Today’s message is a guest entry from David G. Johnson, founder of Nourish The Dream.

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. (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV)

In our previous message, we talked about the inner struggle that some of us face — particularly those who have been around Christianity for awhile — where business and financial success are concerned. It isn’t too difficult to guess that one of the major contributors to this struggle is an abundance of erroneous teaching about the Bible and what it really says.

For example, here’s a direct quote from a recent Newsweek article:

“For one thing, Scripture is full of exhortations against accumulating wealth. The New Testament, especially, repeatedly reminds followers of Christ that earthly wealth means nothing in heaven. ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,’ says Jesus.”

These few sentences are so full of misunderstanding about Scripture that it’s almost infuriating. (Where does Newsweek get off interpreting Scripture anyway?!) But the tragedy is that many churches have actually taught — arguably with good intentions — fallacies like this.

Another great example is the, “root of all evil,” Scripture referred to in the title of today’s message. Not only is it frequently misquoted as, “money is the root of all evil,” but the entire passage that it comes from is (in my experience) usually preached from a fundamental place of misunderstanding.

If you’re hearing from those you look up to (spiritually speaking) that it’s wrong to accumulate wealth, doesn’t that directly work against you?  Isn’t business challenging enough without wondering if God is upset with us for doing well in it?  Is God so cruel as to require that we work to provide for our families and even call us into the business world only to tell us that we are only pleasing to Him when we fail?

It’s time that we take a hard look at some of these teachings and find out what the Scripture really says.

Today’s message is a guest entry from David G. Johnson, founder of Nourish The Dream

It was just about 2 years ago that I sat across from my good friend over a cup of coffee in a local restaurant. We had met early in the morning to talk about some of the challenges we faced in profitability in our businesses. He, the CEO of a software company servicing clients on multiple continents, and I, operating a marketing consultancy.

While we had been good friends for years, something developed out of that conversation that brought our friendship to an entirely new level of intimacy. I knew, for example, that he had been born overseas — the son of missionaries to some of the darkest parts of the world. I also knew — having met his father and mother — the level of devotion to Christ that had caused them to risk their very lives in service to the Call of God.

He knew that I had been born into a devoted Christian family here in the States — that my father had been a pastor when I was younger, and that my mother’s father had been in the ministry since shortly after World War II. He knew that our family was in church every time the doors were open.

What neither of us knew until that day, however, was that both of us dealt with an inner struggle with success. It seemed that we both had always reached a place where that “big breakthrough” had eluded us just when it seemed to be in our grasp. We learned that both of us were fighting against inner programming — instilled in us from childhood — that somehow there was something “wrong” with hitting a big win financially and in business. Both of us had come to understand that we were serving God in the marketplace in response to His call on our lives… and yet we both had run up against seemingly impenetrable barriers.

We began meeting on a regular basis to explore the roots and the nature of the battle between heart and head — between Biblical understanding and the traditions that seemed to be infused in our thinking. What we discovered and what God has shown us — individually and jointly — has been nothing short of amazing.

What about you? Do you struggle with whether God could really want you to accomplish what you’re working so hard to achieve?

More to come…

I believe the root cause of stunted fruit or bad fruit in our life goes back to what we store up in our heart. The things we meditate on, ponder, consider, day dream about. Eventually those thoughts will come out in our words (out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks) and we tend to believe what comes out of our mouth (faith comes by hearing… Rom 10:17). Let me show you a practical business application of this last truth…

Most folks who have a product or service to sell, look for the opportunity to present their story to a prospect. Their unspoken but clearly understood hope is, that the prospect will believe their claims and purchase their goods. But there is a way to increase quite significantly the conversion from listening to purchasing. You must help the prospect find faith in your claims. While you may convert them with testimonials, convincing demonstration or just the sheer force of your persuasive personality, you can significantly increase your result by leading the prospect through a questioning process, the answers to which release the words from their own mouth that convince them of the truth of your claims.

People tend to believe less than 100% of what someone else says, especially a stranger who stands to benefit financially if they can get you to agree. But those same people tend to believe 100% of whatever comes out of their own mouth, so lead those folks to the conclusion you came to by taking them on the same journey, asking them the questions they need the answers to and let their own answers convince them.

Important Note: If at all possible, mark your calendars for September 4 – 6 and plan on joining me at the Kingdom Economic Summit in Austin, Texas where I will be speaking with Myles Munroe, Lance Wallnau, Os Hillman, Kent Humphreys, Rick Joyner and many other leaders in the Christian Marketplace movement. Many of the Kingdom’s leading generals are being brought together to release and impart instruction, wisdom and anointing for today’s marketplace leaders to experience a greater measure of wealth transfer for the purpose of building and advancing God’s Kingdom in the earth. Click here for details…

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

What we think on ultimately produces what we say. What we say generates what we believe – faith. (Faith comes by hearing… Rom 10:17) What we believe leads to works that yield a specific result. In fact, it is our works flowing from faith that bring to completion or fruitfulness that which we believe. If we don’t like the results (the fruit) we are experiencing in our life, we need to reverse engineer the trail, go back to the beginning, (our thoughts) and create a new map that leads purposefully to the destination we desire. (Caveat: It is our individual responsibility to make sure our desires are pleasing to God and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh)

Every one of us has a treasure in our heart. Jesus said that a good man will have a good treasure in his heart while an evil man will have an evil treasure. When we speak, we draw on that treasure and reveal to the world and the powers of the air what is in us. Things are set in motion and fruit is produced. It has been my personal experience that I seem to have two treasures in my heart. Sometimes good things come out of my mouth and sometimes evil. Would that it were not true! With two treasure chests in our heart, neither is big and we end up planting a mixed harvest of competing crops that often cancel each other out.

James spoke of this reality when he said, “Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” (Ja 3:10) It makes me echo Paul who said, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Leaving no room for doubt, Paul quickly answers his own question… “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 7:24-25) As Christians we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16) which means we can enter into His thought processes, enter into communion with Him in our thoughts and as we marinate our mind in His presence, as we satiate our thoughts with His, an infathomable treasure builds within our earthen vessel, which will in due time produce a bountiful harvest if we faint not.

To be continued…

Important Note: If at all possible, mark your calendars for September 4 – 6 and plan on joining me at the Kingdom Economic Summit in Austin, Texas where I will be speaking with Myles Munroe, Lance Wallnau, Os Hillman, Kent Humphreys, Rick Joyner and many other leaders in the Christian Marketplace movement. Many of the Kingdom’s leading generals are being brought together to release and impart instruction, wisdom and anointing for today’s marketplace leaders to experience a greater measure of wealth transfer for the purpose of building and advancing God’s Kingdom in the earth. Click here for details...

I want to bring to your attention something “fresh” the Holy Spirit is doing at this important time and to invite you to an historic event this fall.

This event is more strategic and governmental than a conference and its purpose is so different that this “first of its kind” meeting is being called a Summit!

Financial K.E.Y.S. To Global Transformation –

Kingdom Economic Yearly Summit Sept. 4-6, 2008, Austin, TX

Some believe that we are entering the early stages of a global revival. However, revival is not enough and is never an end in itself. It’s called a “move” because we are to move past religion, move past revival, move past visitation, and move into Reformation, Habitation, and Transformation – a lasting Kingdom shift!

It’s no different for the marketplace. We are to move into mature stewardship. The Lord wants to move us into it through a Marketplace Reformation for the Kingdom.

Most or all of us are familiar with Psalm 50:10 (NKJV): “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” Haggai 2:8 adds: “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty.” (NIV)

God owns absolutely everything. He has given it to us to steward. In order to steward it wisely we need to have His strategies for growing, increasing and multiplying it.

God is not only giving new ministry strategies, He is revealing new economic and financial strategies to fund the plans and blueprints of the Kingdom at this time.

The focus of this Summit is neither a prosperity message nor a poverty message—instead it’s a Stewardship message, which is the gospel of the Kingdom!

Many of the Kingdom’s leading generals are being brought together to release and impart instruction, wisdom and anointing for today’s marketplace leaders to experience a greater measure of wealth transfer for the purpose of building and advancing God’s Kingdom in the earth.

Anointed financial strategies, covenant relationships, faithful and wise stewards, and Kingdom storehouses are crucial to funding the divine ministry strategies being released for a time such as this.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Dr. Myles Munroe Rich Marshall
Dr. Lance Wallnau Dr. Phillip Phinn
Rick Joyner Michael Pink
Dr. Alistair Petrie Morris Ruddick
Dr. Pat Francis Doug Spada
Bob Fraser Dan Stratton
Rick Heeren David van Koevering
Os Hillman David Yarnes
Kent Humphreys Dr. Bruce Cook

Marketplace Panelists: (Over 20 Marketplace Panels)

Don Barefoot, Jim Ballew, Jim Barthel, Dr. Carr Bettis, Steven Butlin, Dr. Tyler Cooper, Paul Cuny, Dr. Gerald Curatola, Dr. Tony Dale, Dennis Dautel, Scott Diffenderfer, Dennis Doyle, Gene Ellerbee, Jeff Fentriss, Frank Fernandez, Lane Franks, Jon Grieser, Bill Hamm, William High, Christopher James, Brett Johnson, Richard Johnson, Joe Kelley, David Lenoir, Don Lisle, Marc Long, Mike Macari, Karen Jordan Markham, Larry McGary, Kerrie Montgomery, Rob Moss, Kyle Newton, Michael and Jill O’Brien, Carolita Oliveros, Brian Ostrander, Marc Ottestad, Cal Pierce, Kenn Renner, John Robb, J.R. Smith, Buck Stephens, Gene Strite, Dr. Bradley Stuart, Steve Tarr, Bill Thomas, Ray Walter, John Paul Warren, Steve Wilhite, David Yarnes, Wes Young, and many others.

Benefits & Value of Attending the Kingdom Economic Summit

Attendees will enjoy:

1) World class, Cutting edge, Challenging & Dynamic Teaching
2) Exposure to Key Marketplace Streams & Network Leaders
3) Anointed Worship
4) Personal Ministry
5) Networking Opportunities
6) Exposure to Innovative Companies & Best Practices
7) Spiritual Impartation & Activation
Texas Cuisine – Complimentary Catered Lunches & Dinners
9) Apostolic Decrees, Strategies, & Alignment
10) Access to Latest Marketplace Resources & Products
11) Exposure to Transformation Methods, Opportunities & Resources
12) Being Part of Making History (first event of its type)

DON’T MISS THIS HISTORIC EVENT!
Click on Hotels link for hotel pricing and information.
Click for Brochure
Early registration ends Aug. 3rd.

His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven…Matt. 6:10

Bruce Cook, PhD
Director, Glory Realm Ministries
President, VentureAdvisers, Inc.

General Partner, Kingdom Venture Partners, LP
14912 Big Falls Drive
Leander, TX 78641
512-453-1035 office
512-453-8250 fax
512-845-3070 cell

Glory Realm Website
Venture advisers
Kingdom Ventures

“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.” (Joshua 1:8) “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:13)

There are three things that more than anything else I know of, seem to determine where we end up in life. They are the things we think on, the words we speak and the actions we take. This is a profound truth and will be the object of much study for me in the months to come.

Each of those three things are choices we make each day and involve a deliberate action. There are three other things that are unseen that also greatly affect the outcome of our life and they loosely parallel, what’s in our mind, what’s in our mouth and what motivates our actions. They are first of all, hope which is an anchor for our soul (Heb 6:19) and in its simplest form is a positive attitude about the present and the future. It arises from the things we think about and the beliefs we choose as a result of those thoughts.

The second unseen parallel is faith. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:13 “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;” Faith before it runs toward the challenge, speaks. It declares the outcome. This is a big topic for subsequent blogs. Faith however, without works is dead (James 2:17) and thus action always follows. But Galatians 5:6 says that faith works by love. It is motivated and empowered by love and love voluntarily labors. (1 Thess. 1:3)

And what does that labor produce? The harvest of what you think, what you expect and what you say. I will leave that with you for now and look forward to developing these thoughts with you in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, change your thoughts, change your life. Selah.

Hello Friend,

Tuesday evening’s webinar with Debra Thompson Roedl was nothing short of spectacular. I can’t tell you how many people we’ve heard from who enjoyed the event very much. Here are just a couple of examples:

“Thank you for the teaching and for the web marketing with Debra. It was well worth waking up at 2am in UK to take part.” - Sandra, UK

“I can not express my gratitude enough for what you have done for me! …This was an excellent webinar packed with jewels and now my head is spinning with all the dreams and visions of what we can achieve! Michael, just think about that Millionaire Team in the making around the globe!” - Wilhelmien, Switzerland

These are just a couple of examples of the countless people from the US and abroad who submitted their thoughts during and after the webinar, sent e-mails and made comments on the blog site about the event.

Replay Update

So many of you have asked me about whether we recorded the event. Here’s some good news for you: thanks to Debra’s team, I’m happy to report that we now have a replay of the event available. Click here to watch it right now or at your convenience.  I recommend you do it soon, because I’m not sure when we’ll be taking it down.

More good news: you will hear that at the end of the event, Debra made an opportunity for continuing education available to everyone.  Mind you, you will benefit from watching this webinar whether or not you’re thinking about continuing on and benefitting from additional training with Debra.  That being said, you will hear that she made a very special “joint venture” offer for the 1st 25 people who signed up for additional training.  I’m happy to report that I spoke with her yesterday and went to bat for my subscribers, because there were so many people who missed the event because of the schedule. Debra agreed to make that joint venture offer available to another 25 people!  So… when you hear her talk about that, if you’re thinking about moving forward, you should do so! Chances are if you sign up in the next few days you will be one of those who can take advantage of that opportunity.

Again… whether or not you are interested in moving further with continuing education, I highly recommend you take some time — either today or over the weekend — to watch this webinar. As one person who watched it commented, “It was great.  She really is off the charts genuine… I really was impressed.” You will see her heart shine through as someone who truly wants to impact the world for the King… and equip others to do the same.

Be sure to come back to the blog after you’ve seen it and let me know your thoughts.

Click here to watch the webinar.

Blessings,

Michael

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John 15:2

Fruitfulness. It matters to God. It matters to me. It should matter to all of us. There are many ways a life can be fruitful but for those of us called into the business arena, we understand fruitfulness as the ability to create value both for ourselves and in the lives of others.

One of the most fruitful persons I know is Debra Thompson Roedl. Debra is recognized internationally in the “Information Marketer’s” industry as one of the top marketing strategist for high-profile Information Marketers.  She has been behind the scenes increasing fruitfulness for such millionaires as Armand Morin, Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup For The Soul), Matt Bacak, John Dessauer, Vickie Sullivan, Ted Thomas and as CEO for John Childers’, Wealth Academy, and she has worked with Libby Gill (Expert and Marketing Strategist that Launched Dr. Phil).

It has taken months to secure…

But tonight it’s our turn for Debra to help all of us increase our fruitfulness. Debra has a tender heart for the Lord and a business acumen that is the envy of many. In fact, over the past several years Debra has built several million dollar businesses for others and tonight she is making herself available to you on a teleseminar that will have an open ended timeframe to answer all your questions as she endeavors to take your fruitfulness to the next level. By way of example, consider the following…

• She created John Dessauer’s Information Business, The Dessauer Group with his signature product “Making Millions in Multi-Units” from the ground up, which generated over $600,000 in the first 5 months of operation and now today is a multi-million dollar information business.
• As the former CEO for John Childer’s Wealth Academy she took John’s business to the next million dollar level building up his Million Dollar Speaker Training, putting branding, products, websites, services and systems into place for his international multi-million dollar organization and trainings.
• Serving as a Special Consultant to Mark Victor Hansen, Debra created a high-end membership program and products for Mark to sell to his list.  The program was then launched by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen and within 2 hours of launching it generated over $400,000!
• Debra worked with Troy Fullwood as a special consultant to develop and put into action his seminar and speaking business.  Troy has gone on now to speak at venues across the country and in front of audiences of more than 1000 people, selling his information product on the ABC’s of Notes.

Replicating Fruitfulness in One Million-Dollar Enterprise After Another…

Today, Debra continues to build her own Information Marketing Enterprise… Wealth Alliance Group along with her partners, her husband Randy Roedl and her brother Robin Thompson. Together they have created Accelerator Systems, a specific product line of “How To Products” sold world-wide to Information Marketers wanting to turn their ideas into wealth! She continues to offer her consulting services to business entrepreneurs world-wide and has become a top secret marketing weapon that they have added to their business arsenal to “sky rocket” their business.

I tell you all this because I know many of you really need and want the kind of information Debra will be sharing with us in tonight’s webinar at 9:00 pm EDT. I know this because you’ve told us that in our recent survey. But even more than that, I am urging you to join us tonight because God wants us fruitful and Debra is an expert at making businesses fruitful.

We reserved a block of 400 phone lines but they were snapped up last week. We ordered another block of 400 lines and already half of them have been spoken for. Make sure you secure your spot on tonight’s event. And be sure to watch your email (after you sign up) for instructions on joining the call and watching the Webinar live on your computer. If you don’t receive the instructions right away after registering, email us at webinar [at] sellingamongwolves [dot] com and we will get you squared away.

Then get ready for fruitfulness!