How Right Environments Lead to God Style Increase

Increase is the topic in today’s Light on Life — not just any old increase, God-style increase. Everything about God leads to increase. I heard one saintly gentleman years ago say, “It doesn’t cost to serve God; it pays.” That’s the truth. It is a remarkable fact that Sir Isaac Newton, writing on the prophecy found in Daniel 12:4 – you know that verse says that in the last days, knowledge will increase — Newton said that if they were true, it would be necessary that a new mode of traveling would be invented, for knowledge would be so increased that man would be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour.

The atheist Voltaire, when he heard that, replied with true skepticism, saying: “Now look at the mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravitation; when he began to study the Book called the Bible, it seems to credit its fabulous nonsense, he believed that the knowledge of mankind would be so increased that we shall be able to travel fifty miles an hour! Then Voltaire called Newton a derogatory name, implying that he was feeble-minded because of Newton’s age.

Today, anyone with one-eye and half-sense would have to say that “Newton was the wise one and Voltaire, the poor feeble-minded soul.”¹ How Right Environments Lead to God Style Increase, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This weeks call is:

Get acquainted with your heavenly Father. Learn who He is via His Word. Walk with Him, Know His nature and His character and then look to Him with expectancy. One aspect of His nature is increase.

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Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: Do you see your Father God as a God of abundance, as a God of increase? If you don’t, why? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

Increase: Flowing In the Overflow

So, in a previous podcast, Flowing in the Overflow: Why It’s a Powerful God Thing, we began addressing this abundant nature of God.
And, I say began because we don’t know the half of it.
With that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

Albert Einstein was on his sailboat and the conversation drifted back and forth from the profoundness of the nature of God, the universe and man, to lighter questions. Suddenly, Einstein lifted his head, looked up at the skies and said, “We know nothing about it at all. Our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren.” “Do you think that we shall ever probe the secret?” “Possibly, we shall know a little more than we do now. But the real nature of things—that we shall never know, never.”²

Our knowledge about the nature of God, His abundance, His overflowing capacity, the increase the Lord has built into all things — we are at a puny level of understanding.
God is a titanic being; the depth of His ways is bottomless.
Ocean’s have bottoms; they have floors, however deep but not God.
There is no spiritual sonar that can find the depth of God.
When we get to heaven, eternity will be our friend in helping us to ‘BEGIN’ to know who He is.
It’s going to take that long.

Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV) — 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Concerning the words ‘the coming ages,’ Wuest has the following to say.

The expression, “the ages to come” in the Greek, literally means, “in the ages that are coming one upon another,” that is, in the eternal ages that roll in, one after another in the future eternity after the universe is returned to its pristine glory.³

I’m going to say it again; it’s going to take a massive amount of time to probe, explore, analyze, and understand the exceeding depth of the riches of His grace.
When you get your snowshoes and try to walk around in these concepts of ‘muchness,’ hugeness, bigness, can you see how increase is an expected thing for the God of all gods?

The Four Adjectives of Increase

Jesus gave us adjectives that describe the increase of God.

Luke 6:38 (ESV) — 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over – four God concepts — let’s take a look at each of them.

Increase: Good Measure

This one is easy — good measure is, well, good, — certainly not bad.
A notable way to remember this is with this simple thought: if it’s good, it’s God; if it’s not good, it’s the other fellow in a downward direction.
You would be surprised how much ‘bad’ is attributed to God.
God’s not your problem; He is always your answer.
The New Testament Greek word for ‘good’ is related to our concept of “powerful,” “excellent,” and “strong.”
Wrapped up also in this word ‘good’ has the sense of “healthy,” “beautiful,” “attractive,” “lovely.”
All these senses may be brought together under the idea of “what is ordered or sound.”⁴
So, good measure is not bad measure, and it’s not cheap, just barely enough measure.
It’s vital to get God’s definition of good, surely not the world’s definition and maybe not even yours.
Your sights may be set too low.

Acts 10:38 (ESV) — 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

“Healing all…’ – that’s good – that’s God.

Many men would love to lead the life of Sean Connery. Tall, handsome, and dashing, Connery played the glamorous part of 007 in six James Bond movies. Connery travels the world to shoot movies in places as exotic as equatorial Africa or the Orient. In addition to acting, Connery works as the executive producer of films, a position of considerable power. Yet when asked in an interview why, at age sixty-two, he continues to act, Connery gave a surprising reply: “Because I get the opportunity to be somebody better and more interesting than I am.” Many people feel like Connery. Their lives aren’t all that they could be. They aren’t as good as they should be. Something is missing that even glamorous acting roles cannot fulfill. Only Christ makes a person’s life what it can be, should be, and must be.

Zero in on God’s definition of good and you will begin to understand what ‘good measure’ means.⁵

‘Good measure’ is the first word for increase.

Increase: Pressed Down

The Greek for ‘pressed down’ is a word that means condensed.
Condense, if you break up the words into their syllables, ‘con’ and ‘dense.’
Condense is a packed together density.
That means there is the possibility of ‘more in the box’ than normal.
In this agricultural society which was Israel in the first century, you press down the grain in whatever you were storing it in to get more in the box.⁶
More in the box is the concept – and that surely speaks of increase.

Increase: Shaken Together

Shaken together is the same concept as ‘pressed down.’
You shake what’s in the box so that what’s already in the box can be leveled off so that you can make room for more.
So, ‘pressed down, shaken together’ are twin sisters in this realm of God-style increase.

Increase: Running Over

Now, we finally get to the word you have been waiting for.
Here we are not just compressing the box.
We are not just shaking the box.
Now, we are pouring into the box; so much pouring comes from the windows of heaven that His blessings spill out of the box all over the place.
Running over is more than enough.
Overflowing out of the box is where you get to say to God, ‘It’s too much blessing, turn it off — I can’t handle it.’
‘Too much’ blessing only comes from a ‘too much’ God.
Here is what I am telling you.
He can bless you so much; it will embarrass you.
You can bless you so much; your insecurities will pop out.
Your sense of unworthiness that you thought that you had overcome will bubble to the surface.
Your confession that ‘you are the righteousness of God in Christ’ will be put to the test with overflow.
The pride of your flesh that you thought that you had a handle on will rise up its ugly head and gaze back at you in the mirror.
With every promotion, you have to deal with a whole new level of pride.
God is a too much God, and I am telling you you cannot handle Him full strength.
Are you kidding?
People can’t handle the lottery — you’ve seen it.
Lotteries are man-made imitations of God-style overflow.
Humankind can’t even handle that – so many cases are out there for us to view and learn from.
Too much man-made money too quick — not enough wisdom — not enough being ‘right on the inside.’
It blows people up.
God’s not the author of such stuff.
Now, there’s another side of this mountain I’m climbing here.
So, there is worldly prosperity and that which comes from heaven.
Sometimes people do dumb things when they get into heaven’s overflow.
They forget God.

Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV) — 18 You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

The Lord is talking to Israel here, His people.
He had blessed them, delivered them, did it spectacularly, and then they got stupid.
His warning to His people is real basic here — ‘Don’t forget where you got what you got.’

Deuteronomy 9:7 (ESV) — 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

Now, it’s unfortunate that some have a developed a ‘dumb doctrine’ that God wants to keep you poor because if He blessed you, that might bring you to ruin.
Well, first of all, — entering into a state of ruin is your choice, not God’s.
Don’t blame your ruin on God’s blessings — blame it on your poor decision-making.

Jeremiah 22:21 (ESV) — 21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.

Now, how many of you know that not listening to God is not the most intelligent thing a man has ever done?
It’s just plain dumb, really.

Deuteronomy 32:15 (ESV) — 15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

Jeshurun is another name for Israel.
Israel grew fat — stout means thick — sleek means gorged.
This nation was pumped up with the blessings and favor of heaven.
Fat, stout, sleek implies overflow — too much food not balanced off by discipline and self-control.
Too much food means too much blood to the stomach — means not enough to his brain – Israel went major stupid.
God-style increase is what we are talking about.
You should know about all of these things.
Let’s look at yet another area of God-style increase, the Anointing.

God’s Varied Anointings Have Increase and Overflow Built Into Them

Numbers 11:14–17 (ESV) — 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” 16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

With this passage read in your hearing, here is the Question of the Day.
The question is, “Would you like to have been on the receiving end of this division of the anointing upon Moses’ life?
This powerful ‘split the Red Sea’ level of anointing — this miracle-working ‘Ten Plagues on the Egyptian Nation’ level anointing?
You know, this power display that we are still referencing today, in screen, script, and slices of life.
Would you have asked for it as Elisha asked for twice what Elijah had?
What about the seventy elders that partook of the anointing that was upon Moses? Would you like to have been one of them?
The more fitting question is mired in motive.
Like, why would you want this anointing?
Hudson Taylor, the well-known missionary to China, said concerning motive.

Hudson Taylor was interviewing some young people who had volunteered for the Lord’s service. He asked several practical questions to find out how well qualified they were for the life they were anticipating. “And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?” “I want to reach others across the sea because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” one replied. Another said, “I want to go because millions are dying without ever having heard of Jesus, the only One who can save them.” Others have similar answers.

Hudson Taylor looked at them thoughtfully for a moment and then said. “All of your motives are good, but I fear they will fail you in times of severe testing and tribulation—especially if you are confronted with the possibility of having to face death for your testimony. The only motive that will enable you to remain true is stated in 2 Corinthians 5:14. Christ’s love constraining you will keep you faithful in every situation.”⁷

So, dig around the flowerbed of your motive.
There may be weeds up in there that need rooting out.
How do you do that?
Well, you bounce things off your heart.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV) — 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves…

The Greek word ‘examine’ is a verb and a verb is an active thing that requires energy.
The word means to test to ascertain something’s nature, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.
Imperfections, faults, did you hear that?
Those are those weeds in your garden that will choke off increase.
So, that’s the word ‘examine,’ now, there is a second set of words in this verse, ‘test yourself.’
The words ‘test yourself’ is also a verb that means observing, checking out, and looking over carefully or inspecting.
So, putting these words together in translation, we have: Test yourselves to ascertain your imperfections, faults, or other qualities to see whether you are in the faith. Observe yourself, check yourself out, and look over and inspect yourself carefully.
So, again, motives — how do you check it — bounce questions off your heart.
Why am I doing this? — why do I want this?
You want God to use you, why? — His glory, or your’s — ask yourself?
Am I more concerned about what God thinks about my life than about what others think?
Would I pray, read my Bible, give and serve as much if nobody but God ever noticed?
Am I more concerned about pleasing God than I am about being accepted and appreciated by men?⁸
If God gave your desire and increased His ‘using of you,’ do you possess the spiritual discipline to maintain it?
Do you have enough respect for God to treasure it?
Would you be faithful to minister what God gave you to others, or would you bury your talent?
The good news is that an overflowing increase is all around you.
While it’s there, God is waiting for you and me to say, ‘Here am I, Lord, send me.’

Right Environments and God-Style Increase

Increase takes place as a by-product of right environments — when optimal conditions are met.
Pristine environments are harbingers of expansion.

Right Environments: Good Ground, Water, and Light

You know that from the natural world around you.
Plants get taller; trees increase in height, shrubs extend, expand, elongate, and leap tall buildings in a single bound when the environment is conducive.
Grasses grow and yield seed.
Increase is always the heir apparent to good ground.
But, good ground is only one component — other things are needful.
Light must leap forward — water must be available in copious amounts.
All of these needful nutrients, all donate to overflow.
God moves in power via right environments.
The Word of God belongs in your spirit, not on thin pages of India paper.
Your spirit is the soil for God’s Word — it produces best in you.
It leads to development.

1 Peter 2:2 (ESV) — 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

To achieve growth, milk must be in the baby, not in the bottle.
Containers are never the right environment for growth.
If you want to see increase, get God’s Word out of the book and into your heart.

Right Environments: Hunger

Hunger is another environment that escorts into God-style increase.
Physically, hunger is an indicator, a pointer, a gauge, a meter, if you will, of health.
Lack of appetite says the opposite.
To get it, you have to want it.
To realize God-style increase, you must incorporate correct cravings.

Matthew 5:6 (ESV) — 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Satisfaction is on the other side of yearning.
Jesus said so.
Now, I am not a big fan of the word ‘satisfied’ — those who hunger and thirst shall be satisfied — used here by the ESV translators.
The thought expressed by this English word needs more adjectives, I think.
‘Satisfied’ in Greek means to be satiated —it is conceived of as having eaten or drunk one’s fill of food.
Pursuit of plenty out of heart cry for God leads to a packed, stacked, and satiated.
It’s kind of like Jeshurun, who grew fat, stout, and sleek.
You see, you need more adjectives.
Satiated implies overfill, overfeed, or over-gorged.
Translating this in usable vernacular — if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, God will show up big and super-size your life and the work of your hands.

Flowing in the Overflow: Why It’s a Powerful God Thing

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References:

Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 709. ↩
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 710. ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 68. ↩
Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 402. ↩
Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 9. ↩
Richard C. Blight, An Exegetical Summary of Luke 1–11, 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 263. ↩
—Our Daily Bread, Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 763. ↩
Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002). ↩

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Equipping people to pursue God's glory

How Right Environments Lead to God Style Increase

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Fourteen

by Emery Horvath

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