Why Seeking the Kingdom First Unlocks Supernatural Provision | Part 3

Welcome back to 'Business, Money, and Christianity.' Continuing our series, today’s live segment explores 'Why Seeking the Kingdom First Unlocks Supernatural Provision.' We know this message will bless you—let’s dive in!

But go to—if you went to Romans chapter 12, it’s just a couple of pages to your right. In Romans chapter 12, it says, “Be not conformed to this world.”

Here’s one thing I am completely, one hundred percent convinced of: you and I don’t realize how much we’ve been taught by our environment and our culture. We think based on where we’re from. We interpret life through the systems that shaped us.

In fact, it’s really interesting to me—Americans versus Russians. Stephen had a thing at school tonight that Sergey and Natasha had to go to. Sergey and I have been close for twenty-something years. I mean, we talk a lot. But it’s interesting how differently we think about the same subject, because he thinks as a Russian, and I think as an American.

Now, we all know America is bigger than Russia. I’m better than Russia. No, I’m kidding. But seriously, we think differently.

And it’s not that, from my perspective, I’m right about everything. And from his perspective, it’s not that he’s right about everything. We just approach things differently.

Why? Because we grew up in different cultures. We grew up in different school systems that emphasized different things, taught different values, and focused on different priorities. All of that affects how we process life and how we approach situations.

Now we come into Christ, and we don’t realize how much of the world’s thinking we bring with us. We try to make the things of God work with a mindset that was never designed to understand God. And I don’t care how much Bible you know—you still have to fight this.

Because most people don’t read the Bible in order to change the way they think. They read the Bible just to collect information.

“Oh man, that’s good.”

Okay, but how is it changing your life?

“Oh, I love this verse.”

Alright, but what has that verse actually done for you?

It’s like what I’ve always said about music. People will say, “Oh, that song is so anointed.”

Do you know what they usually mean? They like it. It moved them emotionally, so they label it “anointed.” But for somebody else, that same song might do absolutely nothing.

Why? Because we’re all different. We listen differently, we process differently, and we approach things differently.

So the anointing of God can flow wherever we allow it to flow. The provision of God—what we’re talking about tonight—can flow anywhere we allow the provision of God to flow.

So it says, “Be not conformed to this world.” Don’t do things the way the world does them. Don’t think the way the world thinks.

Be transformed through the renewing of your mind. Change the way you think.

Now, if we’re talking about the manifestation of the provision of God—the divine provision of God—then we have to realize it doesn’t operate the way the world operates. In order to do what God says, I’ve got to change my thinking to line up with the way God thinks.

The strategy we used during that December story I told you earlier—that’s not a strategy they teach in financial seminars. Dave Ramsey doesn’t teach that strategy. He says, “Sell your kids.” You know, he jokes about it. I think it’s a joke anyway.

But God has a way, and the world has a way.

And we have to understand the difference.

The world has trained us to think on a certain level, and then we cling to those ideas because we believe them.

Do you realize there are a lot of kids in school right now being taught the Big Bang Theory, and they genuinely believe that an explosion created everything?

Actually, let’s not even make this about kids. There are plenty of adults who believe an explosion created order and life.

Now granted, there has never been another explosion in human history that created something ordered and alive—not once. Much less one that produced consciousness and life. But people believe it.

There are also people who believe the earth is flat. They genuinely believe it. They say certain places don’t even exist and that it’s all government propaganda.

They actually believe it. It’s not satire to them.

They believe if you travel too far one direction, you’ll somehow fall off the edge. I’ve flown around the world enough to know that’s not true. Pastor Harbaugh literally flew around the world one time because of flight issues.

We were supposed to go to India. He was supposed to go from somewhere on the East Coast to Delhi, but they rerouted him through Seoul, South Korea, and then from Korea to India. Coming back, it happened again—India back to Korea, then to the East Coast.

The man literally flew around the world and never fell off.

But there are people who truly believe these things.

Why? Because someone told them that was reality, and it made sense to their minds.

I had a guy who worked for me—remember me talking about Freddy? Freddy worked for Kirby vacuums in one of those little towns like Pixley or somewhere up there. Those vacuums are expensive.

One day he sold two vacuums in one house.

True story.

In fact, the dealership had several salespeople going door to door, but Freddy only brought one vacuum with him because he thought, “At best, maybe I’ll sell one all day.”

But he sold two in a single house.

Why?

Because he got people to believe what he was saying.

Have you ever bought into an idea, only to find out later it didn’t work? It wasn’t right? You were convinced in the moment, but the outcome proved otherwise?

See, God’s way always works.

So God says, if you want transformation—if you want radical change—the way it happens is through renewed thinking.

The original Greek word translated “be transformed” is where we get the word metamorphosis. It’s what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

That’s not a minor adjustment. That’s a complete transformation.

There’s almost no visible similarity between the caterpillar and the butterfly. It becomes something entirely different.

And God says you and I can completely transform our lives if we change how we think.

Okay, but how do I change how I think?

I start thinking like Him.

Now that is very different from simply learning Bible information.

Because there are plenty of people—including preachers—who can quote Bible verses and preach Bible topics, but they don’t know how to actually live it.

I’ve got to learn how to manifest what God has promised into my natural life.

Go to Proverbs 29.

So this really comes down to one thing: I’ve got to believe what He says more than what I see, more than what I feel, and more than what I personally want to do. I’ve got to do things His way.

Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.”

Now it is God’s design for you and me to be in authority. “You shall be above only and not beneath.” That’s one of the promises in Deuteronomy 28.

God wants us in positions of influence.

So it says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.”

If you study God’s Word concerning authority and leadership, you’ll find that authority and provision often go together. Influence requires resources.

Think about Abraham. God called him to become the father of faith—but what else happened? He became very wealthy.

Think about Noah. God called him to lead a deliverance project unlike anything the world had ever seen.

Nobody talks much about Noah’s wealth, but where did all that wood come from? He had vineyards. He probably employed people. He likely had substantial resources.

If you look at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky and how long it took to build with modern machinery, cranes, and industrial equipment—it took years and enormous amounts of money.

How did Noah build the ark with ancient tools? How did he and his three sons cut down trees, shape timber, transport massive logs, and construct the ark without help?

People in that era were living normal lives—working jobs, building economies, having families, enjoying life. Which means labor and resources existed.

So every time God calls someone to do something significant, He also provides what’s necessary to accomplish it.

Because broke people usually don’t have much influence.

If your own life is falling apart financially, most people are not going to look to you for leadership or wisdom—unless you’re in politics, and then apparently anything goes. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get political.

Even in the book of Acts, people sold possessions and brought resources into the church. Ananias and Sapphira lied about what they gave.

Throughout Scripture, the assignments of God always came with the provision of God.

Where people miss it is this: they focus more on improving their own lives than on fulfilling God’s purpose. So they try to use the world’s system to create security instead of focusing on God and letting Him supply what’s needed.

See, if I’m doing what God called me to do, provision flows through obedience.

The old saying I used to repeat all the time is this: the pipe that carries the water is always wet.

Be a pipe.

Let God work through you, and you’ll always have enough.

But when you become a reservoir—when your whole focus is storing things for yourself—it stagnates. Water sitting still starts getting nasty. Bugs show up. Mold grows. Everything becomes swampy.

Go over to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. It’s right after Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes 9:14:

“There was a little city.”

Everybody say, “Little city.”

What’s a little city? A little city.

“And few men within it.”

So what kind of army did they have? A small one.

“And there came a great king…”

Say, “Great king.”

“…and he besieged it and built great bulwarks against it.”

Now there was found in that city a poor wise man.

That word “poor” is financial. This man had no money.

But he was wise.

So apparently his wisdom was focused in certain areas, because he could have used wisdom to become wealthy, but he didn’t. Maybe he was a philosopher type. Maybe he valued ideas more than income. Whatever the case, he was poor—but wise.

“And he by his wisdom delivered the city.”

This poor man saved the city from the great king and his army.

“Yet no man remembered that same poor man.”

God wants you and me in authority. God wants us promoted. God wants believers sitting on city councils, in leadership positions, and influencing systems.

I saw a news clip recently about a congresswoman—I think from Michigan. A Democrat woman. She said she was stepping away from office because her Christian convictions no longer aligned with what her party was doing.

A lot of people probably reacted with, “Good for her.”

But my first thought was: why not stay and be light in darkness?

Why not fight for righteousness from within the system?

Why not believe God to use you right there?

Maybe if she sought God for wisdom, He would show her how to influence people and affect change within that environment.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.”

Why? Because righteous people make righteous decisions.

But even if she decided to run again tomorrow, what’s the first thing she would need?

Money.

Campaigns require provision.

And if she’s trying to be light in darkness, how eager is darkness going to be to fund her?

To become what God wants us to become, we have to have more than enough.

God doesn’t want us barely surviving in a hut just so we can claim we’re spiritual. He is a God of more than enough.

He wants us to rise to the occasion.

There is provision for whatever He calls us to do.

The problem is that most people are more focused on what they want to do than on what God wants them to do.