Your Business Is Your Ministry: 12 Principles for the Marketplace

Sermon outline

Your business or profession is your God-given ministry, and twelve biblical principles will help you run it well, spring back from every setback and prosper for the sake of the kingdom.

1. Your business is your ministry

   Some people are called out of secular work into full-time ministry, as he and Pastor Zubeda were, but the percentage is low and should be, because God needs believers in the marketplace. God values business people highly; the full-time ministers' job is to pray for them and inspire them, because kings in the marketplace finance the kingdom. Do not make reckless decisions about leaving your work: seek spiritual counsel first.

   Illustration: A seventy-year-old American told a Christian business speaker that in his forties he resigned as CEO of a Fortune 500 company on his pastor's advice to work in the church's children's ministry, and lived forty-odd years of misery because he had missed his assignment.

   “The type of profession you are in is your ministry.”

   • 3 John 2

2. Spring back every time life knocks you down

   Setbacks do not mean God is against you or that you have done something wrong; everybody has challenges, whatever their level of wealth or ministry. What matters is how you deal with them: you have to put up a fight and spring back. As long as you are alive you can fight again.

   Illustration: Bob Mumford told of a spring toy with Popeye's head that bounces back every time you knock it. He adds that in a hard moment the Lord reminded him that he was not dead, and that as long as you are alive you can fight again.

   “Every time life knocks you down, you just spring right back up again.”

3. 1. Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it unto the Lord

   When the going gets tough and the odds seem against you, keep going, because you are doing it unto the Lord and He is with you. Lean on and trust in the Lord rather than your own understanding, and He will give you insight and the know-how to overcome every challenge.

   “Just keep on going because God is with you. You're doing it unto the Lord.”

   • Colossians 3:17
   • Proverbs 3:5

4. 2. Do all things without complaining and disputing

   When business goes through a rough time, do not decide that God is not hearing your prayers; He is preparing you for something bigger. Every level has its own obstacle: a thousand rand once seemed huge to him, then ten thousand, a hundred thousand and a million. He believes some will rise to millionaire status so they can give millions to the kingdom.

   Illustration: David Yonggi Cho had a multi-billionaire businessman who followed him everywhere and said his job in the kingdom was to pay for whatever the pastor ordered.

   “God is not against you, He's for you.”

   • Philippians 2:14
   • 2 Chronicles 20:20

5. 3. Be humble

   As you climb the ladder of success, stay humble. Pride brings emptiness and shame, but the humble, who have been pruned and chiselled by trial, have wisdom. God's chiselling prepares you to handle prosperity.

   “God's preparing us because he wants to make sure that you can handle prosperity.”

   • Proverbs 11:2

6. 4. Watch what you say

   Many people live under self-imposed curses spoken over their own business, family and even their car. The storm and the fig tree heard Jesus, and your business responds to your words, so bless it every morning and keep speaking God's Word in adverse circumstances instead of repeating what the circumstances say. Do not apologise for your prosperity, because explaining it away leads you to say the wrong thing.

   Illustration: Years ago he started a car sales business in West Street that was struggling against established dealers. After reading a book on confession by Don Gossett and E. W. Kenyon, he called customers from the east, west, north and south every morning; one day several buyers came in with cash and said that something told them to come to his lot instead of the one they had been eyeing.

   “What you say about your business automatically will respond to your words.”

   • Mark 4:39
   • Mark 11:23
   • Isaiah 54:17
   • Deuteronomy 28:13
   • Proverbs 10:22

7. 5. Keep learning

   The wise keep increasing in learning and gain sound counsel to steer their course right. Business people with a moral compass will find every day, month and year better: keep dreaming it, seeing it and saying it, because greater victories are on the way.

   Illustration: The disciples toiled all night and caught nothing, but when they obeyed Jesus and cast on the other side they had a net-breaking catch. What setbacks took from you, God can give back multiplied.

   “It's not finished yet.”

   • Proverbs 1:5
   • Luke 5:5-6

8. 6. Guard your integrity

   Walk uprightly and blamelessly before God. It does not matter what people say about you, only what God says; keep your heart and mind right and stay on course.

   “It doesn't matter what people say about you. It's what God says about you.”

   • Psalm 18:23
   • Psalm 26:11

9. 7. Work hard

   The slack hand makes poor but the diligent hand makes rich, and haste leads only to want. Know the state of your flocks: keep checking, counting and working hard, and you will multiply.

   “Keep on checking, keep on counting, keep on working hard and you'll multiply.”

   • Proverbs 10:4
   • Proverbs 21:5
   • Proverbs 27:23

10. 8. Seek good counsel

    In a multitude of counsellors there is safety. Someone who has failed can show you the pitfalls, and successful people, spiritual people and bankers all have something to offer; even unbelievers can be very sharp. Seek advice, test it against the Word of God and then go forward.

    “Seek counsel, seek advice, and then test it with the word of God and then go forward.”

    • Proverbs 11:14

11. 9. Honour the Lord with your wealth

    Do not hold back on God: honour Him with your capital and the firstfruits of all your income. The liberal person will be enriched, and whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. For him giving is no longer a pressure but a joy and a lifestyle.

    “Giving to me is a joy. It's become my lifestyle.”

    • Proverbs 3:9
    • Proverbs 11:25

12. 10. Show mercy

    The merciful, kind and generous person benefits himself. Show mercy to your staff, to people who owe you money and to those closest to you, and remind yourself where you came from, because as you climb you tend to forget.

    “As you show mercy to other people, God will show you mercy.”

    • Proverbs 11:17

13. 11. Control your anger

    He admits he had uncontrollable anger when he was younger and had to grow out of it. Anger clouds your mind and leads to decisions you cannot reverse; it takes an instant to burn a bridge and much longer to rebuild it. Breathe in, count to ten, and let it pass.

    “As business people, you always want to build bridges, not burn them.”

    • Proverbs 15:18
    • Proverbs 16:32
    • Proverbs 29:11
    • Colossians 3:8

14. 12. Don't fear people

    The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Respect people and acknowledge their office, but fear only the Lord, and go into negotiations with enthusiasm and gusto, because God has not given you a spirit of fear. Your message and your business are for the whole world: he prophesies international trips and offices abroad.

    Illustration: A preacher in London met an ordinary man from Ghana ordering a custom stretch Jaguar, who had become a billionaire by shipping oil and making a few cents on every barrel.

    “In all of your negotiations, tackle it with enthusiasm and gusto.”

    • Proverbs 29:25
    • Proverbs 9:10
    • 2 Timothy 1:7
    • Joshua 1:5
    • Mark 16:15