Name It and Claim It: Putting Prosperity Preaching in Perspective

Introduction

Getting the most out of your church experience means to understand what your church .

Some are explicit, and others are implicit.

While there are several different Christian that have influenced this church, one of the more significant ones is The Word of Movement.

The Word of Movement is referred to by many other terms, some of which merely describe and others that :

• Prosperity Preachers
• Neo-Pentecostals
• Name It and Claim It
• Blab It and Grab It

Word of Faith Basics

I would summarize the Word of doctrine like this:

The Word of Faith emphasizes the relationship between what we say, what we and what we .

We receive : first spiritually and then physically.

In other words, we we have something before we have it.

By believing we have it , we eventually have it .

When we things, they should be statements of faith, that is, faith in the of God.

To have faith in the Word means to believe

• That God’s recorded in Scripture are true.
• That the Scriptural promises of God to us .
• That God’s promises to us in Scripture will come to pass on and not just in heaven.

God’s promises include, but are not limited to

• Healing
• Physical protection
• Provision and financial prosperity
• Favor
• Peace
• Joy

The words and promises of Scripture should be spoken out and in faith.

Speaking God’s Word in faith that we put God’s word in our hearts.

How do we put the Word in our hearts? We say it, it, and to it over and over again.

We speak to things in our hearts and we speak to what’s in hearts.

Scriptural Foundations

After Jesus, the most important biblical figure in the Word of Faith movement is .

In many ways, what you think about Abraham will what you think about the Word of Faith doctrine.

Abraham is mentioned significantly in both the Old and New Testaments and, after Jesus, is probably the most biblical figure the two testaments together.

The New Testament makes clear that one of the most important words associated with Abraham is (Galatians 3:5-6).

The emphasis here is that the is a gift that is given to us by faith, not .

Abraham was counted righteous by God even though Abraham had not done anything to become righteous.

There was no on Abraham’s part to earn it. God simply gifted it to him, and Abraham the gift.

The Scripture tells us that what is true of Abraham is also true of his .

However, the promises extended to Abraham do not necessarily apply to his children; they only apply to people who believe Abraham.

In other words, the children of Abraham are the people who have (Galatians 3:7-9).

This is only possible through .

Christ is the biological offspring of Abraham and, by faith, we are in Christ (Galatians 3:13-14; Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:26-27).

In dying for us on the cross, Jesus took our curse and we inherited His (II Corinthians 8:9).

The Blessing of Abraham

This begs the question: What is the blessing of Abraham ? Is it only spiritual or does it also include things?

Let’s do some investigative work in the Old Testament:

• God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
• Abraham is (Genesis 13:2, Genesis 13:6).
• God’s vision for Abraham is big—literally , not small (Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 15:5-6).
• Abraham is wealthy enough to hire and train a army who is effective enough to defeat the military forces of governments (Genesis 14:8-9, Genesis 14: 11-15).

• Abraham’s wealth after he defeated his enemies (Genesis 14:16-24)
• The key to Abraham’s wealth and success appears to be his in the Lord, something evidenced by
  • His tithe to the priest Melchizedek.
  • His refusal to accept any gifts that would make it appear as if humans made him rich.
• If Abraham refuses to accept the idea that humans are responsible for his wealth, by default, he must believe that God has made him .

Does all of this mean that God expects all of us to be as materially as Abraham?

We have not done enough work to answer that question yet. Let’s do more next week.

Dr. Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020