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Introduction

My message today is titled, “Hundredfold Return”. And yes, it’s about money. So go ahead and put down your defenses. I will help you see money the way that God does.

Luke 8:1-15 NLT – Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

How many of you have heard this parable used to teach about financial giving? 

In this parable, Jesus is teaching about sowing the Word of God and reaping a harvest. So, is it a misuse of scripture to apply this same principle to financial giving?

Not at all. How do I know? Because even the Apostle Paul used this parable to teach about financial giving. Take a look:

2 Cor 9:6-9 NLT – Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

And even in the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul teaches that whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

Sowing and reaping is a spiritual law established by God. It has been around since the foundation of the world.

It applies to sowing seed in a garden. It applies to giving finances. It applies to how you treat people. It applies to any action you take in life. Whatever you sow, that you will reap.

Do you have a problem sowing a tomato seed and reaping a harvest of beautiful tomatoes?

But you didn’t even create the seed. You didn’t cause it to grow. You simply put it in the ground and watched over it. And now you think you can just pick off all those tomatoes and eat them?

Yes, you do! None of us have a problem when a tiny seed produces a harvest that is too great to count. That’s why it is a hundredfold return. From seed to harvest is an unfathomable calculation.

I know, the NLT said one hundred times. But what we are really talking about is one hundredfold. That’s when it doubles every time you fold it. We’re talking about your seed to the hundredth power.

For example, if you take the number two to the hundredth power, here’s what you get:

1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376

It’s incomprehensible to the human mind how a little seed can produce a big plant that produces a massive amount of fruit. Not to mention more seeds within the fruit! 

Again, we don’t have a problem with this! As a matter of fact, we expect it to happen. That seed best become a thriving tomato plant, or I will be upset that it did not fulfill God’s design.

But most of us, when we sow financial seed, have a problem expecting a hundredfold return on our little seed.

We think, “I shouldn’t get that much. I didn’t work for it. Why would God give me such a big return for the little amount I invested in His Kingdom?”

Or maybe you think, “It didn’t work last time, so it probably doesn’t work at all.”

It’s thoughts like these that prevent our seed from producing the massive harvest it was designed to produce. Our wrong thinking steals the seed or kills the plant before it matures.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus teaches us how to care for our seed. Let’s read that verse again in the KJV.

Luke 8:15 KJV – But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. 

According to this verse, three things are required for your seed to bear fruit:

1. Right motivation (honest and good heart)
2. Continue to believe (keep it)
3. Wait on the harvest (patience)

I bet you can easily identify where you missed it.

Maybe your motivation is off. You gave reluctantly or in response to pressure. Or, maybe you gave to get the praise of others. You wanted people to see how generous you are.

Maybe you gave up on the harvest because it didn’t come in your timing. You gave at church on Sunday because you needed the harvest on Monday. Then, you abandoned your seed when it didn’t come quickly. 

Identify where your problem is so you can fix it. It’s vital that you do because we are called to demonstrate the Kingdom of God, where there is always more than enough.

The church should contain the wealthiest people on the earth. Our resources should be so vast that we have no problem caring for all the widows and orphans.

We should possess the best land in the city and build things that glorify God and demonstrate the magnificence of His Kingdom. 

It’s not that we create the harvest from our own efforts. No. We simply plant the seed, watch over it, and patiently wait while God creates the harvest.

Did that help anyone? It sure helped me. I didn’t realize I had a problem expecting a massive harvest from my financial seed until a few months ago.

When reading this, the Holy Spirit interrupted me with a question. He said, “You don’t have a problem expecting a massive harvest from a natural seed. Why do you have a problem expecting the same from your financial seed?”

For me, it was a problem because I didn’t feel like I deserved a massive harvest. I wanted to be able to say I worked for it. I earned that. But the reality is, that’s prideful thinking.

So, I renewed my thinking and updated my expectations. When I sow financial seed, I expect it to produce a hundredfold return. My seed is required to fulfill God’s design and produce a harvest.

I will use that return to advance the Kingdom of God. I will continue to believe and wait patiently while my financial harvest grows into maturity.

Our Church’s Financial Seed

A few months ago, our church sowed a financial seed into a ministry in Argentina. As a church, we gave them $35,000 to fund a new building they need.

That seed is required to produce a hundredfold return. It was sown with the right motivation and we are expectantly waiting for God to multiply our seed into what we need for our new building.

A few weeks after we sowed the $35,000 seed, I received an email from our Mexico missionary. They had been waiting for land to become available next to their church.

After many years of waiting, it finally became available! Only one problem. They needed 220 THOUSAND pesos, which is equivalent to $13,500 dollars.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about an email. I lept out of my chair and praised God for an amazing opportunity to sow seed. The timing was PERFECT!

We are looking for land! The land we need costs millions of dollars. We don’t have millions of dollars. But we do have $13,500 dollars.

This is how the kingdom of God works! When you need something, God gives you an opportunity to meet that same type of need for someone else.

To me, this opportunity to sow seed at the perfect moment is even more miraculous than the harvest we will receive to pay for our land. I couldn’t get them the money fast enough, I was so excited!

So, together as a church, we sowed that financial seed by giving $13,500 to buy land in Mexico. They will close on the land next week.

Now, you will get to see with your own two eyes how these two seeds turn into a harvest of more than enough to buy the land we need and build a church that glorifies God.

Speaking of, allow me to update you on the journey to this new church building.

This past December, the Holy Spirit led me to the new 5th Avenue Business Park on the West side of the highway, just South of 76th St N. As I was searching it out, the vision for our next building started to unfold.

We are going to create a space where Owasso gathers. God has commissioned us to restore mentorship in our city where the old teach the young, and the young teach the old.

We are anointed to bridge generational gaps. And not only that but we are anointed to bridge denominational gaps. We are here to bring people back together.

To achieve this, our new space will not feel like a commercial building. It will feel like home. It will be so welcoming that people say, “I can’t wait to get back to NoLimits.”

We will have a living room and dining room that each hold about twenty people. This is where friends and family can gather without the pressure of HGTV.

If you’ve been in Owasso for long, you know that we need a coffee shop with more gathering space. We are going to solve that problem.

The NoLimits Coffee shop will be open to the community daily. It will become the favorite spot for business meetings. It’s where one-on-one mentorship will take place. And a great spot for date night and community events.

Our new auditorium will be three times this size and seat 300 people. It won’t take long to fill this up. When that happens, we will build a bigger auditorium and turn this one into a dining hall.

This vision unfolded as I pursued renting space in the 5th Avenue Business Park. But, throughout the negotiations, I began to notice warning signs. Then, the Holy Spirit told me to stop pursuing.

When you live life by the Spirit, these kind of things happen. The Holy Spirit leads you in a direction, you plan the outcome, and then the Holy Spirit surprises you with a different outcome.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit used 5th Avenue to awaken me to the vision. I believe there was also a divine connection with the owner that we will understand later.

But the story doesn’t end there. This journey is still unfolding.

Not many weeks ago, Evangelist Tim was texting me about a few properties available in Owasso. Then we went to look at them.

The first one was interesting but not quite big enough. The second one was… I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I left there with a big, confident smile I couldn’t get rid of.

It is located right off the highway, near 106th St N. There’s Jim Glover, then the bowling alley, then an urgent care, and then this land, which is ten acres.

Here’s a video of me driving up to the land. Currently, it is mostly overgrown with a ten thousand square foot building near the back.

This building needs an overhaul, as you can tell. It is basically an open barn. It needs new metal siding, and the inside would have to be completely finished out.

But, even just having a foundation with a steel frame saves about $400,000 in construction costs. Doesn’t that make you thankful that at least something already exists?

For those of you who have a hard time seeing what could be, just cringe and enjoy the process. For those of you who are visionaries, you already see what this can become.

Here’s a preliminary floor plan to help give substance to the opportunity before us.

Another church meets here at NoLimits every Sunday evening. A few weeks ago, our service went way longer than usual, so on my way out, I ran into a guy from that church coming to prepare for their service.

Fast forward two weeks. Tim and I were going to meet the realtor at this property to see inside the building. The realtor gets out of his truck, and I realize it is the same guy that I had just met from the other church.

These types of things are not coincidental. God orchestrates the right connections when we need them. How amazing is it that the realtor for this property already has a connection with NoLimits?

We’ve been working on the right offer to present to the owner of this land. We finally got the details ironed out, and the realtor is submitting them to the owner for consideration.

That is where we are in the process, and I will keep you updated.

Whether it is this land or not, a harvest is coming from the seeds we have planted. God will be glorified by confirming His Word with signs following.

I encourage you to get in on this heavenly principle of sowing and reaping. Take every opportunity to sow financial seed.

If we truly believe the Word of God, why would we hesitate?

Let’s see. I could store this away in a savings account and watch it rot OR I could sow it and experience the joy of harvest. 

Let me remind you what happens when you give generously:

2 Cor 9:9 NLT – God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

That’s the life I want to live. As a matter of fact, that’s the life I do live. Now, I am addicted to a generous life, and God continues to expand and multiply me as I go.

Finances in the kingdom of God are a free flow, a rushing river, an endless supply. There’s no need to store it up because there is always more to come. Tap into the joy of the free flow!

And don’t forget the three requirements Jesus taught us in regards to sowing and reaping.

1. Right motivation (honest and good heart)
2. Continue to believe (keep it)
3. Wait on the harvest (patience)

I am in no way pressuring you to give today. God loves a cheerful giver. If you aren’t cheerful about it, you might as well not give.

My goal today is to help you connect your mind with the truth that already exists in your spirit. Your spirit already knows about the hundredfold return. You are just waiting on your mind to catch up.

May today be the day your thoughts become fully aligned with the Word of God. May you walk out of here seeing money the way that God sees it.

Instead of using your mind to worry about money, use it to imagine what life will be like when the harvest begins to flow in your life. More than enough. Endless supply. Hilarious generosity.

That’s where you are headed. Now, take every opportunity to sow seed and never hesitate to expect your harvest. Just like you expect tomato seeds to grow tomatoes, expect financial seeds to grow your finances.