Sunday Sermon Summary – June 07 2026
Prosperity and Poverty
Genesis 12: 1-9 ; Matthew 9: 9-13
All of us will be eager to have prosperity over poverty. We seek God’s blessings of prosperity. We work hard for prosperity. Many of us can testify to blessings of prosperity received from God. Today we will meditate on what the Holy Bible teaches on prosperity and poverty from the lives of Abraham in the Old Testament and Matthew in the New Testament.
1. The Person
Abraham….Matthew
Both these people had something in common. They were seemingly not the ideal people for the task they were called for. Abraham was old and childless. Why would he be chosen to be the father of many nations! Matthew was a Tax Collector and so he was considered a traitor to his own people. He worked for the Roman government who was oppressing the Jews. Our Lord does not see the outside of people; He sees the heart! So, he chose these two men. He has chosen each of us, not because we were the most qualified, but because He sees the inside of us and has trusted us to fulfill His purpose.
2. The Purpose
Go…Come
When God called Abraham, He instructed him to “GO” wherever He will send him. When He called Matthew and other disciples, He said “Come”. When God called Abraham, it was the beginning of a new era of the creation of the nation Israel. When Matthew was called, it was the beginning of a new era, the birth of the Church. Whenever God calls us, He has a much bigger purpose than we can imagine. The Holy Bible promises many blessings, and we can trust God for all the blessings that He has promised us. Nevertheless, those blessings are so that God’s bigger purpose for us will be fulfilled. God’s calling to Matthew was to leave his highly paying job and to just live by faith.
3. The Promise
Possess…Forsake
When God called Abraham, He promised him worldly blessings; blessings of great wealth and long life. When He called Matthew and other disciples, our Lord asked them to forsake everything and to follow Him. The blessings promised in the Old Testament are temporal. Because the Old Testament is the shadow of the New Testament. Except in the book of Daniel chapter five we read of temporal blessings as a reward to obedience. The New Testament focuses on eternal blessings. God so loved the world that we may not perish but have everlasting life. Our calling is to seek eternal blessings. We do have the privilege of praying for temporal blessings. Our Lord has blessed us with temporal blessings of good health, good relationships and nice houses; but all those blessings must propel us to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. There are many true followers of our Lord who choose poverty over prosperity for the extension of God’s kingdom on earth. Amen