When You're Down to Jesus

Okay pastor, what are you saying?

There's a brother, his name was Steve Jobs. He's one of the founders of Apple. He was a billionaire. He could buy any treatment there was. But money couldn't solve that problem.

When you go to the Bible, there's a man named Abraham who loved God, a woman named Sarah, and they wanted to have a child. But there was no natural solution.

There was a woman with the issue of blood, and she said, "I spent all my money on doctors." So then that means the doctor wasn't the answer and money wasn't the answer.

So what is she down to? Faith!

And sometimes the safest place to be is down to Jesus. That's all I got, I got Jesus. I spent my money. I went to the doctor. There's no answer. I'm down to Jesus.

And sometimes the closest place to breakthrough is when you're down to faith.

God Is I AM

Moses is at the Red Sea. He has no earthly answer. Pharaoh and his armies are behind him, the Red Sea before him.

"Lord, what am I supposed to do with this?"

He says, "What is in your hand? Lift up your hand." And as you lift up your hand, the Red Sea parted.

What are you saying? All these people had problems that there was no natural answer to.

The Bible said that Moses asked God, "Who should I say sent me?"

He says, "I AM."

And what I want you to understand today is you have to realize that God is whoever you need Him to be when you need Him to be.

Sometimes when your money is funny, well guess what? Now He is Jehovah Jireh, He is my provider. If I have sickness in my body, He is Jehovah Rapha, He is my healer. He is the one who takes sickness and disease away from me. When I'm not sure about my peace, He is Jehovah Shalom, He is the Prince of Peace.

So what you have to realize is sometimes God puts you in a situation and circumstance where you have no natural answer because the goal is He wants you to lean on Him. So He puts you in a situation where no man can fix it, and now you're down to Jesus.

What Good Is This?

John 6:8-9: "Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 'There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is this?'"

The struggle we have is we often look at what we have versus who has us.

You limit God because you see what you have in your hand, not realizing whose hand you're in.

Because see, when you understand that I'm in a sovereign God's hand, and though my resources are limited, His are unlimited. So now when I connect my faith with it, now I access heavenly accounts. Come on, man!

And though I had little by myself, when I tap into my heavenly account and it's in God's will, He will supply.

Now the challenge with barley, barley was the worst kind of bread. Ruth 2:17 says she gleaned barley, barley was the food of poverty. God always takes what confuses man to make people wise.

Then the Bible says in 1 Kings 4:28, barley was brought for the horses, horse food!

So now when they're looking at it, the fish were sardines. It wasn't salmon, one sea bass, it was sardines.

And now they're looking at these small fish, barley bread, and then the natural mind says, "What good is this?"

Cast Your Cares

And some of you right now are looking at bills asking God, "What can I do with this?"

Got problems, "Lord, what am I supposed to do with this?"

Got a medical report, "Lord, what am I supposed to do with this?"

Well, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your cares upon the Lord, for He cares for you."

If it's too heavy to carry, cast it. If it's too heavy to carry, cast it.

He says, "Come to Me, all those who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 19:26 says, "Jesus looked at them intently and said, 'Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.'"

God's Hand Is Not Limited

This was not the first food issue in the Bible. Hallelujah! Moses had a food issue. And I say this because see, often times we feel as if what we're going through is new. Like God has never seen this movie before.

He is the Alpha and the Omega. So your problem is not new to God. So there's already an answer to your problem.

Let's go to Numbers 11:21-22: "But Moses said, 'The people among whom I am are 600,000 fighting men on foot, besides all the children and women'. That's probably about a million people, 'yet You have said to me, "I will give them meat so that they may eat for a whole month."'"

Now look at Moses, he got his feelings right here. "Should all the flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea", he don't even know how many fish are in the sea! You know when you get emotional you start saying stupid stuff?

"Should all the fish of the sea be collected to be sufficient for them?"

Verse 23: "The Lord said to Moses, 'Is the Lord's hand, ability, power, limited, short?'"

What's He trying to do? He's trying to stretch Moses's faith.

Just because you can't see it don't mean it can't happen.

"Moses, are you saying I can't do it? Come on now, are you saying I'm inadequate? You shall see now whether My word shall come to pass for you or not!"

Numbers 23:19 says, "For God is not a man that He shall lie, nor the son of man that He shall repent."

Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return void—absent of power—but My word is going to do what My word said."

Speak the Word of God

So when Jesus said to Philip, "You feed them," the power was already put into Philip to manifest what God said. Because God can't lie.

So what you have to do is you have to get the promises of God in your heart so that when you speak the word of God, heaven backs you up. Because the word shall not return void.

That's why it's so critical you meditate on the word. You speak the word out of your life. Because see, death and life are in the power of the tongue.

And that's why it's so critical that your word matches God's will. And when your word matches God's will, it will manifest in your life.

But the challenge is we speak fear. We speak lack. We say, "Lord, I don't know if You can do it."

No, no, no, no! "Lord, I know You can do it. Lord, I know that no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Lord, I know that by Your stripes I'm healed. I command every organ and every tissue of my body to line up. Lord, I thank You, for Your word says I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor the seed begging for bread. Lord, I thank You that You are my shepherd; I shall not want. Lord, I thank You that You shall supply all my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Lord, Your word says You have not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. Your word says, if God be for me, who can be against me? Lord, I thank You for Your word that says when you've done all that you can, stand. So Father God, I've made up my mind that, Father God, Your word says in Proverbs 28:1, for the righteous are bold as lions. Father God, I thank You that I will not back up. Father God, Your word says set your face like flint. Lord, Your word says speak to your mountain. Father God, I thank You today that I'll speak to my mountain. Lord, I thank You today that Your word shall not return void. So Father God, I thank You for it right now."

Lord, Your word says in Joel 3:10, "Let the weak say I'm strong."

It says let the weak, you can't say what you are. You got to say what you want to be. That's how you get there. Because see, that is how you walk by faith.

Anybody can tell you the problem. No! I'm going to speak to my mountain. This too shall pass!

Sit Down and Rest

The Bible says in 2 Kings, another situation with lack, his servant says, "How am I to set only this before a hundred hungry men?"

He says, "Give it to the people so that they may eat. For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left over."

God is the God of overflow, believer.

Psalms 37:25, David said this: "I've been young and now I'm old, yet I have never seen the godly abandoned nor their children begging for bread."

Let's go back into John 6:10: "Tell everyone to sit down."

Say, neighbor, "Sit down."

What do you mean by this? Notice: the miracle happened when they sat down.

Meaning, it's not going to happen through work. Sit down. Let Me do it.

Another word is: rest.

The hardest thing for a believer to do is to rest. Meaning, I'm no longer going to stress it. I'm going to rest it. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm resting in Him.

You don't have to die to rest in peace. They go to your gravestone, it says RIP, rest in peace. You don't have to die to rest in peace. You can rest in peace right now and say, "Lord, I trust You. Whatever is going to be is going to be. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to rest in peace."

He says, "Then everyone sit down."

Jesus says, "So they all sat down on the grass." He'll lead you beside still waters. He'll make you lie down in green pastures.

"The men numbered about 5,000." Hallelujah!

They All Ate As Much As They Wanted

Verse 11: "Then Jesus took the bread loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them. Afterward He did the same with the fish. And they all ate, and they all ate as much as they wanted."

After everyone was full, Jesus told the disciples, "Now gather the leftovers." Because see, God gives you a doggy bag. Come on, come on, come on! He gives you some food on the way out.

"Now gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted."

Verse 13: "So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets."

How many disciples are there? Twelve.

So they'll never forget. Everyone had a basket. All the disciples.

God's Power Within You

Okay, let me give you some keys today.

Number one, Ephesians 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to carry out His purpose, His purpose (see, if you get on the right frequency of His purpose and not your purpose, it's not about you, it's His purpose), and do superabundantly more than all they dare to ask and think, infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams, according to His power that works in us."

That's the word! So God wants to blow your mind, but you have to be available to it.

Second Peter 1:3: "For His divine power has bestowed on us absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness through true personal knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence."

Say it: "It's already done."

Bestowed means you already have it. It's already inside of you. Bestowed versus bestowing. Bestowed means you already got it.

Now whether you flow in it, that's on you. But you already have access to it. Bestowed upon us absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life.

Move From Book Knowledge to Experiential Knowledge

Okay, now what you mean by this? You need to get past book knowledge and step into experiential knowledge.

This is not what I read. This is what I know.

Because see, when you get to the place where you can testify of where God brought me from, what God brought me through, now you become a living epistle. Now you become a living testimony. And now you can say, "Let me tell you about my God. Let me tell me about my story. I know what the doctor said, but guess what God did. Now I can testify that God is truly a healer. God is truly a redeemer."

And that's when you say, "God, You are awesome."

Because the challenge is some of us only have book knowledge. You don't have experiential knowledge where you have something you know, if it was not for God.

That's where you got to get to. It's not that I think. I know!

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good."

And God wants to blow your mind. Come broken. Come wounded. God wants to do a work in you.

Nine Ways to Change Your Mindset

Couple points I want to help you. If you want to change your mindset, here's nine things you can do.

1. Recognize the power of your thoughts. Are they fear-based or faith-based? Is it "I can" or "I can't"? Remember, Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

2. Practice gratitude. You cannot receive more if you're not thankful where you are. Get up in the morning, write down ten things you're thankful for.

3. Believe the sky is the limit. As a man thinketh! If you don't put a limit on God, God won't put a limit on you. Believe for it.

4. Develop mastery of your experiences. What do you mean by that? If you focus on improving in one area every day, in a year you'll be a different person. A man's gift will make room for him and bring him before great men. Now God gave you the gift, have you mastered it? It's one thing to have a gift, but have you honed the gift? Have you sharpened the gift? Faith without works is dead.

5. Pick your words wisely. You are exactly where you said you would be. And if you don't like where you are, change your words. Because you live in the harvest of your words.

6. Build a growth mindset. Meaning, I can change. I can learn. I can get better. I am not there yet. God has more for me. The Bible says we go from faith to faith and glory to glory.

7. Think like a beginner. Why? Because they're always asking for more. They always want to learn more. Hallelujah!

8. Notice the good. Have you met a person that all they see is the bad? Notice the good. Okay, your wife is tripping, but at least you're married to her. Notice the good. Well, at least you can cook. Praise the Lord! Notice the good. Because we can always focus on what's bad. This is how you grow your mentality.

9. Speak affirmations over your life. I repeat it. At the Men's Conference I gave all the brothers a copy of my affirmations. I read them every morning: I am the head and not the tail. I am above and not below. I am blessed coming in, I'm blessed coming out. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. My latter shall be greater. I will leave an inheritance for my children's children. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Lord, I thank You right now that I tread upon serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy. Lord, I want to hear Your voice more. Lord, I thirst and I hunger for You. I pant for You. Father God, I want more knowledge. Lord, I want more wisdom. Father God, I want to be used by You. Father God, I thank You that I'm a vessel. Fill me up till I overflow. Father God, I thank You today that I want to be a mountain mover. I want to be a Goliath giant killer. Father God, that's who I am. Lord, I'm anointed.

What are you decreeing over your life?

The best way to predict your future is to speak it.

It's Never Too Late

There's a lady named Rose Blumkin. If you don't know the story, well, the first company that Warren Buffett ever purchased, if you don't know Warren Buffett, he was one of the richest men in the world, Berkshire Hathaway, the first company he bought, he bought from a lady named Rose Blumkin.

Rose Blumkin, she was a Russian Jew. She came over, and at 46, had never learned how to read or write. She took $500 and started selling used clothes.

Well, fast forward 40 years later, she owned the largest furniture store in the world. She sold it to Warren Buffett for $60 million.

At 86, she kept a small portion of the business. Her kids started to push her out of management. So she bought a building across the street and started another one.

At 96, Warren Buffett came back and bought that business from her. She worked till she was 103.

So my question is: What's your excuse?

She started at 46. Sold it at 86. Started another one at 96. And you're tripping at 48? "I don't know what I'm going to do." You better do something!

We are living longer, and the Bible tells us there's no retirement. Get busy. Get busy.

What has God called you to do? Colonel Sanders started KFC in his 60s. You have work to do.

Because you want to stand before God and God say, "Well done, son. My good and faithful servant. Enter in the joy of the Lord."

Stretch Your Faith

My goal today: stretch you. Stretch your faith. Believe bigger. Believe higher.

I know you feel, "Well, pastor, no, no, no." As long as your breath is still hot, you have purpose.

You know what happens when you don't stretch your muscles? Say, neighbor: "Neighbor, we might need to do a little bit more walking."

We might need to stretch.

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