Kingdom Economy #4: You and Change — From Sweat Equity to the Economy of Heaven

The kingdom economy never changes, but you have to. In this fourth message of the series, Dr. William P. Hohman teaches that the world runs on a sweat-equity system of buying, selling and constant resets, while the economy of heaven runs on grace through faith: freely you have received, freely give. Moving your focus from one to the other takes real change, and change takes courage.

The message picks up from Kingdom Economy #3: God Teaches You to Profit — Abiding in the Vine and the Widow of Zarephath. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message from NTC Ministries in Merrill, Wisconsin, was posted on March 21, 2022, as part four of the Kingdom Economy series. Dr. William P. Hohman says many people have a better working knowledge of money than he does, but he believes the Lord has given him a revelation about economy that will change the way you function in this world and cause you to profit.

He titles this week “You and Change”: not the change in your pocket, but the change that comes with time and growth. After reviewing the earlier lessons, he contrasts the two systems, explains why sudden change is so hard, and shows from Joshua and Hebrews that courage and faith are what carry you through.

Two Kingdoms, One That Never Changes

Pastor Hohman begins with a review. Since the fall of Adam there have been two kingdoms. The kingdom of this world keeps getting worse, and its economy keeps resetting; he notes that England has reset its economy twice since the Second World War. The other kingdom does not evolve at all. The Lord declares that He does not change (Malachi 3:6), and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

When we are born again, we are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:13). Coming out from among them and being separate (2 Corinthians 6:17), he explains, does not mean secluding ourselves. It means we now function differently, and that is to our advantage.

The second lesson was confidence that God wants us to prosper. 3 John 1:2 says “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health.” Many believers live their own way and then, with their back against the wall, cry out for God to do something. Early in the church’s history, Pastor Hohman did exactly that on a prayer walk in the woods, and the Lord answered: “William, I put you there, you do something.”

That answer goes back to dominion. God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the works of His hands, and He still expects His people to act. The Bible, Pastor Hohman says, is not a history book but an instruction manual. God’s thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace and a future (Jeremiah 29:11), but if you are not expecting anything, you will hit nothing every time.

He likens it to owning a car for five years without reading the manual and never discovering what it could do. Wealth and riches will be in the righteous man’s house (Psalm 112:3), and Jesus came that we might have life more abundantly (John 10:10). He is still Jehovah Jireh, but you have to decide to read the owner’s manual.

Building a Kingdom Economy Together

An economy, Pastor Hohman says, takes two or more people. God created Adam because love has to be expressed to someone, and He wanted someone in His image to build with. When Adam fell, Jesus came as the last Adam to do it perfectly and hand it to us. The third lesson, then, is agreement: speak the same thing, with no divisions among you (1 Corinthians 1:10).

When you start a new job, you come home using a new vocabulary because you are learning its language. Believers who refuse to speak what God says are, in effect, deaf. God calls that condition sleep, and He treats sleepers as dead because they are not functioning. His word to them is to awake and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light (Ephesians 5:14).

He then shares Webster’s definition of economy: the structure of economic life in a country, a family or a religious setting, the thrifty and efficient use of material resources, and the efficient use of non-material resources such as effort, language and motion. The kingdom economy, in other words, covers both what you spend and how you speak and work.

People who have never had much often let money burn a hole in their pocket, spending on what they lust after rather than what they need. Paul learned to be content whether he had little or much (Philippians 4:11–12). Wasted motion is squandering too. When Pastor Hohman ran a construction company, a worker who forgot something and drove a mile back twice was not building an economy for growth.

Sweat Equity or Grace Through Faith

We are in this world but not of it, so we still work; as Jesus said, render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21). But we also function from heaven, where God brings greater blessings than we could ever work for. The trouble comes when people refuse to change because they only trust what they can see themselves doing.

He illustrates it with how people judge leaders. Many assume a company president does little because they never see the mental labor. His mentor, Lester Sumrall, slept about four hours a night, and a young minister who asked to follow him around quit after one week. Christians make the same mistake with God: they cannot see Him working, so they trust only their own sweat equity.

Man is enslaved, he says, to the five senses. That is why Psalm 24:3–10 calls us to lift up our heads, O you gates, so that the King of glory can come in, and why we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Pastor Hohman compares the two systems this way:

He tells how, as a young children’s minister, he needed a guitar costing about three hundred dollars. He and his wife Pam agreed to trust the Lord. That Sunday, while the children were thanking God for it at lunch, a stranger knocked asking for a dump truck. The only one Pastor Hohman had was a rusted wreck with a tree growing through it, and the man paid three hundred dollars cash.

That, he says, is God’s economy. God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8), and “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). Like a change jar you shake to fit more in, God arranges things so He can pour more into your life than you can see, and twice banks called the couple about money they did not know they had.

Why Change Feels Traumatic

Shifting your main attention from the world’s system to God’s can be traumatic, Pastor Hohman says, and some people give up. Change is tolerated when it comes gradually, but sudden change shakes people mentally. When you build your life in the kingdom of heaven by faith, nothing will shake you. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

He finds the principle in Jacob. After seven years of work for Rachel, Jacob woke up beside Leah. “What is this you have done to me?” he asked Laban (Genesis 29:25–27). Laban told him to fulfill her week, and then he would receive Rachel too, for seven more years of work. Pastor Hohman reads the seven days of feasting as a way to dull the pain of that change so Jacob would respond favorably.

At the end of Jacob’s life, Joseph and a great company went up to bury him and observed seven days of mourning (Genesis 50:7–10). Losing a parent, he says, has to be worked through over time. How much better to learn to live by faith in the economy of heaven now, rather than be shell-shocked when something hard comes.

The world offers pithy sayings with no foundation. Dad says look before you leap; Mom says he who hesitates is lost. God’s Word, by contrast, is a rock: the one who builds on it survives the storm (Matthew 7:24–27). “Let God be true but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Every change carries a seed of potential. When interest rates rose sharply, his business adapted instead of quitting and had its best year.

Be Strong and of Good Courage

Change takes courage, and God knows it. In creation, Pastor Hohman notes, God said and God saw again and again, about ten times; when God repeats Himself, it matters. So when Moses died and Joshua had to lead Israel against giants, God told him three times to be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:2–9).

Joshua had seen God work through Moses, but he had not yet seen God work through him. God promised, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you,” and tied courage to obedience: do not turn to the right or the left, meditate in this Book of the Law day and night, and then you will make your way prosperous and have good success.

Notice, Pastor Hohman says, that God tells Joshua he will make his way prosperous. Then you do not have to cry out for God to do something. It is like the prayer of doubt many Christians pray, “Lord, be with me today,” as if He had left. He has promised never to leave, so thank Him that He is with you and do what He says.

Courage also marked the church’s own beginnings. When the Lord told Pastor Hohman to move to Merrill, a town he had never seen, he refused to push Pam; he asked the Lord to tell her. About a month later she woke up and said they were supposed to move. They gave away everything they owned and had a neighbor drive them there.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

Pastor Hohman’s final text is Hebrews 12:25–29: see that you do not refuse Him who speaks. God has promised to shake not only the earth but also heaven, so that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. “Since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace.” Grace, he says, is the economy of heaven, a divine influence on the heart reflected in the life.

He reads the Amplified version too: everything not done in faith and confidence will be shaken, because God wants it removed, while everything done in faith will be strengthened like a pillar. No matter how things change, people still need food, shelter and clothes. Money is neutral; it is the love of money that is the root of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). In righteous hands, a little is much.

Wealth, he insists, creates a vibrant society, and poverty is not a virtue. Yet you must not say your own power got you this wealth. Remember the Lord your God, “for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant” (Deuteronomy 8:17–20). The danger is saying “mine” instead of living as a steward.

Finances, he says, are the one place God says to try Him. Bring the tithe into the storehouse and see if He will not open the windows of heaven and rebuke the devourer (Malachi 3:10–11). His goal is that you would have all sufficiency in all things, abounding to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). When he and Pam first saw this forty years ago, they decided to work at it, and he testifies that it works.

Living the Kingdom Economy This Week

Pastor Hohman closes in prayer for people who have only ever lived the sweat-equity life and say they do not have enough, asking that their understanding be enlightened. Here are practical steps drawn from this kingdom economy message:

• Read the owner’s manual. Study what God says about provision so you know what to expect instead of shooting at nothing.
• Do what He told you. Before crying out “God, do something,” ask whether He has already put you there to act.
• Use resources efficiently. Spend on needs, not lusts, and do not waste effort, words or motion.
• Practice give and receive. Start tithing and giving, and trust Luke 6:38 even when you cannot see God working.
• Thank Him that He is with you. Replace “Lord, be with me today” with confidence in His promise never to leave.
• Prepare for change now. Build your life on the unshakable kingdom so sudden change does not shake you.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 A revelation about kingdom economy
• 1:14 Two kingdoms: one changes, one does not
• 3:23 Translated into the kingdom of light
• 4:28 God wants you to prosper and be in health
• 5:34 “William, I put you there, you do something”
• 9:52 Read the owner’s manual
• 10:58 An economy takes two or more people
• 12:52 Wake up, sleeper
• 14:01 Webster’s definition of economy
• 17:13 You and change: two systems at once
• 20:44 Mental labor and Lester Sumrall
• 22:58 The five senses and Psalm 24
• 28:48 The guitar and the dump truck
• 31:21 Grace through faith versus sweat equity
• 32:26 Matthew 10:8 and Luke 6:38
• 35:18 Why sudden change is so hard
• 37:49 Jacob, Leah and the seven days
• 41:12 Seven days of mourning for Jacob
• 43:38 Pithy sayings versus the rock
• 46:00 Romans 3:4 and the seed in every change
• 48:20 Change takes courage
• 49:39 Joshua 1: be strong and of good courage
• 53:47 Moving to Merrill by faith
• 54:51 Hebrews 12: a kingdom that cannot be shaken
• 1:00:30 Deuteronomy 8: power to get wealth
• 1:05:11 Closing prayer

Kingdom Economy Series

This message is part of a ten-part series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: Kingdom Economy #1: The Two Economies — Learning How Heaven Works
• Previous: Kingdom Economy #3: God Teaches You to Profit — Abiding in the Vine and the Widow of Zarephath
• You are here: Kingdom Economy #4: You and Change — From Sweat Equity to the Economy of Heaven
• Next: Kingdom Economy #5: Two Kingdoms and Your Heavenly Bank Account

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “Lord” mean in this message?

Pastor Hohman explains that being a Christian is not about going to church or being baptized as a baby; it is yielding your life to the lordship of Jesus. He teaches that Adonai in Hebrew means owner, master and ruler, and that the Greek kurios carries the sense of the one wielding the highest authority. That is why Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and why His people live by His system.

Is money evil according to this sermon?

No. Pastor Hohman says money is neutral. It is the love of money that is the problem, and what money does depends on whose hands hold it. A righteous, loving person will do good things with it. He also warns against associating poverty with virtue, while reminding believers that God is the one who gives power to get wealth, so we hold it as stewards rather than owners.

Why does God repeat “be strong and of good courage”?

Pastor Hohman points out that when God repeats Himself, as He did ten times in creation with “God said” and “God saw,” it signals importance. Joshua was stepping into Moses’ place and facing giants, so God told him again and again to be strong and courageous. Courage is needed because trusting a God you cannot see feels harder than trusting the visible system of this world.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 — the Lord does not change
• Colossians 1:13 — translated into His kingdom
• 3 John 1:2 — prosper and be in health
• Matthew 10:8 and Luke 6:38 — freely give, and it will be given
• Genesis 29:25–27 — Jacob and the shock of change
• Joshua 1:2–9 — be strong and of good courage
• Hebrews 12:25–29 — a kingdom that cannot be shaken
• Deuteronomy 8:17–20 — power to get wealth
• Malachi 3:10–11 — try Me in the tithe

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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