Christian Enterprise Course – Module 1 – Laying the Foundation

MODULE OUTLINE

First things firstThe case of wealth
Wealth and influence
First stepsWhat is your business idea?
Start-up capital
Our business building approach
Ten good reasons for having your own business
Laying the foundationTwo kinds of wealth

INTRODUCTION

Overview

The purpose of this course is to help Christian entrepreneurs build profitable businesses that will benefit both their personal finances, and that of their local churches.

Every person who is planning to start a new business needs to understand the basic principles that every business needs to succeed. These principles form the foundation on which every successful business, no matter the size, is built.

Learning Objectives

Each module ends with a homework assignment relevant to the planned business. Assignments are practical in nature, and must be done very thoroughly as they will form the business plan mentioned above. Your mentor will comment on assignments and suggest corrections, if needed, to ensure the best outcome.

These quality of assignments is critical as they have two purposes:
  • They are geared to the practical application of the teaching material in your own situation. This means that you will be using the assignments to help you get your business started.
  • They provide your mentor with insight into your understanding of the material and enable them to provide you with specific where needed.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The Bible has a great deal to say about business, because financial success matters to God. It is His way to finance the gospel message and take care of His household on earth, the  church.

The Bible seems to prefer that we are in control of our own financial supply, as opposed to be employed. We were created to rule, not to be ruled over: to be the head and not the tail. We have a mandate to dominate, manage and rule, which is hard to do when you have to look into the eyes of someone else who writes your paycheck. He who pays the salary calls the shots, while he who receives the salary must do the bidding. We don’t do well when others tell us what to do, but we excel when we are free to do what we are equipped to do, while fulfilling our life’s purpose. Employees are limited in their income while entrepreneurs are unlimited. God is the God of no limits – let us give Him the freedom to bring our full potential to realization.

We were not designed to be owned, but to own. The Word is filled with God’s commands, principles, laws and statutes, all leading to an abundant life.

Every person was born with a unique set of talents and skills, which is God’s way of providing for us and His work on earth. Once these gifts are developed, they become answers to demands in the market place, and can be exchanged for finances. The better you develop your talents, the more profitable they become.

Life is not kind to those who dare to be different. If you dare to break out of the general mould, resistance might even come from those closest to you. People are often unsettled by individuals who step out because they disturb their comfortable ways. But God did not create us to follow the path of least resistance; He has certain expectations of us. Inside every one of us is potential – unused ability, dormant power, undiscovered and undeveloped gifts and talents – put there by the Creator Himself to enable us to accomplish our life’s purpose.

It is our personal responsibility to discover, develop and employ those gifts. God graced us, our lives with good things. The very first thing God did after He created Adam and Eve was to bless them, revealing His desire for mankind. We were designed to be blessed, and therefore will never be satisfied until we are fulfilled in life.

A major responsibility we have is to plough back into God’s Kingdom what we have received. When we are focused only on our own benefit, we will miss the Lord, and, eventually, His blessing on our efforts. So many of God’s people forget Him when the blessings begin to flow towards them. Believers have short memories! Forgetting God and His commandments is a fatal mistake that may cost us much more that just money. When the love for money overtakes our love for God, we become evil people, even if we call ourselves Christians!

1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

The Case for Wealth

Before we set out on this road together, we must come into agreement with one another to embrace the purpose of wealth, namely to finance the gospel message by becoming generous givers into God’s Kingdom – to our local church, missions, and kindness to the needy.

As we read through Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, it is very clear that God’s will for His people is to do well in life. God’s laws, principles and precepts are designed to prosper His people.

Deuteronomy 8:18
And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 
Isaiah 48:17,18
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.  

Religion distorts the perception most Christians have of wealth today. But we know that for every good gift that God gave us, the devil gave us a perverted version to deceive us. God put wealth in the earth for His people and His purposes, not for the devil’s people to do his dirty work. The devil made us believe the lie that poverty is noble and money is the root of all evil, so that he could have free access to the wealth of the earth.

To complicate things even further, we sadly notice widespread abuse of money in Christian circles, just like any other gift from God. Yet, this is no good reason to go to the other extreme and promote poverty as a noble way of life.

A side effect of wealth is power and influence. People listen to those who have money more than they might listen to anybody else. Ecclesiastes 9:14,15 tells the story of a poor wise man who saved his city from destruction. Yet no one remembered that old man. Why not? Because he was poor. 2 Samuel 20:15-22 tells us that it wasn’t even a man – it was a woman!

Also note that there are many rich fools in the world; Jesus tells us about one in Luke 12:13-21. That doesn’t mean, of course, that all rich people are fools, but wealth can be  dangerous if it is not used for God’s purposes. People get addicted to wealth as much as they get addicted to drugs. The danger always lies in abuse (abnormal use) – using things for means other than their purpose.

If we want to reach our world, we must speak its language. It is said that money talks, and it is a language that everybody understands well. When Jesus announced His ministry in Luke chapter 4, He mentioned, first of all, that He came to bring good news to the poor. Even His first miracle was a miracle of provision (turning water into wine at the marriage feast). Nobody aspires to poverty, not even God, for He delights in the prosperity of His servant. (See Psalm 35:27) An abundant life is a visible sign of God’s love and care for His own. He wants to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (See Philippians 4:19)

Jesus died not only to take away our sins, but also to remove the tragic consequences of sin, of which poverty is part. During His walk on the earth He lived as our example of what life in the presence of the Father is like. He was confronted by many challenges, but met them all victoriously. Some say He was poor on earth, but that is not true: He had enough money to take care of His disciples; He could feed thousands of people in the desert, and paid both His own taxes and Peter’s. When He went to the cross, He was dressed in such a special robe that the soldiers decided not to divide it, but to cast lots to see who would have it. (See John 19:23-24)

  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 – It was on the cross that He became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
  • 1 Peter 2:24 – It was during His trial that He was beaten so that we, by His stripes, might be healed.
  • 2 Corinthians 8:9 – On the cross they took away His garment, and He hung there naked, becoming poor so that we, through His poverty, might become rich. 

The task that lies before the church is huge. Although the gospel is free, it is free only to those who receive it – the cost is for the account of those who bring it. We have a world to evangelize, and the financial institutions of the world will not do it – the responsibility is ours.

In this course we teach God’s people how to unlock the power that God gave them to get wealth. This we can only do when we invite the Lord to be our Partner in business. We do it by becoming givers, just as He is a giver that keeps on giving and giving and giving. We also do this as co-workers of God, and not to line our own pockets first of all. We do this every day, remembering Him and where He found us. We do this by never thinking “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:17)

Wealth and Influence

Ecclesiastes 9:14,15
“There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembers that same poor man.” 

The story above, told by Solomon, is a sad one. A city with just a few people in it was besieged by a mighty king, but a poor wise man saved that city by his wisdom – he devised a good plan to save it from destruction, but history did not remember him even though  he did such a great thing. As a matter of fact, it turned out that the person who did this wasn’t even a man – it was a woman! (See 2 Samuel 20:15-22) Why was she not remembered? Because she was poor.

This woman performed a heroic deed, but she had no influence, and faded into history. For some reason wealth generates influence, and influence has the ability to change societies. People pay attention to what wealthy people have to say. They believe wealthy people know what they are talking about, even if it’s not the case at all. The wealthy is idolized and people will do anything to copy them – that is the power of influence.

For some reason the church has always believed that it is a noble thing to be poor, and evil to be rich. Some (wrongly) preach that money is the root of all evil, and gullible believers believe it. Because of this error the devil keeps us poor, ineffective, out of sight and out of mind. The unsaved are not attracted to this lifestyle. The church fails to influence society, while the devil has used his money in the hands of unbelievers to finance his message of immorality and evil.

Business people have influence in their villages, cities and nations – depending on how well they do. This is a platform to which many people, who may not respond in any other way, can be drawn to Christ. The gospel is good news, and when the good news is seen, people are attracted to it.

While having riches certainly has its dangers – like anything else – but it also has a good side to it. Believers should be careful not to walk into the many traps that are waiting on this road though.

  • Some lose their faith and depend on their riches, or separate themselves from ordinary people
  • Some fall in sin and the pleasures offered to the rich
  • Some become so busy that they have no time to serve the Lord, attend church, read their Bible and pray
  • Some become greedy, or abuse their influence
  • Some use their influence to manipulate their pastors and churches for their own ends

It is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil, not money as such. (See 1 Timothy 6:10)

As you step out in business, make sure you walk in a strong relationship with your pastor, and submit to him as your spiritual leader. Be humble at all times. See your wealth as an instrument to further God’s kingdom, and yourself as a steward of the resources that He has entrusted to you.

FIRST STEPS

Let’s look at some steps you need to take before you commit to complete this course. We have some questions to which we need your clear answers.

What Is Your Business Idea?

You must know what you want to do, and it must be something that you can do and enjoy doing. A business is not about profit only. Understanding this simple aspect might mean the difference between success and failure. The business idea that you have must be developed by doing some research, and with it also develop a skill set that is above average if you want to be successful in that line of business.

Proverbs 9:9
"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning". 

Start-up Capital

First of all, in order to start your business, you will need to spend some money just to set up. You may have saved money of your own, or you may have to borrow money from a private individual or financial institution.

Let’s say you need R 7000 to get started, and that you had agreed to pay your lender R 700 a month until the loan is repaid. If that R 700 was the only expense you have (and we assume that there are no other common expenses such as electricity, water, phone, etc.), then just as soon as your business generated R 714 per month, you would be in positive cash flow. But you wouldn’t actually be profitable until you had fully repaid the R 7000 loan.

You may be wondering, “what if I took the R 7000 out of my savings instead of borrowing it.” The concept is the same, but the numbers would be different. You still won’t be profitable until you paid yourself back the original R 7000 that you loaned to your business.

WARNING!

If you invest the R 7000 in your business and it only brings in R280 a month, then, when you pay off your debt at R 700 per month it requires from you, you will have to find the R 420 difference somewhere. That R 420 shortfall is called negative cash flow, and it is the single largest destroyer of businesses, both new and old.

A negative cash flow doesn’t mean you are “losing” money. You can actually be making money and have a negative cash flow.

To understand this better, let’s compare two new business owners who open identical businesses on the same day.

MaryJohn
Borrows R 70 000 from a bank for three years at a rate of 10% per year.
Her business produces R2450 income in her first month, so she is able to pay the bank the R 2240 payment on her loan, and she has a positive cash flow of R 210 for the month.

Keep in mind that each month she pays the bank, she is actually reducing the balance on the R 70 000 loan. At the end of 36 months, if everything remained exactly the same, she would have repaid the loan and would now have R 2450 a month positive cash flow. If she had no other expenses, having paid off the R 70 000 loan, then she would also have R 2450 a month profit.
Borrowed his money from a private lender who charge 35% interest per year, instead of the 10% the bank charged Mary.
He has R 2800 income his first month (he actually produces more income than Mary). However, he has a negative cash flow of R 420 because he has to pay his lender R 3 220 for the month.

Well, if John was in such bad shape financially that he had to borrow money at a high rate interest just to start his business, where is he going to get the R 420 additional money to pay his lender?


These two examples illustrate the sad fact that even though John’s business actually produced more income than Mary’s, he will fail while she succeeds. He won’t fail because he didn’t have a good business; he will fail because he paid such  a high interest that he didn’t gain the advantage that Mary got from her bank loan.

When people invest money to start a new business, no matter what the amount, most of them realize it will take some time to pay that money back to themselves or, to who ever they borrowed it from. However, the thing that many people don’t anticipate is having to go several months with a negative cash flow.

The tragedy is that many people quit before they even had a chance to succeed, simply because they weren’t financially and/or emotionally prepared to pay more money out than they were taking in, for several months or longer.

This was not meant to be a discouragement from starting a business, but rather a warning to pay attention to the different topics that will help you along on the path to building a successful business. As you take the first step, you believe for the best but prepare for the worst: be conservative in your estimates – have enough money set aside on top of your start-up capital, for at least four months’ overhead costs.

The two examples above illustrate what Jesus said in Luke 14:28: 
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’.”

The good news is that God wants you to succeed. Deuteronomy 8:18 says:
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”

We want you to be well prepared to start, to build your business on God’s established and proven principles, and to use the full set of tools at your disposal.

You will find, as we study the various topics in this course, that some items keep showing up over and over again. That will work to your advantage as you proceed through the material, because it will reinforce essential aspects that are important to your success in business.

Our Business Building Approach

We will discuss different topics in chronological order as we move along with building your business, starting with the foundation, then cover some essential aspects, line upon line.

10 Reasons for Having Your Own Business:
1.	It allows a special kind of freedom that allows you to direct your future. If the business itself does not fulfill your dreams, it will, if diligently pursued and well managed, provide the resources to do so.

2.	You become a participant rather than a spectator, and you will be able to set standards for economics and morality. Your ethics will become clear when you stand with your back against the wall in tough business dealings.

3.	When you have your own business you cannot be fired or made redundant.

4.	You can spend special time with your family and give them a good lifestyle.

5.	You can send a strong message to the community that your faith is more than words.

6.	You can more powerfully fulfill the mandate of the Word to be the light of the world, as you will have opportunities to witness as a leader and a winner.

7.	It indicates your sense of responsibility. And confirms that you are a benefit to the community and country you live in.

8.	You will develop as a person and attain influence over events and people in your community, city or country. You will also be able to invest in your local church and help other people.

9.	As a successful businessperson you will be able to build an inheritance for your children and future generations, and establish yourself as a provider according to the Word that teaches us to leave an inheritance to our children’s children.

10.	Your confirmation as a provider in your own household will ensure respect because your children and their children will look at what you have done and copy it.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Foundation Scriptures

The Word of God is the highest authority in a Christian’s life, so we view everything through the lens of Scripture and find ways to apply it practically in every situation. Jesus gave us the same advice, quoted below:

Matthew 7:24-27
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 

Consider the wisdom of the Lord in the verses below, and especially with a view on how to apply it to your business idea:

Proverbs 3:9,10
Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. 
Proverbs 13:11
Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase. 
Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. 
Proverbs 14:31
He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy. 
Proverbs 15:6
In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked there is trouble. 
Proverbs 19:17
He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given. 
Proverbs 20:4
The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing. 
Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. 
Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, will also cry himself and not be heard. 
Proverbs 21:17
He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich. 
Proverbs 21:25,26
The desire of a lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. He covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and does not spare. 
Proverbs 22:3
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. 
Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. 
Proverbs 22:9
He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor. 
Proverbs 23:4,5
Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven. 
Proverbs 24:3,4 - Amplified Bible
Through skillful and godly wisdom is a house [a life, a home, a family] built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation]. And by knowledge shall the chambers [of its every area] be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. 
Proverbs 28:20
A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. 
Proverbs 28:20
He who gives to the poor will abound with many blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

Two Kinds of Wealth

In the parable of the unjust steward the Bible speaks of two kinds of riches (see Luke 16:1-13). There is the wealth that God gives because of His blessing on our lives, and there is the kind that man produces. There is a right way to acquire wealth, but there is also the wrong way. The dividing line is in verses 10-13 of Luke chapter 16. Faithfulness to God, also when we do well, will produce true riches that last forever, while faithfulness to mammon (wealth) produces temporary blessings, and there is no telling how short-lived these blessings might be.

Some people find it easier to be faithful to the Lord in times of lack than in times of abundance. It is so easy to forget that the Lord gives us power to get wealth, and then say “it is my hand and my power that acquired this wealth.” Believers with this attitude cannot afford to be blessed! The Lord has to keep them poor and lacking for their own good.

True riches last into eternity. What we do with our wealth during our lifetime determines how long it will last. We can use our wealth to squander it on entertainment, or to fulfill our God-given purpose. Wealth has the potential to impact the generations that come after us, even after we have gone on to be with the Lord.

The rich fool in Luke chapter 12 thought only of himself, and how his riches could be a blessing only to himself. In the end he lost both his life and his riches. Wealth has a threefold purpose, and every believer should pursue all of it:

  1. We must take good care of our families
  2. We must finance the work of the Lord on earth
  3. We must help the poor

Far too often lack is a comfortable excuse for not giving as we ought to. If we understand the purpose of our lives in the context of eternity, we will all be generous givers. The vast majority of people, including believers, struggle to survive all of their lives and then die, wasting their precious life-potential. It is a waste to stop growing financially once we live comfortably and are satisfied. There is a world waiting to be saved and we are surrounded by the poor.  Jesus said the poor would always be with us!

We like to believe that wealth is not an option for a Christian; we have to prosper because we have such a huge task before us.

God gave us the power to get wealth – what are you doing with yours?

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