Hey , welcome to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are so pumped that you're tuning into this podcast . It has been designed for people just like you . We wanna do life with you , share our wins , our defeats , our ups and our downs , in hopes that you'll grow closer to God and to the people that you love in your life . Sit back and enjoy today's podcast . Hello , hello , hey everyone . Welcome everybody to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are pumped that you're tuning into this . This is one of those must watch , must share , must comment episodes , especially for those of you all who are entrepreneurs and you are in business . You will want to make sure that you guys gather around this and share it with other business owners , but I'm pumped to have everybody in the house today . We think we're going to share some biblical insight to the business life kingdom principles for entrepreneurs that we believe is going to make a difference , because it made a difference in our lives when we were in business .
Speaker 1Absolutely , it's going to be good , it's going to be good .
Speaker 2Well , hey , if you're new to our podcast , we want to say welcome again . We are so glad you're tuning in . We've been praying for you , believing that God will send you to this podcast , to this YouTube channel , so that we can help God make a difference in your life .
Speaker 1Yeah , Our vision here is simple it's really to help you grow closer to God and closer to the people that God has placed in your life . We started this podcast with that simple thought in mind . It's , first and foremost a relationship podcast , but we also get into personal growth items as well , because when you get better , the marriage will get better . And so if you're new to our podcast , make sure you hit the subscribe button very quickly on YouTube . Hit the icon button so that you can get the first to get content when it's released .
Speaker 1Every Thursday , 3 pm Eastern Standard Time . And also , if you're ever in the Florida area , come worship with us at Alive Church . If you cannot make it to Florida Orlando , Tampa , Gainesville you can also tune in every Sunday and worship with us live online , and I think the start time is 9.45 am on that and you can check our website for more details . But today is a very special topic for us . But because before we were pastors , we were business owners , and the topic of today is called Believers in Business , and at the end we're going to give you four biblical principles for godly success that every believer in business needs to understand . And so before we were pastors and we've been pastoring now for 18 years ? Yeah , Okay , but before that we were business owners .
Speaker 2Yes .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2So
I mean so before that , when I met you in college at West Virginia University you were a business major and you had this business state of mind like you would promote parties and things like that , and I always I liked that about you . I liked your business mindset . So tell me this have you always wanted to be in business ?
Speaker 1Um , yeah , I mean . Well , back in the day , I first off wanted to be an obstetrician gynecologist .
Speaker 2And so why did you want to be something so specific ?
Speaker 1The Cosby Show was the show when I was growing up . He delivered babies .
Speaker 1Yes and I said I want to deliver babies Right . But by the time I was late in middle school I decided that you know , I'm not going to be a doctor , probably , but I want to be in business . So my family didn't have a lot of money . Both of my parents were school teachers , so my mom was a teacher's aide . My dad was a phys ed teacher for many years , eventually became a principal . But back when I was growing up there was two teacher salaries .
Speaker 1So anytime I wanted to do anything extra , I had to come up with a business idea to make money . So I was into snow skiing because I grew up in West Virginia , but a season pass cost $300 . I'd had to come up with a way to make $300 . Or if I wanted to go to basketball camp , I would go to Virginia Tech or University of Virginia basketball camp and I would have to come up with $350 . Nobody had extra money like that and so I did everything . I sold tie dye t-shirts to my relatives , I made hot dogs and my mom would drive me around and I would deliver them . Yeah , that was risky business .
Speaker 1It's so cute though , yeah , yeah yeah , I had a cutting grass business and had horrible allergies , so I wore masks way before the pandemic .
Speaker 2I can't even see you doing that right now though Cut grass .
Speaker 1I had a shoveling snow business because it would snow a lot and I would go house to house and I would shovel snow . I had a baseball card scheme is really what it was . I buy baseball cards from the dollar general and then I would flip them to my friends for like a quarter a piece , but I only paid like 99 cents for , like you know , 50 of them .
Speaker 1And then I could sell them for a quarter a piece , make a few dollars . I would do all kinds of stuff . I mean I was always had an entrepreneurial kind of like I'm going to take 10 and turn it into a hundred mentality . So even when I came into college , you know a lot of young people . They kind of struggle with what they're going to major in . They're like am I going to major in this or that ? You know even our kids , you know . It's like what are you going to major in ? I don't know .
Speaker 1I knew from high school I'm going right into business and I felt like I would own multiple businesses gas stations , restaurants , you know all kinds of things . So when I went into college I went right into business management . I probably could have graduated early , like three years , three and a half years but I took the whole four years , graduated with a business management degree with a specialization in human resources , and I said you know what ? I'm going right into business because I had all these student loans and we were newly married , and so I said I had a couple of job offers like enterprise , rental car , and then it was beneficial , financial and I think it was like Hex department store and Hex was paying me $37,500 . That was the most . And I said , man , I'm going to take that job , no-transcript . Couple of days it was like hey , you didn't show up for work . I was like I'm sorry , I just can't , I can't do it .
Speaker 1I went right into real estate sales all commission and I bet it on me and , um , it was hard for the first year or two and you were working somewhere else and we were both living off . I think he was making about 35,000 . We were both living off . I think he was making about $35,000 . We were both living off that . But then it kind of kept up . I just kept with it and those entrepreneurial business skills kicked in and I became very successful in selling real estate and eventually owned a real estate brokerage outside of .
Speaker 1Washington DC and invested in properties and all kinds of different things , and that's before we were called into ministry .
Speaker 2I love that . That is so cool . You fascinate me , I'm your biggest fan .
Speaker 1Why is that ?
Speaker 2I'm your fangirl . I don't know , I just love that part of you . Do you remember when I made you the Ken Claytor version of Monopoly ? I do it was the Ken Claytor real estate trading game .
Speaker 1I do what happened to that Because I was a graphic design major so I literally made one . The kids lost a lot of the pieces and the dollars with it and it just became a thing . That , yeah , but for those of you all who are watching and you're wondering why we're talking about monopoly , what she called it , kenopoly- it was kenopoly it was kenopoly and it had like my , it was customized personal picture .
Speaker 2It wasn't that the little Monopoly man , it was your face with the hat on and all of that stuff . I replaced it . That was so cool .
Speaker 1And she made that for me , because there's a running thing in our , in our family that I never lose in Monopoly , like I'm going to have two hotels on every property . I'm going to take you and I'm going to laugh the whole four hours . You know , Monopoly is like a five hour .
Speaker 2It's a brutal beat down . Ok , you don't play Monopoly with this guy .
Speaker 1But she did win one time .
Speaker 2One time .
Speaker 1The last time that we last time she won , Listen people .
Speaker 2And I'm not playing again , I retire .
Speaker 1I had the worst hand that you could ever have . I was rolling and I was just keep on landing on go to jail or keep on landing on community chess . It was literally the worst thing that could ever happen and that was the only time that I can remember losing .
Speaker 2I have the belt To anybody in my family and we need to play again we do need to play again . I'm done . That has passed . I'm on to something else now , oh man .
Speaker 1But you know , when it comes to the ministry , if you cut me , I'm still an entrepreneur at heart . It reminds me of the rich , young ruler in the Bible .
Speaker 2I thought about that too when you were talking , yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah , when Jesus comes to the rich young ruler , he says sell everything you have and you know , give to the poor . And he went away sad at that , saying yeah , I'm happy to say that I didn't walk away sad . Jesus called us into ministry 18 years ago and we said yes , and it did not matter that I was walking away from my vision of having Claytor Realty and my vision of building shopping malls and having multifamily complexes and different things . I was giving that up to go build houses for God . And for the last 18 years , there was 15 years that I didn't invest in anything . Only one souls made disciples and built a church . And it was about not too long ago . Two or three years ago I felt the green light to say , okay , you can invest as a hobby . So now , thankfully , I'm able to as a hobby still flip houses and make some investments .
Speaker 1It's about 5% of my time . 95% of my time is still doing what we do build church do podcasts write books and stuff like that , but I'm thankful that God's
given me the green light to still , because if you still cut me , I'm an entrepreneur at heart .
Speaker 1So for me , my heart beats for kingdom builders , people that are saved and in business . They're believers . They're in business Because what I remember when I was in business , it was almost like people tried to make money evil . And it was almost like you were almost embarrassed if you were making money . Or it was this saying like money is the root to all evil , which I found to be a fallacy when I read the Bible . It's the love of money .
Speaker 1that's the root to all evil . So money is immoral , meaning that it's neither good or bad until it's in the hand of the possessor . If you give a drug dealer more money , he'll buy better drugs and be like the cartel . If you give a man of God or a woman of God more money , we will build churches and orphanages and bring the kingdom of heaven to the earth .
Speaker 1So it's immoral . So it's not money that's evil , it's the love of money , the lust of money , the greed of money , the desire for unrighteous mammon . But really so the Bible and this is when I was in business . So I have a very interesting perspective , because I hear a lot of people who've never had money saying a lot of things about money .
Speaker 1But when you read the Bible from Genesis , the revelation and I had to do that as an entrepreneur um , you never see one scripture where God says don't have money . Yeah , he never says don't have it . He says don't trust it , don't serve it , don't love it , don't love it , don't worship it , don't covet it , but he never says don't have it . And so the key to having the right perspective as a believer in business is that what I have is not mine I'm a steward , not an owner and that I'm blessed to be a blessing . And if you can position yourself not just to buy new toys but to give your prosperity a purpose , it is biblical , it is godly and God will get more to you if he can get it through you .
Speaker 2Absolutely .
Speaker 1I've said enough , but I'll let you kind of jump in , man , I mean it's okay .
Speaker 2So I go to think about . I mean I love people who are in business , entrepreneurs . I think everybody can have a little bit of a side hustle , you know . If you want to , you know everybody can participate a little bit , not that you don't have to , but I think whatever your profession is , it can all be to the glory of God . You know what I mean it can all be have a kingdom , you know kind of backing to it , or a kingdom root to it , meaning that you know you know to acquire money and I mean the more money I have , the more good I can do .
Speaker 2Yes , you know there are people in the world who don't believe in Jesus who have so much money . They're giving it to the things that they enjoy . They're giving it to wildlife preservation and you know just things to make the earth better . And I'm like man , people are dying . Let me give it to people who you know , like you , give it to what you're passionate towards , and I think those of us who believe in God . I mean why would he not want us ? Why would we not want to have , you know , a lot of money ? You know excess money , not just for me , but so that I can help other people . It's just how . How else are we going to ?
Speaker 1well , that has to be the motive . That has to be the motive . Um , you know so , there's been a time in our life where we didn't have anything . So when we first were married , I remember the rent on our house was $350 a month and I struggled to pay it . The first apartment that we had when we moved to the city had roaches and mice , you know , and they say the freaks come out at night . Well , the roaches and mice do as well .
Speaker 2That was bad .
Speaker 1I remember that you would duct tape the seam of your pants sometimes . I remember that you would take the city bus . Because we had one car . We had a Toyota Camry 1993 with almost 200,000 miles on it and the mirror on the side was tore off of it because I accidentally ran into a garage , went to a junkyard put another mirror on the car .
Speaker 2Wait rewind , who accidentally ran into the garage .
Speaker 1That's the only time in my life that I've ever ran into anything you accidentally ran into the garage oh . Talking to the person who ran into the garage two weeks ago . You're going to go back 30 years .
Speaker 2I just wanted to say there was a time when you did stuff like that .
Speaker 1But anyway , I mean this was the ghettoest car in the world . It was just ratchet , but that's just where we were you know , and I remember the first job that you have when we moved from West Virginia to Washington DC . Remember the job you had and was selling postage machines .
Speaker 2Yes , pitney Bowes .
Speaker 1Pitney Bowes postage machines . How much money did you make from that job ?
Speaker 2Zero .
Speaker 1Zero .
Speaker 2I should have made more , but the woman robbed me of my commission man , you know things is tough . I got robbed .
Speaker 1Man , you out there in the city streets getting off the bus , carrying postage machines around , and the people don't pay you .
Speaker 2Out there in Crystal City , Virginia .
Speaker 1People just rob you , man , and that's where we were , you know . And so we know what it's like not to have anything . But then we know what it's like to have a lot .
Speaker 2Yes , sir .
Speaker 1We know what it's like to have more than enough . I know what it's like . I remember over a span of nine years we had over 19 people that lived with us . I remember sitting down with people in our kitchen and say how much debt do you have ? Write them a check and pay it off . I remember bringing young men that I would mentor to my house and say go in my closet , pick out whatever suit you want .
Speaker 1I remember I'm going to church and they talking about , hey , a guy doesn't we're at a man's retreat ? And a guy didn't have a car and I said , well , here I got a car , gave him a car on the spot . I remember going up to my pastor afterwards and say let me just pay for all the men to go on the men's retreat .
Speaker 1Here's a check for $4,000 to be able to take care of it . I remember what it's like to be blessed , to be a blessing , and I would say having money and having possessions is better than being broken , having nothing , and so I think every person has to determine whether they are going to want to take care of needs or have needs .
Speaker 1In my early childhood I said I want to take care of needs . In my young adulthood maybe it'd be a better , more realistic thing . I want to take care of needs . I don't want to come and just need a blessing . A lot of people come to church and they need a blessing . I want to be the one doing the blessing .
Speaker 1And there's just something that I learned . So if you were to ask me what is the major thing that changed for me , it was that I got a kingdom perspective of being a business owner . So this is what I think . When it comes to many entrepreneurs and business owners , they have not redeemed their work , meaning that they have a Sunday life that's spiritual , but Monday through Saturday is secular . Monday through Saturday I'm making money , I'm running my business , I'm cutting deals , and Sunday I might come worship Jesus , maybe . And they don't understand that they have to redeem their Monday through Friday life , meaning that I am not just working in the marketplace . I'm in the marketplace to be that .
Speaker 1I am not just working in the marketplace . I'm in the marketplace to be a kingdom builder . I'm in the marketplace to employ people . I'm in the marketplace to spread the gospel
and make divine connection and bring the sacred to the secular . I'm in the marketplace to make money so that I can build what's in the heart of God . If you can start to give your business , your professional life and your career a godly purpose , there's an anointing that comes on it . The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit will come to enable you we call it the power to get wealth so that you can produce more , so that God can use more and build more through you .
Speaker 1It's what we call a divine partnership . It's kings and priests . The kings , of course , are the ones out doing the battle , winning the spoil , bringing it into the house of the priest to take care of God's people . There's this relationship that happens , and so , before we were pastors , we were kingdom builders , meaning that I ran my business to build what was in the heart of my pastor , or to build what was in the heart of God . I ran my business not just to buy new homes , go to Jamaica and buy material things for me that have like they only have like natural benefit . I wanted to have an eternal benefit .
Speaker 2Which we did those things . I mean it was a blessing . Yeah , we did have a good time , yeah , but we also the more we had the more we had to give .
Speaker 1I think , when a business owner makes that switch , that I'm not just working for my four , no more for homes , cars , going to Dubai , better investments , but I'm partnering with what's in the heart of God to make sure that people hear about Jesus around the world . So I remember when that anointing for me to prosper came on my life , I would be sitting on my couch and the Lord would say get on the MLS system . And I get on the MLS system . And he would say go to this city and buy this house . And I remember that I would go and I remember finding a town home in .
Speaker 1Woodbridge , virginia , and the Lord said buy it . And the market was so fast that I didn't even have time to go see it . He just said buy it . I sent over a contract , sight unseen . That was the Lord just telling me , and I would buy it . And I remember I did that one time and I went in that house . It was black mold everywhere .
Speaker 2I said black mold is the worst , if you don't know .
Speaker 1I mean , no , there was such thick black mold . I'd never seen anything like it . And I was like , oh Lord , what have I bought , sight unseen . And the Lord said , well , go renegotiate . And I renegotiated the price down and ended up in three months walking away with $40,000 profit . And you would say , well , who spoke to you ? God spoke to me , absolutely . I think that just blew somebody's mind .
Speaker 2Because I don't think people realize that God wants to be a part of every aspect of your life . I used to do the same thing when I was in business . I worked with you most of my time in my career but there was a short amount of time where I worked for a new home builder and we were assigned communities and there would be 30 , 40 , 50 , 100 , 200 homes in communities and I was assigned a community that nobody else could sell out . It was in the middle of nowhere and I remember it was my first community . So I go in there and I did what I know to do .
Speaker 2I've laid hands on my community . I walked around my community . I said every house in this community is going to sell . In the name of Jesus , I call forth buyers from the North , the West , the East and the South . I went straight prayer warrior in that community . I sold out that community . It was I think it was the first month I sold out the community . There was maybe five to seven homes but they sat there forever . Nobody could sell these homes .
Speaker 1That's the thing . People don't know that they tried to sell these homes forever , but when you touched it , it prospered .
Speaker 2Why ? Because I said okay , god , here I am , use me for your glory , I'm going to declare , I'm going to believe and I'm going to watch you do what you do . And it happened just like that . And I moved on to the next one , did the same thing , did the same thing , did the same thing . And then you sold out so many houses that the company just decided to pay you $5,000 a month . Well , because there was no place else to put me . There was no place else to put you .
Speaker 2So they just gave me . So just gave you $5,000 was more than what it is now . Well , you was making a lot more than that . I was making .
Speaker 1oh yeah , but there was no more homes to sell . They didn't want to lose you , so we're just going to pay you this .
Speaker 2Yeah , that was awesome .
Speaker 1It was a good time . It was a good time .
Speaker 2The point in that was is that God wants to be a part of your business transactions . Without question you can believe God in your business , in your workplace ?
Speaker 1Yeah , people need to know that , that he is a God of promotion and that he wants to give you what the Bible calls witty ideas and inventions . The scripture says that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just , and so there is a wealth transference that the Bible talks about . When you look at the life of Joseph and how there was seven years of famine and seven years of abundance you can see the wisdom of God , the seven years of famine and seven years of abundance .
Speaker 1You can see the wisdom of God , the cleverness of God in the marketplace to cause that which is in the secular to come to those , into the hands of those who have a kingdom objective . And I just feel like this is an area that I hear so much wrong thinking and wrong teaching , in that it's good that we just have this discussion , even when it comes to the word prosperity , I'm almost hearing this tone in the body that prosperity is like a negative thing . You know , there's a lot to be said about the prosperity gospel and I think that people need to make sure they biblically define prosperity , because there's an ungodly prosperity but then there's a godly prosperity and you better not throw the baby out with the bathwater .
Speaker 2Let's not curse what God calls a blessing .
Speaker 1Let's not curse what God calls a blessing . And a lot of people they are just saying prosperity altogether is wrong . But that's not the tone of Scripture . There's not one Scripture that says it talks about prosperity in a negative way . It talks about don't love money , serve money , don't be greedy for gain , stuff like that . But when it comes to prosperity , it talks about it sometimes as the blessing of the Lord , what God does for the faithful . So I think it's very important for us to define that there is a godly prosperity and an ungodly prosperity . As a follower of Jesus , I want a godly prosperity because I can do more to help people and to build what's in the heart of God with a godly prosperity .
Speaker 2God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his people .
Speaker 1That's actually what the scripture says . So the good part about me is , when it came to prosperity , I did not Google it to find out about it , I didn't get on YouTube or listen to a preacher , I just read the Bible . So , before the internet , back in 2000 and 2001 , before the internet was popular and you got a bunch of people's opinions , when I was struggling as an entrepreneur , I went to the Bible and I read everything the Bible had to say about finances , stewardship , wealth , riches , et cetera , et cetera . And well , you know what I found out is the Bible talks more about finances than it does . Heaven , hell and salvation combined , and a lot of how we manage money shows God what's in our heart Many times when the
scripture says things like if you're faithful over the least , he'll make you ruler over the much , well , don't get upset when people have much . You know like they robbed or stole to get much . No , maybe they were just faithful over a dollar .
Speaker 1Yeah , they were faithful over the little the Bible is filled . I would encourage any entrepreneur you can be a multi-billionaire .
Speaker 2Read the Bible .
Speaker 1There's principles for living , stewardship and success . The scripture says that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow . There's a lot of rich people that they got sorrow . So I don't want to want money and have a divorce . I don't want money and have depression , money and have fear , and that's what people in the world do because their money is it doesn't have a God purpose , it's not the answer .
Speaker 2Money doesn't fulfill you . It doesn't fulfill you . It doesn't fulfill you yes .
Speaker 1But the blessing of the Lord it can make it rich and add a fulfillment and joy and peace and connection to the Lord . It's a beautiful thing .
Speaker 2I think we can look now out into you know , personally , I know many successful businessmen and entrepreneurs . I think there are successful in every field that we look at nowadays who are Christians and who are believers . You see big businesses like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby . They have the privilege of glorifying God with what they do and they put funds back into the kingdom and they employ thousands of people , and so I think we see that there's these are companies and businesses and people who do work the principles of God biblical principles , and what I found out is that those businesses Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby are some of the most profitable in their industry because they are a God first entity established on biblical principles .
Speaker 1And that would be my recommendation . So I want to go over a couple of scriptures very quickly . You already said one Psalms 35 , 27 . Listen to this . It says let them shout for joy and be glad who favor my righteous cause . Let them say continually let the Lord be magnified . Who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant . What sticks out to you ?
Speaker 2Just right there . Let the Lord be magnified number one , so that when I am prosperous , not only am I prosperous but the Lord is magnified number one , so that when I am prosperous , not only am I prosperous , but the Lord is magnified . And I always thought that someone who grew up in poverty and never had a lot , I always think that it is when I stand on a stage and preach and teach and do what I do and I say , hey , I was born and raised in the projects and people are looking at me that gives glory to God . They can't believe because I don't look like where I came from .
Speaker 2That's a word Like come on , it brings glory to God , but then also that he takes pleasure in the prosperity . I look at God as our heavenly father . I look at our children . It's going to be bring me pleasure to see them prosperous . I don't need them struggling and , you know , trying to pay bills and I don't need them doing that . It's going to bring me prosperous . I don't need them struggling and trying to pay bills and I don't need them doing that . It's going to bring me pleasure when I see them prosper .
Speaker 1It's so good , I love it . He takes pleasure in my prosperity . Now , there's a lot of people , even online . They don't take pleasure when you prosper . You can tell by their tone they're against it , they're anti this and that . But you cannot be so anti-prosperity that you're anti-Bible yeah , and I think that there are so many people let me say it again that you're so anti-prosperity that you've now moved over to be anti-Bible . Yeah , Because the Bible says that God takes pleasure in something that you take displeasure in .
Speaker 2When we look at the Old Testament , we see how God built the temple . See how God built the temple . We see how God built the holies of holies , the inner court , the outer court , how he built the ark of the government , the gold , the jewels we hear heaven , and how the streets are made of gold and the gates one big pearl . The earth is the Lord's and the fullness therein . He created all this stuff , and when God creates something and tells man to do it in the earth , it's good , it's beautiful , it's prosperous . And so that's who God is . He's definitely not a God of poverty , and the opposite .
Speaker 1Well , there , are denominations that have taken vows of poverty , as if your poverty makes you closer to the Lord .
Speaker 1And that's just not true . There are a lot of people who are poor but might even have pride and are further from the Lord . And then there's a lot of people who are very rich and wealthy but are very close to Jesus . They have humble hearts . They don't , they're not loving their money , you know . And so Deuteronomy eight 18 will be another one that I would give a business owner . It says and you shall remember God , for it is he who gives you power to get wealth .
Speaker 2Power to get wealth .
Speaker 1That he may establish his covenant that he swore to our fathers . As it is this day , what sticks out to you from Deuteronomy 8.18 ?
Speaker 2Oh , power to get wealth . That's something that I did when I just told that story of just going into that new home community and declaring the word . I was just kind of exercising that power to get wealth . And it's funny like I don't know . Just reading it right now , I thought , even right now , where I sit , we have three kids . We have one daughter in college , a daughter one in high school . Our son is in middle school . Do you know how many things they need ?
Speaker 2and how we want to set up an inheritance , not just for them but our children's children . The reminder that God has given me the power to get wealth it just , I should say , is empowering , yeah .
Speaker 1I can go on scriptures .
Speaker 2I'm ready to go .
Speaker 1This is like something that I had to spend a lot of time in when we had $100,000 of debt and our business just would not get off the ground . I think in the Isaiah it talks about having a bag with holes in it . I lived there for so many years and then I lived from a place of abundance and I learned these principles 25 years ago that I love to share with people .
Speaker 1But it doesn't say that God gives us wealth . He gives us the power . The power is the anointing , the ability , the wisdom , and so many times , when it comes to finances , it's not like God popping a rabbit out of a hat . It's not a magic trick . He's going to bless the work of your hands , so you've got to be really good in your craft and in your trade . This is not like give and then there's going to be money falling out of heaven . That's not it . He's going to bless your business and your work .
Speaker 1So you're going to have to work just as hard as everybody else , but he's going to move you along and connect you with the right people and give you favor investors and everything that you need with the ideas and inventions , give you answers and solutions to problems that other people can't solve . So to me , there's an entrepreneurial spirit in many believers . I really believe that you don't have to be a rocket science to make you know , like Oscar Mayer which is hot dogs .
Speaker 1Go make some hot dogs , you know for the loom , it's just t-shirts , they just knew how to market their product . And so many times I don't think we sit on gifts and many times we were made to feel bad if we have that . No , god's given you that as a gift . And so I could go on and on . You know a lot of people will say well , those things that are in the old Testament , well , it's still God's word . The character of God shows us . I mean , if you look at the life of Abraham , very rich . Solomon , very rich . David has a Kai All of these people were blessed you a new Testament scripture .
Speaker 1It'd be second Corinthians eight nine , and it says that you know the grace of our Lord , jesus Christ that was rich but became poor so that we , through his poverty , might be rich . And I don't want to get into a debate about if that's spiritual richness or literal richness , but if you look up the word , it's this Greek word , if I remember , pluseos , which means monetarily well off . And so Jesus was rich , but he became poor . Okay , so I'm okay for you to say Jesus was poor . Why ? So that we , through his poverty , could be rich . And maybe it's literal , maybe it's spiritual , maybe it's both If you look it up for yourself , you'll see . You'll be surprised at what you see . I just don't want to let Jesus down . I want to be his distribution center in the earth . It's you know .
Speaker 1People say , well , I just need to get by , well , that's if you're just focused on you . I need more than enough if I'm going to build what's in the heart
of God . So I want to give people four biblical principles for godly success . Jump on any of these that you want , and number one would be integrity . Integrity , all right , your ability to do what's right because it's right . If you are a believer in business , you're going to have to embrace integrity . Integrity means that you don't cut corners . You know there's a lot of people in business they're cheating . They're cheating , they're cutting , they're lying on taxes . They're doing everything they can to get ahead . God can't bless that . I believe that God is looking for people who have integrity , people of their word , people who under promise and overperform . You ever been in business with somebody and it's like they say they're going to do this and then it's like man .
Speaker 1I paid all this money and you didn't even do what I wanted you to do .
Speaker 1But man , what a joy is it when you pay this but then you get that . I believe that's how a believer should be . Number two would be honesty . Honesty this is your ability just to tell the truth . Now , in the business world , white lies are normal , but you're not normal , you're abnormal , you're not ordinary , you're extraordinary . So , as a believer in business , you've got to come to the place where you're going to be brutally honest , meaning that even if I lose the deal , I'm going to be honest . Even if I lose money , I'm going to be honest , because I believe , when I do , that God's hand is going to come upon me and that anointing is going to make up for any loss . So I believe that God is looking for people who know what it means to be honest .
Speaker 1Number three would be generosity Okay , a biblical principle for success . And here's what I learned that the money that you make is not just for your , for no more . So it's not your money , right ? So you got to come to the place where you move from ownership to stewardship . So this is not my jacket , my car is not my car , my house is not my house . The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof . He's the owner , I'm the steward , so I don't just give God 10% , I give God 100% .
Speaker 1But , he gives back to me 90% in an offering to let me steward so 10% I owe to him or I return to him , and the rest of it over and above the tithe , he allows me to purpose in my heart . So let me give kind of a thing , and so I just feel like generosity is the laxative that pushes greed , love of money , trust in money out of your soul . So what I've noticed in people come to church even sometimes they get mad if you talk about money . I'm very front door when it comes to tithing , when it comes to giving , because I've been , we've been tithing now for 23 years .
Speaker 1It's the best financial decision that we've ever made that we give God the first 10% , not just 10% . The first 10% of every deal , every paycheck . It goes to God as a form of honor and worship . We give him our first fruit because if the first is blessed , the rest is blessed by the first . And so when people hear that , sometimes they get upset because they , you know , maybe they believe that's an Old Testament thing , but what I found out and here's the truth is they don't want to give , they don't want to give , and to me , giving 10% to God is a . It's not what I have to do , it's what I get to do and it's a deal Like if I went into a store at Macy's and everything was 10% off .
Speaker 1I don't care . And so you say , hey , we got a sale today . Everything is 10% off I'm like who cares ? It's only 10% . But when it comes to people giving 10% to God , oh , the church just want my money and it's just so much , oh , wow . That really shows us where your heart is .
Speaker 1So the tithe is not an Old Testament principle , it's a believer principle . Jesus , the one time he talked about the tithe , in Matthew 23 , 23 , he says this you ought to do so . The father commanded it . Jesus commends it in Hebrew , chapter seven , verse one , the new Testament writer . There is not one scripture in the Bible that says this is not what we ought to do . So I believe the tithe is not the end of our giving , but the beginning . It's where we begin , it's not where we end . So right now , our giving is about 19% of everything that comes into us . We give it back out . 16% is where I start . Everything I give 16% , but by the end of the year , when you calculate it , we're about 19 to 20% of all of our income we give back to God . This is what I get to do . This is what I get to do .
Speaker 2It's a way of life .
Speaker 1And I do that as a priest . Imagine if I was a king .
Speaker 2If .
Speaker 1I was , and now I do have some investments on the side . But what I'm saying is , if I was a business owner . There was a time we gave 34% .
Speaker 1And for some people that seems crazy , but I know , I think , his name , mr Green from Hobby Lobby . I've been in the same room with him . He's laid hands on me before and prayed for me . Hobby Lobby is set up to where he probably gives 90% of what he gets away , he told us in a small group of men . He says you got to know what your limit is . You don't need to make this much money . You need to know when you got your family's good . The rest of it is for a godly purpose . That's why Hobby Lobby is one of the most profitable retailers . The most profitable retailer in the nation is because at the helm of it , it was built as an instrument to build the kingdom of God . And so if you research JCPenney , they say he gave 90% and lived off the 10% . So you might think that my 19% is a lot . You might think that my 34% used to be there when we were kingdom builders is a lot .
Speaker 1I would love to get the JC penny , wouldn't it be that ? Wouldn't it be cool ? And I feel like there's some people that's watching . Maybe you have that ambition . That's a wonderful ambition . People say this year I want to make this much money . I don't start there .
Speaker 1I say this year , how much do I want to give ? Because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive . I think that's beautiful , and so point number four , last but not least , is divine partnerships , and if you want to have success as a business owner , you need divine partnerships . That means that as a business owner , as a king , you need to partner with anointed priest , you need to partner with local churches and ministries , because there is an ROI return on investment that you get from mutual funds and stocks and real estate , and that's good , but it's natural . But really what you're looking for is the E-R-O-I , an eternal return on investment . You don't get that .
Speaker 1I thank God for Red Cross and United Way and those things are wonderful organizations , but there's only one organization that has an E-R-O-I and that's the church An eternal return on investment . The only way that you have an eternal return on investment is that you invest your money in a place that's winning souls . That's the only thing that goes to heaven with you . So if you're a business owner and you want the anointing on your business , you want to be fulfilled and give your money a godly purpose , you got to find organizations and churches where you can get an E-R-O-I and do what you do in partnership to help build that vision and that assignment .
Speaker 2I think that's beautiful and I see , you know , partnership being in partnership with the church , I mean , it's so true . But when you say church , what I imagined was the bride of Christ . How you are , you know , coming in , you're taking care of Jesus's bride . I think like wow , that's a great privilege .
Speaker 1I love this topic .
Speaker 1And I know that you guys can feel that out there in podcast world , I believe there are a lot of you all your school teachers , your doctors , your nurses . You're in business , you do all kinds of different things . I dare you to give your profession a godly purpose and become a marketplace minister For those of you all who are in business . We actually have something new here at Alive Church called the 50-20 Network , and the 50-20 Network is taken out of Genesis , chapter 50 , verse 20 , when Joseph said the things
that you meant to harm me , god meant for my good , to do what is being done now the saving of many lives . So we took that as motivation to say that we can be business people , which we call kingdom builders , and we can run a business not just for us but for the saving of many lives and when you give your business a 50-20 perspective , get ready for amazing things to happen .
Speaker 1So we've begun what we call the 50-20 Network and we're actually having our first gathering . We will only do this two times a year . If you are a business owner , you can sign up . You can get the information in our show notes , go to our website . You can fly in from out of state if you're an entrepreneur . We got three goals that we want to do with the 50-20 Network Number one , to inspire and encourage Christian business owners . Number two , to connect Christian business owners relationally with each other . And number three , to provide discipleship opportunities for Christian business owners , and we're going to do those three things well and more , as we begin to help Christian entrepreneurs find each other and build their portfolio while glorifying God . We would love for you to come in . That's happening on May 8th at our Florida Mall campus in Orlando . More information is in the show notes . I enjoy this .
Speaker 2That was good .
Speaker 1I enjoy you guys . Thank you for doing life with us . We want to share the good , the bad , the ups and the downs and all arounds and hope to bring you closer to God and closer to the people that God has placed in your life . This is a must share episode . I believe that . I believe I want to hear your feedback and your comments . Maybe you've been a person who's had a perspective about prospering . Now you're like you know what that's , not a biblical perspective . Let us know in the comments . What did God speak to you from this episode ? What did he show you in this episode ? I pray for the anointing of the Lord that everything you touch , does well and prospers comes upon you . If you're ever in Florida , come worship with us at Alive Church , Orlando am Eastern Standard Time to get that on YouTube . You can find it in the show notes as well . Invite some other people and come hang out with us again on next Thursday and we love you guys from the bottom of our heart . We'll see you real soon . Peace .