The Blessing of Generosity – Part 2 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Welcome friends, to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We are talking about “The Blessings of Generosity,” and we’re talking first of all, about seed time and harvest. Today we’re gonna be in Genesis chapter 26, and we’re gonna find out when Isaac stayed where God told him to stay, and sowed where God told him to sow, that God increased him even in a time of famine. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here today, and so glad to have Aaron. And we’re sharing on the blessing of generosity. And as we go through this series, we’re talking about a number of things. But we started out talking about seed time and harvest. And this is a principle really that begins in Genesis. And we see it in Genesis chapter one with the creation. We saw it also in Genesis chapter eight, verse 24, where it talks about as long as the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter shall not cease. And a lot of times, different people, sometimes even in the church, try to get you in fear, the world tries to get you in fear. If they could get you in fear, they can control you. But God doesn’t want us to fear. He says, “As long as the earth is here, there’s gonna be provision on the earth for the people of the earth.” We don’t have to live in fear, thank God. We can trust God. Now, when we get involved in sowing and reaping, and seed time and harvest, that helps us receive. You know, the harvest that God has for us. We actually started with this scripture in Proverbs 11. And Aaron, it’s Proverbs 11:24 and 25. If you want to go ahead and share that.

 

  Yeah, it says, “There is one who scatters, and yet increases, and there is one who withholds more than his meat, but it tends to poverty. The liberal soul or the general, generous soul shall be made fat, and he who waters others shall be watered himself.”

 

  Yeah. And I love that scripture in the message. It says, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger, but the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.” And then verse 25 in the modern English says, “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters others will be watered himself.” And you know what I heard years ago? We just can’t be God given.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And you know what? I found that to be true. Now, we talked about it in Genesis chapter one yesterday, we talked about it in Genesis chapter eight, verse 22, as ” While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” But it’s a recurring theme.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  So, throughout the Old Testament, Genesis chapter 26, we see it in the life of Isaac. And Aaron, if you’ll read Genesis Chapter 26, verse one through verse four, this is talking about Isaac. So.

 

  It says here in Genesis 26, “there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gerard. Then the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and your descendants, I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath, which I swore to Abraham, your father. And I’ll make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I’ll give to your descendants all these lands, and your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

 

  Yeah. So you know, when there’s a famine, when there’s a difficulty, when there’s a problem, you know, a lot of times the devil, if you don’t watch him, will try to push you out of the place that God has for you.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  But through your relationship with God, if you’ll listen to God, and God spoke to Isaac, and said, “You stay in this land.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know what? We need to be where God wants us to be. And we may need to do what God wants us to do. And part of that is reaping what God wants us to reap, and sowing what God wants us to sow. And it says here, if we go on down to verse 12, that Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year, a hundred fold, and the Lord blessed him.

 

  Hmm.

 

  So it took faith to sow in a time of famine.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  But God told him to stay there and he sowed. And the Lord blessed him.

 

  A hundred fold.

 

  Yes.

 

  You know, years ago, this is probably about 10 years ago, but I was at church on a Sunday morning. There was a guest speaker. It was actually Dave Ramsey, and he talked about tithing. I know you’re gonna talk about this later in this series, but he said early on in life, him and his wife were actually going through a very difficult financial time, and even facing bankruptcy. But he said they made a decision to keep tithing. He said, God brought him out of that.

 

  Amen.

 

  He said, that’s just a principle he lives by, and he’s just done it non-stop, regardless of whether it’s a famine or whatever’s going on around him.

 

  Amen. Aaron, I have known people for years that have this testimony. And this is something that we’ll actually talk about, in, a series, you know, in this series, the tithers blessing. But I have a couple of different elders in my church, and early in life they were faced with very difficult challenges. And one of ’em said, you know, “Hey, we can’t peel the pay the bills anyway,” the wife said to the husband. And why don’t we try this tithing? And let’s talk to my grandmother.” And they talked to grandmother, and grandmother said, “Tithe.” And they started tithing years ago. And they said from the moment that they started tithing, that they never lacked, that different things would happen, and different… And God would always supply for them. I have another couple that was in this church, and they weren’t saved, and they got saved and their financial person was telling them that they needed to go bankrupt.

 

  Hmm.

 

  And this man ran a Firestone gas station back years, and years ago in a shop where he fixed cars, and they kept tithing, and she cleaned houses at, you know, on the, you know, at night, or different times, and had a cleaning business. And he, they would go and cut firewood, but they made a decision that they weren’t gonna go bankrupt. They were gonna believe God and they started tithing, and it would seem like that would work against you, but no, it worked for ’em. And did you know what? They paid every debt, and became very, very prosperous. And I’ve seen this, you know, in my own life. My dad taught me to be a tither when I was just a young child, probably like four years old. And my parents didn’t have a lot. And my dad gave me two nickels to put in a Sunday school offering. And I kept one back to buy bubble gum. And my dad figured that out and he said, “Son, we tithe. And we give 10% of everything to God.” And you know, I started tithing when I got my first paycheck, when I was just 13 years old, for driving tractor all summer. I made $1,300. And I remember taking $135 check, and putting in the offering at my Sunday school class. And I’ve tithed ever since, I’ve been a child, and I have never lacked. And God has helped me. In fact, my pastor told me when I got married, or before I was getting married, “Lawson, you’re a tither, and you’re a giver, and you’re never gonna lack.” And then I was making $800 a month. I was 19 years old when I got married. And I was giving 200 a month to the church. $80 tithe, and I was giving a hundred dollars to the building fund, and about $20 in special offering. And did you know what? I never lacked. I kept right on giving, and I took on a $300 house payment at that time, and mom and I bought a double wide trailer, and we bought a repossessed one. We got a, we got a great deal on it, bought it for less than half price. But you know what? God took care of us, and God changed the way I got paid. And God has always met my need. And we have never lacked. Just exactly like my pastor told me. Praise God. And I know this is something that I’ve heard Mark Hankin say, and he heard Kenneth Hankin say it. And I encourage people to say it, that “I’m a,” that, you know, “I’m a tither, and I’m a giver. I do not lack opportunity. I do do not lack ability, and I will never lack for money.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And my pastor kind of expressed that principle to me.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And you know what? I’ve always operated in that. And I’ve always had enough. We’ve always paid our bills. Supernaturally, God’s blessed us. God’s helped us. And sometimes it looks like it’s close to even. We’re very blessed today. And we really live in the overflow. But at the same point in time, there’s times it will look like there’s not quite enough to do everything to pay all these taxes, or pay all these bills or do something. But God always comes through. And we never quit giving.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  Praise God. But I’ve been talking about this seed time in harvest. So it says here as we go on, if you wanna read this in Genesis chapter 26, verse 12, the result of that, 12 to 14, read that before we get done here with this little process.

 

  It says, “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and raked in the same year, a hundred fold. And the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous, for he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.”

 

  Yeah. So I believe this is God’s will for every person. I believe when you continue to give, when you continue to sow, you know that, that, you know God will increase you. It says the Lord blessed him and he waxed, right? It didn’t happen just immediately, but it was like a process.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And it says, “He went forward.” He, you know, we keep operating in the plans of God, and the purpose of God. And he grew until he became very great.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know, you just start at it, and you just keep doing it, and you keep doing what God told you to do. And then it says, “For he had possession.” I believe that God wants the church to be in possession. And I believe that one way that we can possess what God wants us to possess, is sow where God tells us to sow.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know, God told Abraham, or Isaac in this case, he said, “Don’t leave this land. You stay where I have you.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And so he sowed in that land, because the Lord in a time of famine told him to sow that. And the Lord blessed him. And the Lord caused him to increase. And he waxed great, and went forward and grew until he became very great, for he had possession. I believe God wants the church to have possession. And I believe this is sometimes the reason the world is angry with the church. Because when you operate in what God tells you to operate in, did you know what? It’s gonna cause you to possess what God wants you to possess.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And Isaac possessed flocks, herds, many servants, and the Philistines envied him. So he became very, very prosperous. Praise God. And I believe that God wants us to become very prosperous, as we just operate in the simple principles that he laid down, that God has laid down in the scripture. You know? The scripture is for our benefit. And the principles that are laid down in the scripture are for our benefit. And when we walk in these things, we’re gonna prosper.

 

  Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amen. And I think God’s gonna help some people even watching this right now, move from just a, just a renter’s mentality, a indebted mentality, to an ownership mentality. Maybe, maybe God’s gonna, you might own a vehicle for the first time, or own a property, but I believe that God will help you tap into that possessing things that can help expand his kingdom.

 

  Amen. You know what? If you’re gonna live in a place very long, especially if it’s a growing economy, you need to own your home.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  Because if you don’t, you’re just buying it for somebody else. And so I believe that God wants the church to have this ownership mentality, and that this is our place, and we want to possess what God wants us to possess. We’re gonna be back right after this break. So stay tuned. We’ll be right back. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been connected with us while we’re talking about the blessing of generosity. We have these teachings, and those live in church services available to you free of charge on our [email protected], in downloadable audio and video. Also, check out my book, “Provision: Releasing Supernatural Increase in Your Life.”

 

  The law cannot make you righteous. It cannot free you, it cannot transform you, it cannot empower you. Only Jesus can do that. Only his abundance of grace can do it. “Here’s what I’m gonna do, devil, I’m gonna take this report card from Jesus Christ.” And he holds it up, and he puts a slash next to the name. And he writes your name next to it. So his righteousness becomes your righteous, his peace becomes your peace, his joy becomes your joy, his healing becomes your healing, his prosperity becomes your prosperity.

 

  Friends, I’m glad you stayed with us, and we’re right here. We’ve been in Genesis 26, and we’ve talked about how the Lord spoke to Isaac, and he told him to stay in the land in a time of famine.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And you know, there’s a lot of times people don’t really have that. You know, just stick to it. Just do what God told me to do. I’ve had, Aaron, God give me a word that I’ve operated on for 20 years.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And just keep doing what God told you to do.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know, the Bible says, “The hand of the diligent will bear rule, the hand of the diligent will,” you know, you know, “be rich,” praise God. So there’s a lot of promises with diligence. And just stick to it. Praise God. Keep doing what God told you to do last, and don’t be moved away from it. But when Isaac did that, and Isaac sowed in that land in a time of famine, it talks about this in Genesis 26, 1 through four, and then 12 to 14, that the Lord blessed him. He sowed and received a hundred fold the same year. The Lord blessed him. He grew great, and went forward until he became very great. And he had possession of flocks and herds, and a great multitude of servants, because the Philistines envied him. And then guess what the Philistines did? They came and stopped up his well. You know, the devil wants to stop up your well. And it says, but you know what Isaac did? It says this in verse 18: “Isaac digged again, the wells of water, which they dug in the days of Abraham, his father.” You know what? I believe some of you watching me today, that you have operated in the principles of scripture, but somewhere you might’ve got off track. I want to tell you, God still loves you. God has grace for you. But you can go dig again, those foundational principles, and start, go right back and see those wells begin to flow again in your life Of God’s provision. So, and it says “As they, they dug again, the wells of Abraham his father, for the Philistines stopped them after the death of Abraham.” And it says in verse 19, “Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.” You know, it was, it was like, there’s new life coming up. I believe that God has new life for some of you. There have been some things that have been shut off, that have been stopped up, that haven’t been flowing. But you need to, you need to keep sowing, praise God. You need to keep believing God. And I believe that you’re gonna find new resources.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know, go ahead, Aaron.

 

  Oh, yeah. A few weeks ago at church, it was on a Wednesday night. We have a Wednesday night service here. I was praying before service, and God just put it on my heart that there’d be just new financial streams breaking forth in people’s lives. And that I was supposed to pray it, and declare it over the church. And I did that Wednesday night. And the next day, this older gentleman in our church said he has a bunch of, you know, vacant land that isn’t good for a whole lot in Kansas. And he said that there are oil companies that called, and they said they wanted to drill for oil. They got the, you know, licensing, you know, the permission to do so. And then over the course of a few weeks, they said they want to drill in like three different places. And-

 

  Praise God.

 

  He was really excited. I just declared that over the church, over everyone there, that they’d just be new streams of income just from unexpected places, just breaking forth in people’s life.

 

  Amen.

 

  And he was really excited. ‘Cause it just happened out of the blue, just the very next day.

 

  Amen. Praise God. You know, I was gonna share this scripture, but that really fits with this in Proverbs three, verse nine and ten. It says, “Honor the Lord with your substance, and with the first fruit of all your increase.” He says, “So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses will burst out with new wine.” I believe some of you, that God is speaking to you. And God wants you to get connected with the places He tells you. This might be one of them in giving and receiving. We have people, there’s an anointing on this ministry for increase. They get connected here, and they start seeing increase come to them. And he says, “Your presses will burst out. Your barns will be filled with plenty, and your presses will burst out with new wine.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  That’s what happened. God gave you a word.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You know, I was in the church that we started in Kit Carson years and years ago. And on a Sunday morning, God gave me a word that that, that had had been shut down, was gonna start flowing again. And there was a man in the church, and they had a major… Well, I didn’t know anything about this. And this one oil well on their property had just stopped. And they, it got started back up, and started flowing again. Praise God. And you know what? It’s just like God gave you this word, you know? And so I believe that there are things that have been shut down, maybe dried up, but God’s gonna start the flow going again. But part of it is you need to keep doing what God told you to do. And you need to keep believing God, and keep sowing, praise God. Keep giving where God tells you to give. So on and so forth. Now these, the, you know, Philistine, God may bless you, and the devil tries to stop you. The enemy came and they plugged up the wells, but Isaac dug ’em again. And it says, “And they found a well of spring water. New things begin to spring up.” Not only did they get the old things back… I was reading in First Samuel chapter 30 where, you know, the enemies had come, Amalekites, and they had stolen, you know, in where David was. And David came there and he was weeping. All the people were talking about leaving him. And the Lord told him, “You go pursue, for you shall recover all.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And I remember a time, years and years ago that I had a lot of cattle, turned out southwest of Lamar, Colorado. And a blizzard came the end of October, and most people in that area lost 50% of their cattle. And, and God, there was a man that was gonna come to our church. He was actually a banker, and he was gonna preach. And I told him just, he was from Kentucky. I told him, “Don’t fly to DIA, You can’t even get outta the airport.” Because of this blizzard. So he came two weeks later. And two weeks later we still didn’t even know how many cattle we had. And I had turned out 207. And he gave me a word and said, “You shall recover all.” And I owed money. It wasn’t like I didn’t have a… I had debt on these cattle, and I got 203 out of 207 back. And it was a miracle that I put out at the beginning of the summer. And very well, four could have died over the summer, but we got 203 out of 207 where people were losing 50% of their cattle. And did you know, I’d lost some money, but in a little bit I recovered all. I got everything back. And the devil will try to keep you outta what God has for you. He’ll try to steal from you, but you can recover all, you can believe God, and you can go dig again the wells, where the enemy has tried to stop the flow of the goodness of God, and the abundance of God. And it goes on. And it says here, that “The herdmen of Gerar strived with Isaac’s herdmen,” in Genesis 26:20, saying, “The water is ours.” And he called the name of the well Esek, where they strove with them, but they dug another well. Man, the devil might try to cause strife, and cause problems, but you can dig another well.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  You can keep going. Amen. Praise God.

 

  About Isaac too. It said, you know, earlier we read this, but he sowed in the time of famine. And it says he began to prosper, continued prospering until he became very prosperous.

 

  You know, God gave me this word several years ago, but he told me that there’s a momentum of blessing.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  And it’s happened in my life too. I remember when I was 22, I was about ready to graduate from college. I remember I was, I was broke. I couldn’t even go out to eat a single meal. And I just, I just prayed. I remember, I was about ready to graduate my senior year, and I was just really frustrated. I said, I just believe that I would within a week have a thousand dollars.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And, you know, at the time people were like moving out at the end of the school year. And I just went and found just stuff that people, you know, was, were throwing out, like mini fridges, things like that, people are just throwing out of their dorms and apartments. And I’d just go get these mini fridges for free, and sell ’em on Craigslist for 50 bucks. And I remember I was walking home, and it was trash day, and someone had a microwave out on the curb. And I picked it up and carried it up, you know, half a mile up this big hill where I lived. And I plugged it in when I got home, and it didn’t turn on. And I was kind of mad because I, I carried that thing up, you know, hauled this piece of junk up a big hill. And I laid hands on that thing and prayed over it, and it turned on. And I ended up selling it for $30 on Craigslist.

 

  Amen.

 

  Within a week, I made a thousand dollars.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  But God showed me that I can, I can believe, I can set my hands to things, I can trust him, I can give. And you know, when I finished grad school, you know, that, learning to believe God for a thousand dollars led to me believing God that I could have a hundred thousand dollars.

 

  Amen.

 

  And God helped me do it. And he can create this momentum of blessing-

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  in your life. But you gotta start somewhere.

 

  You started believing. The key word is belief.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And you and your brothers all have believed God. And it works for you. And you know what? God is no respecter persons. And if you’ll believe God, it will work for you. So many people argue with the scripture, but you believe God,

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And you were actually, the devil tried to kill you at the end of your senior year in college, but you were laying there, and started believing God, and God worked a miracle, and you paid off the thousand dollars debt, and had a thousand dollars by the end of college. And then you had this college debt that you had to start paying two years later after you finished your master’s, and you believed God that you could pay that off. And you paid that off, you know, in six months time supernaturally. And you were a flute player with no regular job, Aaron. And then you got into your doctorate program, and I dropped you off at DIA, to fly back to Houston, to Rice University. And I gave you, I told you, “Aaron, if you’ll believe God,” when I was driving home, “You’ll have a hundred thousand dollars by the time you graduate.” And you didn’t have a hundred, you had 200,000 by the time you graduated with your doctorate. So, you know what if God did it for you, God can do it for other people. And most people in your position, that had your same education studying the same field, had a half a million dollars of debt at that same place in life. And you had, you had completely paid off all your college debt, and had $200,000 net worth. Man, things work when you believe God. And you know, just when we look at this, you know what? Isaac, the devil tried to stop the flow, but he believed God. And God increased him. And then they went another place, and dug a well, they called it Rehoboth, for the, now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land. And he went up from there. This is Genesis chapter 26, verse 23 to Beersheba. “And the Lord appeared to him in the same night, and said, ‘I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not. I’m with thee. I will bless you and I will multiply your seed for Abraham’s sake.’ And he built an alter there, and called on the name of the Lord and pitched his tent. And there, Isaac’s servants dug a well.” They just kept moving forward into new streams of blessing.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And they didn’t stop either. You know, some people have this mentality that they just wanna make a certain amount and then just stop. Just stop being productive, just stop working, just stop giving. And that’s not a, that’s actually not a godly principle.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, like we should always be expanding, be increasing, especially be, be increasing along with God’s kingdom. His kingdom keeps increasing. It doesn’t sit idol-

 

  Amen.

 

  It doesn’t go back.

 

  It never ends. And you know what? It all begins with the seed. The greatest seed ever sowed is Jesus. And God sowed that seed. So if you haven’t received Jesus, pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died on the cross for my sin. I believe that you raised him from the dead, and made him Lord. And right now, I surrender my life to you in Jesus’ name. Blessings.

 

  When we step out in faith, and tap into giving and receiving, there are tremendous promises available to us. Discover scriptural principles that will help you understand the abundant blessing that is connected to generosity. We are blessed to be a blessing. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching, “The Blessing of Generosity,” a $20 value free of charge. Download it today, @CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  Hi friends. We have actually made hundreds of hours of teaching, downloadable audio, and downloadable video available to you free of charge, on our [email protected]. We want you to utilize this resource, so you can receive the blessings that God has available to you. Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I want to say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States, and across the world. It’s because of our partners, that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join our partners, and receive that blessing, give us a call today. Blessings.

 

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