School Of Increase

By Dr. Eddie Crabtree

The body of Christ, as a whole, is still struggling with the issue of finances. Some feel they must by poor to be holy, and on the other side of the spectrum, some feel it is just about them getting richer. Both are incorrect. Prosperity is all about being able to fund kingdom assignments.

This book gives the reader not only the right perspective on finances but also an understanding on how to operate in sowing and reaping to maximize the financial harvest so God's plan can move forward.

Just think, if the lack of money was not an obstacle, what could be accomplished?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886855180

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School Of Increase

Dr. Eddie Crabtree

ISBN 979-8-88685-517-3 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-518-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Eddie Crabtree

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Understanding the Kingdom

What Is Tithe?

Power of a Seed Blessing

The Power of the Seed

Principle of the Measure

Process of Faith

Identify Your Nets

Put in the Sickle

Experience the Supernatural

About the Author

Introduction

My wife, Debbie, and I have been in the teachings of the School of Increase for the last two years, but recently, the truth of these teachings has been actively intense on the inside of us. The promptings of the Lord are so strong that we devoted an entire teaching series on the School of Increase. Because it is harvesttime, our concentration in this teaching is on the harvest. Do you know that it is harvesttime? We know by looking at the Jewish calendar that the shmita year is the Sabbath year. At the time I taught this series, it was during the shmita year—our calendar year 2014.

We can look at the signs of the times, at the blood moons, and we can see other natural phenomena occurring in this harvest season. The next shmita is not until 2021. We know that this is the word for the church today. Not only is the process of harvest in the natural realm happening but also in the spiritual realm. Even the enemy knows we are positioning for the end-time harvest by the evidence of the increase in his attacks since our announcement of starting the School of Increase. Despite his attacks, I know this is a right now word from the Lord. The School of Increase teaching is critical and crucial for the church today. Are you prepared to receive this harvest season, or are you going to wait until the next one?

My heart for the harvest is for the body of Christ to go further than where they are. The church needs to realize they are part of something bigger than what is behind their four walls. I am confident that if we do what God calls us to do in these last days, the pressures of debt, the lack of stuff, or the harassment of the enemy will not hinder us in the financial realm. We are a part of something incredible. We need to be out of debt. We need to have an abundance for every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV). We should be in such a position that when we see someone in need and the Lord prompts us to meet the need, we don't blink an eye (i.e., we do not hesitate). We don't question the Lord's promptings by saying to ourselves, How am I going to meet this need? We should be the one saying, Here is a blessing. There is absolutely no doubt in my spirit that God wants to use the body of Christ to do something remarkable and astonishing in this harvest season. As we delve further into the teaching on the increase, we will talk about how God plans to bring these fantastic things to fruition.

As I was focusing on the truth found in this revelation during my prayer time, I heard the Lord say, Somebody, because of this teaching, will become debt-free. At first, I thought it was coming from me and not from God. But the more I prayed for clarity, the more I realized God was speaking into my spirit. I have said before that a lot of what God does is better caught than taught. Well, this is especially true when in prayer. When you are under the anointing and in a position to receive from God, He shows up in a big way. To be clear about God's message, we are not paying off anyone's debt. However, what you learn through the pages of this book will enable you to become debt-free. It is one thing to get a handout but another thing to know how to walk in abundance all the time. It is one thing to see God work in your life, but it is something different to understand how it happened and to know you can duplicate it every time.

The body of Christ, for so long, has been in a position where one person gets something and another one does not. When God does something for someone, we say, I wish it were me. Somebody else gets help, and we say, Wow, wasn't that awesome? But what do you think will happen when we, the church, know how to pull things from one kingdom into another kingdom all the time? When we make a transfer from one realm into another realm, it takes the mystery out of it. For too long, we have allowed spiritual things to become almost mysterious. Let me put it another way: you and I live in a very natural world. God knows this and wants to meet us in this very natural world. So, in this book, I am going to go into detail about increase not only for you but also for myself as well because I believe that we are going to come out of this harvest season in a lot better position financially and move up a notch or two spiritually.

The foundation scripture I am using is Mark 4:26. It reads as a natural outline for this kingdom teaching of increase. I don't want you to only think about sowing seeds because there is more to harvest than sowing seeds. The scripture on the increase is not merely the laws of prosperity, although prosperity applies. However, it is more the laws of increase. The goal is increase; it is what we believe for and what we need to see. The scriptures I use throughout the book will help us understand God's perspective on the increase. We see this in Mark 4:26a (KJV): Jesus says, And he said, So is the kingdom of God. In Jesus's discourse, He is likening the kingdom of God to something His listeners can understand and relate to.

Notice Jesus is speaking of a kingdom, God's kingdom. Do you realize in God's kingdom, He calls us kings and priests (Revelation 1:6 KJV)? Furthermore, not only does God call us kings and priests but also, according to Revelation 5:10, John writes, we shall reign on earth. If we want to rule, we should know who we are. Most of us do not because we are living far beneath where God calls us.

Just think for a minute about a king. What does a king do? Does he fret and worry about his next house payment? No, because he doesn't have a house payment; he's the king. When a king makes a decree, it becomes a law. Everyone, all the citizens of his kingdom, must obey the king's laws. Therefore, we should live our lives as if we are kings. I'm not writing about questioning God if it is His will for us to prosper. Most believers know it is His will. Prosperity is not the issue. I believe the truth about prosperity is in our hearts. However, there are some Christians who believe that being poor is holy. Dear reader, if you are one of these people, you, not God, are keeping prosperity from coming into your life. There is a question I hear often, and you might have said it yourself: is it wrong to have stuff? No, it is not wrong, but we don't want stuff to have us.

Going back to our foundation scripture, Mark 4:26 (NKJV) goes on to say that

the kingdom of God is as if man should scatter seed on the ground; and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know-how. For the earth, yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

I am using this parable in Mark 4:26–29, and the one right below it in verses 30–32 as the springboard for the teaching on increase. I am convinced the plan that God has given me on our end-time harvest between the pages of this book will revolutionize your life. Do you know how I know? Because it changed mine.

God will do His part, but we must do ours. So in the next chapter, we will discuss tithing and how it ties into your harvest. The church has a lot of teaching on tithing and giving. The church, as a rule, knows about sowing seed and about giving. Christians know about giving and God giving back to them. But they know very little about harvesting; thus, in this chapter, I am going to spend a lot of time using these foundational scriptures to build on.

There are seven things I am going to talk about in this book so we can understand how to cause the increase to come and for it to be naturally supernatural. Do not ever discount the anointing and the power of God. The anointing must work through somebody. I think we miss how the anointing works. We expect that while we are at home watching TV, God is going to drop the anointing on us. God cannot do that. It would be illegal. In the pages that follow, I will prove, by defining the laws of the kingdom, what is legal. But first, I want to discuss the seven principles of harvest.

First, to understand the kingdom, we must understand a couple of things about the kingdom. Second, we must understand the power of the tithe. And third, we must know the power of the seed and what good ground is. There are those that sow because of manipulation. People pull at their heartstrings to get them to sow. This kind of sowing or this type of ground will not produce a harvest. Christians have this idea that they must give every time. You cannot give to everyone that has a need and into every offering or cause.

Now, it is good if God puts in your heart a lifestyle of giving. When you are asked to give an offering in obedience to what God lays on your heart, you should give. For me, personally, when God instructs me to give, in obedience I am going to give. When I give, it is by the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Bible calls it a precious seed. However, there is a difference between giving only for the sake of giving and sowing according to the Word of the Lord. Furthermore, giving for the sake of giving or sowing seed is not enough. We need to understand the ground too. We need to understand what good ground is.

The fourth crucial thing we need to understand about the kingdom is how to set the measure. I will explain what I mean by measure later, but first, if I was going to ask you, How are you going to be prosperous this year? You'd say, God is going to do it. And my next question to you would be, Well, how will He do it? Your reply, like most people, is, He just will. But this is incorrect. He cannot just do it. He only has jurisdiction in His kingdom.

God does not have the legal right to do whatever He wants to in the natural world. Everything God does is through vessels yielded to Him. Now, I know this messes with our theology, our religion, and it messes with our heads. Because religion teaches that God can do anything. Yes, He is God; of course, He can do anything. But when He said to Adam and Eve, I give you authority here on the earth (Genesis 1:26–27 paraphrased), God relinquished His authority and gave it to them. In other words, He does not have authority on earth anymore. As this verse in Genesis says, He gave it to man. However, Adam sold his God-given authority to Satan.

Now, Satan has authority in this world. This explains why terrible things happen to good people; there is an evil devil with authority on the earth. Although the devil does have authority on earth, extraordinary, miraculous changes can take place in the world if we operate as kings of a kingdom. We must operate from the platform of God's kingdom, speaking or decreeing His Word into the natural realm. How we can experience these astonishing changes is the purpose of this book.

So how do we set the measure? If God does not have a legal right, how are we going to prosper? How are we going to receive our harvest?

Luke 6:38 (KJV) gives us an explanation:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom, for with the same measure that ye mete withal it will be measured to you again.

We will examine this verse more thoroughly when I go into more detail on setting the measure. But for now, I only want you to see how the harvest—your harvest—or prosperity comes to you. Notice this verse in Luke says that men will give into your bosom. So how does the harvest come? It must come through the natural realm. Although it would be awesome to go to sleep and wake up to find our beds are made of gold. Supernatural events do not normally happen this way. Why? Because God wants us to operate in our authority every day.

The supernatural should be the norm in our lives, not the exception. We are not hoping and praying that something somehow someway will happen. As this verse clearly shows, it will happen, but God only works through the hands of men. It must come through the hands of men. It must. Why? Because He gave authority to men on this earth. You and I have God's authority. So the only way He can work on this