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The "Sowing and Reaping" message, as it has been taught to this hour, virtually guarantees failure in producing Kingdom Financial Stewards with an anointing to transfer massive wealth from the world system of mammon into the Kingdom Of God. Why? Because it is designed to produce unfaithful stewards. It is designed to produce "hirelings," not first class servants like Jesus described in Luke 17:1-10. We have been taught that God meets our needs in proportion to our sowing of finances into the work of the gospel. "Sow a seed to meet your need" is just one of the many phrases we are bombarded with via Christian television, tapes and books. The resulting mindset in believers is that the way that God meets their personal needs is by sending them a "harvest" from their financial sowing into the kingdom. THAT IS THE VERY MINDSET JESUS WAS TEACHING AGAINST WHEN HE SAID "DOTH HE THANK THAT SERVANT? I TROW NOT." [See the lesson – "Does He Thank That Servant?"] We have been taught to have the mindset that we are "farmers" in the kingdom of God. The more we sow, the more we personally reap. WE ARE NOT FARMER'S IN GOD'S KINGDOM ... WE ARE SONS, SERVING IN OUR FATHER'S FIELDS TO REAP A HARVEST FOR HIM! Our Father is desiring sons who will be faithful stewards of finances in His kingdom. If He can find such faithful sons, he will promote them to ever increasing levels of financial stewardship, just as we see in the parable of the ten pounds. (Luke 19:11-27) But if we have the mindset [stronghold] that the "gain" on the pound is "our harvest" rather than the "Lord's gain," and consume the increase "on ourselves" rather than steward that increase for the kingdom, we have already proven ourselves to be unfaithful stewards. Retaining that mindset guarantees that we will NOT be promoted to ever higher levels of financial stewardship. Again, the good steward in that parable presented both the original pound AND THE INCREASE to His Master at the reckoning. THE GOOD STEWARD HAD NOT CONSUMED THE POUND, NOR THE INCREASE ... UPON HIMSELF! He did not consider the "gain" to be his own personal "harvest," as we have been taught. No, he considered the original pound and the gain to belong to the Lord. He did not partake of ANY of it for his own personal use. What would my grandfather have thought had he learned that one of his sons had secretly built a grain silo for himself and that every day this son was depositing the bulk of the grain harvested on grandfather's farm into his own personal silo and bringing only a pittance of the harvested grain into grandfather's silo? It would not take long for grandfather to remove that son from his labors in the harvest fields altogether. He most certainly would not promote that son to greater levels of stewardship regarding the harvest. This is a primary reason why we have had no Kingdom Financial Stewards who have been steadily promoted to greater and greater levels of authority in the realm of stewarding money for the Father. The "Sowing and Reaping" message guarantees that no such stewards shall ever arise. The Sowing & Reaping Message teaches us that the "harvest" belongs to the sower, not to the Father. ONLY SHARECROPPERS HAVE THAT MENTALITY, NOT SONS AND HEIRS WHO LABOR IN THEIR FATHER'S FIELDS. The principle for exaltation in stewardship is: 1 Cor 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. Another analogy that illustrates the principle is that of an Ambassador. Suppose a wealthy and benevolent nation decides to help the people of a third world, impoverished nation. The wealthy nation sends an Ambassador to oversee the operation. No doubt they wealthy nation would provide a house and a salary for the Ambassador to use personally while he lived in the third world country. The function of the Ambassador is to be a faithful steward to make sure that the money sent from the wealthy nation is used for the purpose of helping the impoverished people. As the wealthy nation sends finances into the Ambassador's account, he is to use it to finance projects such as digging water wells, purchasing grain for the people to plant for crops, building roads on which their crops can be brought to market, constructing schools to educate them ... and a thousand other such projects. But suppose someone came along and taught this Ambassador the "Sowing and Reaping" message, as we have been taught it today. They teach the Ambassador, "Every time you give to this poor people, your wealthy nation will send you more finances. What the wealthy nation sends is 'your' harvest, personally. As long as you continue to just sow a little more of 'your' harvest to the poor people, your wealthy nation will keep sending you more." If the Ambassador believes that, he would operate something like this: He "sows" the first hundred dollars by spending it on worthy projects for the poor people. His wealthy nation sends him and additional ten thousand dollars. Believing this to be his own personal harvest, he spends nine thousand dollars of it to lavishly decorate his residence [which had been provided by the wealthy nation] and only spends one thousand dollars on the poor people. After all, a thousand dollars is "more" sowing than he did the last time. His nation next sends him one hundred thousand dollars, [thinking the Ambassador is being a faithful steward to spend the money for the original purpose]. Again, thinking this to be his own personal harvest, the Ambassador keeps ninety thousand dollars for his own personal use, but does sow "more" to the poor people by spending ten thousand dollars on them this time instead of the previous one thousand dollars. Again, he is justified in his own mind because sowing ten thousand dollars is much "more" than he sowed the last time. Can you imagine what will be the reaction of the wealthy nation when it comes time to do an accounting of this Ambassador's books? At this point, the wealthy nation has entrusted $110,100.00 to his stewardship. Of that amount, he has kept $99,000.00 for himself and only spent $11,100.00 on the projects for which the finances were intended. Not only would he immediately be removed from his "stewardship," but most likely he would be imprisoned for the rest of his life. The "Sowing and Reaping" message destroyed the Ambassador's concept of "stewarship." It guaranteed his failure as a faithful steward. The "Sowing and Reaping" message teaches us to be just such Ambassadors. No wonder there have been virtually none whom the Father could promote to greater and greater levels of authority in Stewarding Kingdom Finances. Just like a serving son on my grandfather's farm, the Ambassador needed to make a clear distinction between his own personal provision and his stewardship. If he desired more provision, then he should have petitioned his wealthy nation for an increase in salary. His personal provision must never be drawn from the finances over which he has been made "steward." These are two completely separate and different things. To mingle the two is to be disqualified as a faithful steward. The increase gained from sowing is to be an increase in our stewardship, not our provision. If we desire an increase in our provision, we are to simply ask. "Ye have not because ye ask not." (James 4:2b) Back
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