Participants: David Asscherick & Shanda Ban (Host), Johnny Suarez
Series Code: E
Program Code: E000011
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00:19 Hello welcome to Engage, I'm David Asscherick and
00:22 we are ecstatic that you have chosen to join us for 00:26 this half hour program. 00:28 We are going to be looking at something that many people 00:30 might consider to be a bit unusual topic. 00:32 To set the topic up we will be introducing our guest 00:36 here in just a moment. 00:37 I would just like to remind you of the parable that Jesus 00:40 told in Matthew 25, the parable of the talents. 00:43 And in the context of the parable of the talents Jesus 00:46 said that there was a man that went into a far country. 00:48 When he went into that far country he took his resources, 00:51 his goods and turned them over to some of his servants. 00:54 And to one of the servants he gave five talents, to another 00:58 two talents, and to another one talent. 01:00 The person that had the five went and invested the five and 01:03 earned yet another five for a total of 10 talents. 01:05 The same with the two but the person who had one just 01:08 took and hid his talent. 01:10 Now when the land owner returned he saw that the man 01:14 that had five had earned five more and he said well done 01:17 good and faithful servant and said the same thing to the 01:19 one had two and earned two more. 01:22 And the one who had just one and buried it and he was not 01:25 pleased at all, I guess we could say that the five and 01:30 two talent individuals were businessmen. 01:32 They were entrepreneurs they went and invested those 01:36 resources and came back with even more and the land 01:39 owner was pleased with their entrepreneurial spirit. 01:43 In our program today we are going to be taking a look at the 01:45 topic of blessed business. 01:48 Principles of business and how can we be sure 01:51 we are operating in harmony with Scripture 01:53 in our business enterprises? 01:55 So with me today of course is Shandra Ban, and introducing 01:59 a friend of mine and a friend of yours so Shandra. 02:02 Thank you David, yeah we have Johnny Suarez with us today. 02:06 I neglected to use his Spanish name because my accent is 02:10 not good but Juan Suarez, we go by Johnny. 02:14 It's good to have you here and you come from Berrien 02:16 Springs Michigan and tell us a little about yourself. 02:19 I was born in Mexico but grew up in New York. 02:21 My mother is of Puerto Rican descent so that makes me 02:25 a Mexico-new-yor-ican. 02:26 A Mexico-new-yor-ican - a Mexico-new-yor-ican, got a 02:30 little bit of all nationalities working to my favor hopefully. 02:33 That's great. So like I said you're from Berrien Springs 02:38 Michigan and what do you do there? 02:39 I have a business there, a Christian business where we 02:42 produce resources Spanish, English, a little bit of 02:44 Portuguese mostly audio and video material and a little bit 02:47 of books we publish and distribute to different parts 02:49 of the world. 02:50 I read one of those books. - really? 02:52 Oh wait sorry, I wrote one of those books. 02:54 That's right you did write one of those. 02:57 So Johnny we are having you on the program today because 03:00 we want to talk about business from a Christian 03:02 perspective because there are maybe some misunder- 03:06 standings and even sort of negative connotations in the 03:08 minds of some about business as being non-spiritual and 03:11 etc. and we will get to that in just a moment. 03:13 So talk to us a little bit about, in your mind 03:16 what is a businessman? What is somebody who is a 03:20 businessman do? Then we will ask 03:21 what is a Christian businessman? 03:22 Sure a businessman is very simple, you are taking some 03:25 kind of a product, some kind of resource, some kind of 03:27 service and you are providing some value to it and 03:30 your increasing the price and having some profits. 03:32 Sometimes the profit margins can be bigger and sometimes 03:34 they are a little smaller. 03:36 Okay, so you provide a service or product and that is a 03:40 businessman, or an entrepreneur is another term we use 03:44 for that, I just looked that word up in the dictionary. 03:46 It just means to undertake, it literally means 03:49 to just do something. 03:51 So let's be honest here sometimes we think businessman, 03:54 first thing that comes to my mind is a shady businessman. 03:57 - the first thing really the first thing? 03:59 Yeah it is true - okay! 04:01 I don't think that about you. Not the Mexican-new-yor-ican. No 04:06 So how can you dispel some of that myth, can there be 04:11 a Christian businessman? - absolutely. 04:13 I think it all has to do with the set of principles that 04:16 you are using as your guiding light so to speak as a 04:19 businessman, it is not just making money but actually 04:23 following biblical patterns of individuals who the Bible 04:28 who were successful and that did their business well. 04:30 At the same time they made sure they did so ethically, 04:33 made sure they did so honestly and used much of their 04:36 means to further God's work. 04:38 So the idea of business and Christian are not 04:43 antithetical, now I had to be honest that negativity 04:46 doesn't come into my mind but we could say like with the 04:50 proverbial used car salesman. 04:51 We associate that negative connotation but the reality is 04:56 that if for an example of Matthew 25 is to be believed 05:00 that there is not this contradiction between being 05:04 entrepreneurial or business minded and also being very 05:07 spiritual, that is what I'm hearing you say. - Absolutely 05:09 It's really interesting what you mentioned there. 05:11 God actually pronounces well done to the one that 05:14 actually makes a profit, and the one that doesn't make 05:17 a profit he said he's an evil server, you didn't do what 05:20 you were supposed to do which was to turn a profit and 05:22 no losses either, so I think there is an expectation 05:27 that God has from us, also in the temporal side to make 05:29 sure that we make good use of our time, of our resources of 05:32 our talents, and yes have some profits and make a living 05:35 and also make the world a better place sometimes 05:38 through those products that we are able to produce. 05:40 Johnny were you trained in business and did you have 05:42 a formal education in business? 05:44 You know it's interesting, I have no intention of getting 05:46 into business but since a little boy I always helped my 05:49 dad out, my dad was one of those old-school kind of dads. 05:52 Like I'm not going to give you money, I'll make you work 05:55 for it and that whole kind of thing. 05:57 Yeah one of those dads. Its like I'm not going to give 06:02 you the fish, I will teach you how to fish and that whole 06:04 concept, even when I was going through high school I covered 06:09 some of my expenses because my dad said okay I'm going to 06:11 show you how to work. 06:12 So did your dad own a business? - no he didn't. 06:14 We started doing some recordings at camp meetings. 06:17 - just a minute what is a camp meeting? 06:20 Camp meeting is basically event where a lot of people, sometimes 06:23 Christians and sometime non-Christians come together 06:25 and listen to inspiring presentations from a variety of 06:28 speakers, sometimes good music, sometimes stories or 06:31 testimonials and they all gather together. 06:33 - so you are recording these? - We were recording these 06:35 - exactly - and selling them? - exactly. 06:37 So I was a little kid like eight or nine years old, 06:40 all the other ones got to play basketball but I had to be 06:42 duplicating cassettes for my dad and put on the labels. 06:45 Really - I sense a little bitterness there, a little 06:49 frustration? - no bitterness, it's interesting my 06:51 sister. - my friends are playing basketball. 06:54 Okay sometimes I'll confess, there were times I wanted to 06:56 play basketball but I was able to get over it because my dad 06:59 would pay me $.25 for every cassette that I duplicated and 07:02 put the label on. 07:03 So I realized quickly that if I worked hard I'd be able to 07:06 save a little money. - So a bit of a meritocracy there, 07:09 you work hard to get paid, I like that. 07:11 I grew to like it, my sister never liked it when people 07:15 come over to the table to buy some of her products, 07:17 she confessed later on that she actually prayed to the 07:20 Lord that people would not come to the table to buy our 07:22 products, I was always wondered why there weren't more 07:25 people that were coming. - why was she praying that? 07:28 Because she was a little girls that doesn't like the stress 07:31 of having 50 people coming at you and asking for some 07:34 products, she liked the peace and quiet and to play with dolls 07:37 so she was like Lord please let them go away, there is too 07:40 many of them. - and you are praying Lord let them come, 07:42 because then I get to make money. 07:44 I was hoping to be able to help my dad to make money. 07:47 So that is not your background and terms of your 07:49 educational background, your educational background is in? 07:52 Theology, I studied Pastor Evangelism, I studied to be a 07:54 Pastor had worked for five years as an associate Pastor, 07:57 a youth Pastor in California and then in New York. 08:00 So then you've been in ministry? - that's right. 08:02 - how many years were you in pastoral ministry? 08:03 Five years total between the youth Pastor and the 08:07 associate Pastor and did some missionary work before 08:10 that when I was in school and right after I finished school. 08:12 So I guess that would make Johnny the perfect person 08:16 to say is it possible to be a Christian businessman, 08:19 because you have come from the Christian perspective, 08:21 and now we are also talking about business. 08:24 We are going to get into some principles here in just 08:25 a moment, but I thought it would be well for us to maybe 08:27 ground this idea that there is not incompatibility here, 08:31 in the text of Scripture and a passage that I am going to bring 08:35 to the table here is Deuteronomy 8:18. 08:42 And it says, "you shall remember the Lord your God for 08:46 "it is He," and this is the interesting part, "who gives you 08:49 "power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which 08:54 "He swore to your fathers as it is this day." 08:56 So that is a passage there, it's God who gives you power, 08:59 and that doesn't have to mean just the physical power, 09:02 but gives you the ingenuity and the skill set to be able 09:06 to earn a living. - well we can even think of the 09:08 biblical stories, the story of Joseph where he ends up 09:12 taking over the whole grain production when they were 09:15 going to the famine and selling the grain. 09:16 That is not unbiblical, in fact it saved many people's 09:20 lives during that famine. 09:21 I think there is a key principle there and that is the 09:25 issue of stewardship, and recognizing and realizing that 09:29 you don't own anything. 09:30 Our bodies belong to God, our dreams and aspirations all 09:34 belong to God, everything we have and everything we own, 09:37 our talents are all gifts that God has bestowed upon us. 09:40 When we realize that, as the text says, it's Him that 09:43 gives us the wealth, the problem is not the wealth the 09:46 problem is sometimes we rely on what we have accomplished 09:48 by our own efforts solely. 09:50 So how do you move from pastoral ministry into 09:53 the business world? 09:55 You know it is interesting, I actually was saving some 09:58 money, trying to save some money to finish up my graduate 10:01 studies and I decided to dedicate a few months full-time 10:06 to be able to get some means to get through school. 10:10 So I started to produce some of the resources on a more 10:13 full-time scale. - your own resources? Yeah these 10:17 were recording so we would work with speakers and say 10:20 we'd like to issue your materials and we want a setup 10:22 that works well for all of us and we approach them and 10:25 they said yeah, let's go ahead and do it. 10:26 So we have agreements with them and from there we started 10:29 to produce the resources and 10:31 it's interesting because on getting on the subject of 10:33 Christian principles I would make these deals with God. 10:37 I will come and say okay Lord, I would wake up two, 10:40 three o'clock in the morning and I would be thinking and 10:42 my mind would be racing and I had a little book, it was 10:45 an empty book and didn't have any pages and it. 10:46 - pages but no writing? 10:49 Yep pages but no writing exactly. 10:50 So I would write down my goals were and then I would say 10:54 Lord if you bless me I'm going to remember you did this 10:57 and I thought to myself and say why don't I go ahead and 11:00 give God a certain amount of tithe in anticipation that 11:04 He is going to bless me. 11:05 So you are tithing on money that you are not making in 11:08 hopes, in faith that God is going to provide that money 11:13 you are tithing on. - that's right, that's right. 11:14 I had all these little deals and would write them down and 11:16 then I would take my little book and put it aside for 11:20 several months. It was comforting because I would go 11:23 back to my little book and I would see all these goals and 11:25 I would look at the distribution we were doing and 11:27 we met all of those goals, the Lord had been faithful. 11:30 We had even surpassed many of those goals and so the 11:32 business began to grow and grow. 11:34 Really it was because God was blessing it and of course there 11:37 was human effort and there was a part that we played, 11:39 but ultimately we were saying Lord this is yours and 11:42 if you bless it I will make sure to give you the glory 11:46 and the honor for that. 11:47 That reminds me so much of my father-in-law, my wife's family 11:50 is Romanian, and my father in law, you have met him. 11:53 You both met him and he is one of the most godly, 11:55 he's the salt of the earth, he and his wife are just 11:59 the salt of the earth. 12:00 He does a similar kind of thing, he is a painter but 12:03 he also will purchase a house and fix it up. 12:06 I tell him Zacky this is the gospel. 12:08 You are buying these dilapidated old homes and 12:11 you are fixing them up and they are new creatures. 12:13 Haddam and Duchy right? 12:15 So what he did was he went into a business relationship 12:19 with God, very similar to what you are describing. 12:20 He said okay, in addition to tithe and in addition to 12:24 offering, you are 25% partner, 12:27 and everything goes straight into mission and God just 12:30 starts prospering him because that is the story. 12:33 That's the five talents, and he has the skills set, 12:36 he has the ingenuity to be able to make that happen 12:39 and that is what I'm hearing you say as well. 12:40 Absolutely, absolutely and I think it is just realizing 12:43 when its God's, it really can't fail because it's the Lords. 12:48 If it does fail, or seems to fail it is because the Lord 12:51 is perhaps allowing you to learn some lessons of dependency 12:54 or He has something better for you. 12:56 Right, and I'm thinking to about the story in the Bible 12:58 where the people are selling in the temple courts and 13:01 Jesus comes in and throws the tables over because it is 13:04 not a business He is endorsing. 13:05 Are there businesses that Christians should not be a part 13:08 of? - Absolutely, definitely you have things that are 13:11 antithetical to what we believe as Christians and any 13:15 time you have to violate God's commandments whether 13:17 you have to steal or cheat or something that causes 13:20 other people to sin, you know that is not a type of 13:23 business enterprise that you want to be a part of. 13:26 So you take it and compare it with Scripture and if they are 13:30 opposites you stay away from those kind of businesses. 13:34 Some of the principles it is that what ever, getting back 13:37 to the definition businessman, product or service, it cannot 13:40 be out of harmony with what Scripture teaches us. 13:43 That is right. - now you touched on something earlier 13:45 Johnny, you used the word there that I know and you know, 13:48 and one that Shandra knows, and maybe many of our viewers 13:51 don't know and that is the word stewardship. 13:54 So unpack that a little bit, what does that word mean? 13:57 That is not a word that comes up in common conversation. 14:00 So what do we mean when we say stewardship? 14:03 Stewardship basically means someone who is to be 14:06 a caretaker, someone that doesn't really own the place, 14:09 or owns the store, or owns the car, but he has to make 14:12 sure that he maintains it and he will give an account to 14:15 whatever happens to that thing or place or whatever it is. 14:19 So there is a certain sense of responsibility, but at the 14:23 same time you are not saying I own this, this is mine. 14:26 It is more of it belongs to someone else so I will take 14:29 the best care. - so it could almost be like what you read in 14:32 the opening there about the talent, the people that owned 14:35 or took care of the talents were stewards of their masters talent 14:37 But they did not own that money? - that is right. 14:40 So we sometimes hear people say in the Garden of Eden 14:44 there were two pre-sin institutions, right I hear 14:48 people say that? They say the Sabbath was before sin and 14:50 marriage was before sin. 14:52 When you read Genesis 1 and 2 carefully, there is a third 14:54 Pre-sin institution its stewardship. 14:58 Its stewardship because he says, you read in Genesis 15:00 chapter 1 and he says over and over again the man will 15:03 keep it, you will have dominion, tend to the Garden, 15:06 protect it, and so basically God did not give the Garden 15:10 to Adam or Eve. The Garden, the earth belongs to God. 15:13 He says you take care of it for Me. 15:15 So this is something that is rooted very deeply in 15:18 Scripture that God has entrusted us with material means 15:22 and it is our responsibility not so much to own but to 15:25 be a good steward and give God a return on those 15:28 resources that He has entrusted to us. 15:30 - right! - and I think it's really essential because 15:34 we live in a temporal world and even Christ Himself 15:37 said occupy until I come. 15:39 So sometimes we fall on two extremes. One is this is 15:42 my Father's world so I'm going to sit around and wait 15:45 for things to happen around the world and if the Lord 15:48 wants to bless me He will bless me and if it He doesn't 15:51 and it almost eliminates the part of thriftiness and 15:55 hard work -industriousness. - and all those kinds of things. 15:58 We can have the other extreme which we can talk about, 16:00 and that is individuals who just focus on wealth and the 16:03 whole prosperity gospel about making money. 16:05 God wants to make you rich and if you buy this one thing 16:08 and you bless my ministry you'll get this, and you'll get 16:10 that and people are constantly thinking man how can 16:13 I make more money, how can I accumulate more wealth, 16:15 how can I have more riches? Of course God is not wanting 16:18 any to go to those extremes. 16:20 There is a way to do it that glorifies Him. 16:22 Keeps us out of the ditch of okay so Paul says, he that 16:25 doesn't eat, rather he that doesn't work shouldn't eat. 16:28 And the one that doesn't provide for his family is worse 16:31 then a non-believer. 16:33 So we have that extreme of the person as you say lays 16:35 around, but the other extreme is sort of name it and claim 16:38 it and God is going to prosper me and I will be rich and 16:40 God wants me to be rich. 16:41 So what is the middle ground? - For me at least I find 16:44 that the middle ground is first and foremost making God 16:48 the center of all that you do and recognize and realize 16:51 it is not yours. 16:53 But second to that realizing that you are a steward and 16:55 at some point He is going to come back and say what did 16:58 you do with the talents that I gave you? 16:59 What did you do with the ability that I gave you, 17:02 the wisdom I gave you? Did you use it wisely? 17:04 When I find those two there, I do find that middle ground 17:08 and ultimately I think it also has to do with how 17:10 you use those resources that God gives you. 17:12 Sometimes it can be a danger to make a lot of money 17:15 really quickly, especially if you are using it just 17:18 for your own showiness or so to speak. 17:20 When you can take some of those means and give it 17:23 to God's work I think it speaks greatly of the powerful 17:28 God that we serve. 17:29 And what you are touching on there is just not true for 17:30 businessmen, that would be true for anybody. 17:32 It would be true for Shandra and me or a Doctor. 17:34 It would be true for an engineer, the resources how are 17:37 we using the resources that God has put into our trust? 17:40 Jesus tells the parable there in Luke 16 about the steward 17:44 who is being unfaithful, remember that? 17:46 He is being unfaithful and as soon as he finds out that 17:48 there is going to be an audit, an investigation of his 17:50 unfaithfulness, he starts cutting all these deals and 17:52 making all these bargains. 17:53 What Jesus said it is very interesting, He says the sons, 17:55 the children of this generation are wiser in this 17:59 generation than the sons of light. 18:01 He basically says businessman, He's using businessmen 18:04 as an example, He's using businessmen as an example and 18:07 saying hey go out, Jesus spoke a lot about money. 18:11 - He did, you know I read somewhere that one out of 18:14 every six verses in the first three Gospels of Matthew, 18:17 Mark, and Luke have to do with possessions or with money. 18:19 Christ keeps talking about money, He's talking about money, 18:22 I read another part that said that second only to the 18:25 the loving character of His Father Jesus spoke mostly 18:28 about money, it wasn't that He was infatuated with money. 18:31 People worry a lot about that and I think it has to do 18:35 with the fact that God wants us to be industrious in this 18:38 world, He doesn't want us to just sit around and say well 18:40 this is not the world we live in so let's sit around and 18:43 hope for something great to happen. 18:44 But rather to say okay Lord what do you want me to do 18:47 with what You have given me? 18:48 I think the problem is that there is this verse the Bible 18:51 in 1 Timothy that says the money is the root of all evil so 18:55 that is what everybody thinks but it actually says for 18:57 the love of money is the root of all evil. 18:59 And even more precisely is the love of money is the root 19:03 of all kinds of evil, so it is not the money itself. 19:06 It's our relationship to the money. 19:09 So Johnny you have mentioned several different biblical 19:12 principles of business but maybe you can just put them in a neat 19:15 little package, kind of a list of different things 19:18 you've mentioned. 19:19 First one again I don't think you could hear this enough. 19:22 It is making God first and last and best in all that 19:26 you do, you really can't go wrong. 19:29 Asking God in the morning, for us we have worship every time 19:33 with our group. - at your business. - that's right. 19:36 So just because it is a business you don't come into the 19:39 office and say go ahead and get them, make the sales call, 19:43 no, no, it's hey, before we do this if the Lord does not 19:47 build this business, this house the text says, 19:49 they labor in vain who built it. 19:52 For us we constantly have to remind ourselves that this 19:55 is God's, this is God's and so we have to act on that. 19:58 In the morning when we start off. 20:00 Another principle we mentioned is willing to work hard. 20:03 I think sometimes when we talk about entrepreneurs there 20:06 is this connotation.com boom where I will just invent this 20:10 little product and become a multibillionaire and 20:12 make it and that's it. 20:14 I don't really find that in Scripture, I find that God 20:18 says okay you do your part, you do your effort but you 20:21 seek Me first and as you are doing that and you combine 20:25 those two things, and human effort with the divine help 20:29 and Divine guidance, God will and He does bless you. 20:32 And you can be a blessing to other people, 20:36 when people ask you how did you make this? 20:39 The Lord was the One who provided. 20:41 That has come up twice now been a blessing to other 20:44 people and let's get back to the negative connotation 20:47 that some may have. 20:48 The reality is if somebody says I want to be a Doctor, 20:51 or want to be a nurse, or want to be an engineer that 20:55 would be encouraged that you should do that because 20:58 those people have influence. 21:00 Praise Lord for godly doctors and nurses and etc., 21:03 but shouldn't we be seeing more godly young industrious 21:07 and entrepreneurial Christians? 21:10 Absolutely, absolutely and I want to encourage any young 21:12 person who's thinking about entering into business and 21:15 sometimes thinking maybe this is not a very spiritual 21:18 thing, God can use you in a mighty way and we have 21:20 mentioned a couple of verses of where you think of 21:22 individuals like Abraham and Job who had 21:25 great amounts of wealth. 21:27 I think even in the New Testament Nicodemus who used 21:30 his riches and his wealth for the early Christian church 21:34 and Ellen White says he died with very little resources 21:37 but he has treasures in heaven and used even the 21:40 temporal treasures that he had for the Lords cause. 21:43 I think other organizations such as this network and 21:46 others have been blessed by 21:48 individuals who have made their businesses prosper by 21:51 God's grace I have been able to use those means to 21:53 further God's gospel and so there is no shame in that. 21:56 I think it should be encouraged and I think as we do so 21:59 we will find that we are able to impact so many 22:02 more lives for Jesus. 22:03 Thank you so much, that was well communicated. 22:05 I know that for me when I hear about a good business 22:10 that is really making an impact in the world, I could name 22:13 some names here but when I hear about a business that is 22:16 owned by a Christian, I don't know I feel good about that. 22:20 I will even say to people such and such a business is 22:23 owned by a Christian, and they will say oh really. 22:25 It is a positive thing and somebody might say oh such and 22:29 such a Doctor, he's a Christian. 22:31 If they are a good positive influence in their community, 22:35 in their sphere that is great. 22:37 And businessmen because they are providing a service, 22:40 or providing a product they can influence others for the 22:44 Gospel and that's the guts of this thing isn't it? 22:46 Introducing people to Jesus Christ. 22:48 So let's ask this question, what kind of specific things 22:51 Johnny are you doing in your business, or could other 22:55 people who are already in business, or who maybe are 22:57 considering getting into business, we are talking about 23:00 these younger people, what kinds of specific things could 23:03 they do to be not just driven by the bottom line so to 23:06 speak to be driven by influence and the gospel and taking it 23:10 to that spiritual level. 23:11 That's a good question? - yeah I was saying figure out 23:15 a way that your business ultimately lets the Gospel be 23:19 known in a wider way, for us it is a little bit easier because 23:23 that is our whole goal to create resources whether it is audio 23:27 or video or whether it be books that can impact people's 23:30 way of thinking, but for some organizations their 23:33 business may not be that. 23:34 It may peace selling shoes, or sneakers, or bubblegum and 23:37 there is nothing unspiritual about that but ask God to 23:40 figure out a way, maybe take a percentage of the revenue 23:44 that you have specifically for a project that you as 23:47 an organization or company you can do. 23:49 We have done that in our organization, churches we have 23:52 sponsored, missionaries that we have sponsored to go on 23:55 mission trips and it is very rewarding to see how as 23:59 a business coming together we are able to further God's 24:03 Gospel directly, so I would encourage 24:04 the young people to do that. 24:06 Not just in terms of the resources you have but even in 24:09 the way you conduct your business? 24:11 Can you be in the business world and say hey 24:14 I'm a Christian, I'm a believer and we can do that yeah? 24:18 Absolutely, and that is a very important point. 24:21 I once heard someone say that the Gospel doesn't need so 24:24 much to be defended as it needs to be displayed. 24:27 I think you display the Gospel in the way that you run 24:30 your business where people can say that's interesting 24:32 how they do this, it's interesting how they do that. 24:35 Then they start asking questions, why do you do those 24:37 things that way, it seems like that is a lot of trouble 24:40 to go through just to be able to get a little 24:42 bit of a profit margin? 24:44 Then when you start telling them about your God and 24:46 you tell them about Scripture and tell them about the 24:49 principles that are the foundation of what you do and 24:52 how you do it in their mind begins to think wow, if this 24:55 person is able to be successful even following those 24:58 principles then maybe there is some truth to that. 25:00 I think that is a way of communicating that. 25:03 Another question I have for you Johnny is not only what 25:05 you can do outside of your business, but what about 25:07 internally with your staff? 25:09 Are you able to witness to any of your staff members 25:12 in the way you run your business? 25:13 Yeah that is essential, each business is a little bit 25:16 different, but ours we are blessed that everyone is a 25:19 Christian but I have many friends, several friends of 25:21 mine who have staff that are not Christian. 25:24 I was just at a men's conference in California this past 25:27 weekend and sitting down with a gentleman asked him how 25:30 he became a Christian? He said oh my boss. 25:32 I said what? He said yeah I work for a company and we 25:35 produce I don't remember if it was flowers or something, 25:40 and I got really sick one day and my boss came over and 25:43 I thought this was amazing my boss came over to my house. 25:46 He prayed for me and my sickness and I got well. 25:49 So he said I wanted to know more about his God because 25:53 his God obviously answered that prayer and he said 25:56 I started going to church and here I am at this men's 25:59 conference and I have been baptized for nine months. 26:02 He was from France and telling me an amazing story of 26:04 how he used to be into drinking, a lot of alcohol 26:08 he was an alcoholic but it was all because he had 26:11 a godly businessman that had started a company. 26:14 He hired non-Adventist people, non-Christian people but 26:17 yet through his witness, and through the way 26:20 he communicated the Gospel by praying for him when he was 26:23 sick, that man said hey I want to know about your God. 26:26 What an encouragement for business owners who do have 26:28 non-Christians working for their business. 26:30 Absolutely, I was speaking in England last year and 26:33 I had this really nice gentleman come up to me and 26:36 he was a financial investor and you could tell by the 26:38 way he carried himself that he was a financial investor. 26:40 I said have you always been a believer? 26:43 He said no I just became a believer last year. 26:44 And I said how did that happen? 26:46 He said oh my secretary. 26:48 Sometimes you think okay the boss wins the employee, 26:52 but this was a case of the employee winning the head 26:57 of the whole company and now he is a Bible believing, 27:01 Spirit filled Christian man. 27:03 So we can bring these principles into all of our 27:05 interactions, whether they are interactions with family, 27:08 interactions with friends or in your case and a case of 27:10 some of our viewers watching today is business. 27:15 Thank you so much Johnny for being with us and I feel 27:19 like we have taken away a lot from this program. 27:21 - praise God! And if you would like to contact us 27:23 please e-mail us at: 27:27 or look us up on Face Book. 27:28 Thank you so much for coming and I want to make sure 27:32 I say this right, - yeah get this one right. 27:35 Mexico-new-yor-ican. - Mexico-new-yor-ican. 27:38 - businessman. - businessman and so thank you Johnny 27:41 for joining us and it has been a blessing. 27:42 For those of you who have been paying attention to the 27:45 program today there has been a great deal of information 27:48 that you can take away. 27:49 You are a steward of the resources that God has given to 27:53 you, be industrious, be a go getter, be an entrepreneur 27:56 and what's ever sphere you are in. 27:57 Do what you can do for the glory of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17