The Kingdom Power and Principle of Management | Dr. Myles Munroe

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Now let's go into the message: The Kingdom Power and Principle of Management.

I read the report yesterday that they anticipate that by the end of 2009, four point seven million people will be out of jobs in the West. They anticipate that by the end of December, 850,000 people will be out of jobs in the United States. The unemployment rate is about to hit 8%, which they've never had since the World War. I understand that the Bahamas is beginning to feel the real effects of the global economic crisis, and I can see it because I'm traveling, and it takes a while to sometimes hit home. I look at some of the other figures. The European report is not exciting at all. The United Nations report that came out yesterday anticipates that people who were living on one dollar a day will now jump from two million to seven million. People living on $2 a day will jump from three million to nine million, which means that poverty is expanding. I was also intrigued and find out that they still don't know whether the banks are going to be solvent. The experimentation that they're going through with how do you save the capitalistic institutions, they're still not sure what's gonna happen. When leaders are guessing, the followers are in trouble. I understand that our Prime Minister is gonna be making a national statement this week, which I think is very appropriate to appraise the country of what is the status and what we can anticipate.

Everything seems so gloomy. Everything is predicting crisis. But let me just say a couple things about a crisis. A crisis is an event over which you have no control. Right there, down what is the crisis? A crisis is an event over which you have no control. That's why it's a crisis. So the way you get rid of a crisis is you get the event under your control. That's why usually crisis experiences that you didn't prepare for, did not anticipate, and that's why they call crises. So the way you minimize crisis is to always be preparing for the unsuspected and expected. Write this down, please.

Kingdom citizens are not immune to crisis. I think that's important to remember because you are living in God's kingdom doesn't isolate you from unexpected, uncontrollable events. So settle that in your mind. Number two, remember that the storm will hit everyone. When it hits, you know, hurricanes don't go around believers' houses and hit other people's houses. Jesus made it very clear when he talks about those who build their house on his word. He says the storms rose, and the winds blew, and they hit both houses. And so crises affect everybody. But he did talk about the response of the two houses to the crisis. One of them crashed, and the other one stood firm because of the foundation. Therefore, the point number three is important. Survival will depend on your foundation knowledge. Remember, he said, "Anyone who hears my words and puts them into practice will be like a man who built his house on a rock. And when the storms blow, and the waves come, and the water rise, that house stands firm." So it was not the storm that was the problem. It was the foundation that was the problem. If it wasn't the right foundation, then you have a problem. So crises are not problems. They're going to come. The problem is what do you have to handle the crisis? That leads me to point number four.

The key to that knowledge is management. Last week, I introduced this important point to you that God gave man management. Management is the key to prosperity in the middle of poverty. I want you to stop thinking like religious people and start thinking like Kingdom people. Religious people look for miracles. They want God to take care of them without their effort. They are lazy. They want magic supply. They want immediate response from God, and if God delays, then they stop believing in him. This religious spirit is a dangerous spirit, and it's very pervasive. We treat God not even like Santa Claus, because even Santa Claus says you gotta be good. We treat God like the genie in the bottle where we rub him three times, he comes out, and he says, "Make three wishes." No, I put it to you, friends, that management is the key to prosperity in the middle of poverty. Believe me.

Point number six: Management is the key to promotion in crisis. Do you know that people are gonna get promoted during the next few months? Some folks getting laid off, others gonna be promoted. Watch. Matter of fact, some folks will get more money now because they can take the jobs of half-hearted, half-lazy people who won't get fired, and they can take their responsibility and add some of their paycheck to the old paycheck. They can get more money because those who are good managers will be promoted. God doesn't promote you because you pray. Fasting doesn't bring promotion. Reading the word doesn't bring your promotion. Promotion is the result of management. Therefore, point number seven is critical.

Management is the key to power in crisis. If you want to be the person with the controlling position in the midst of chaos, you must be the one who has been a good manager. You never want to lose a good manager. So if you've not been a good worker all these years, you must be nervous right now. If you've been coming late, and they've been complaining about you, and your file has some letters on it, you know you're nervous now because when they start cutting back, they're gonna go for the ones who are the least valuable and the most problem. My job as city pastor is to prepare you even for getting fired, because your past is about to catch up with you. Now, we will pray for you and ask God to help you and everything, and maybe even give some stars food, but we can't stop what's coming down if you planted some bad seeds.

Management. Say it loud. One more time. You know, I thought I would read this for you. God promised crisis. You know, we've been taught this funny idea that, you know, God is a good God. He only does things good. Good God is good, and so God only does good things. I remember, I'll never forget, as a teenager, I was reading the Bible one day, and I saw this young wealthy guy walked up to Jesus and he said to Jesus, "Good Master, I know you are a man sent from God." And before he can make the other statement, Jesus stopped him. Jesus, "Excuse me, why do you call me good?" Now, wait a minute. If someone called you good, you should be nice and happy. Christ stopped it. "Why do you call me good?" Before he can answer, Christ answered. Christ says, "No one knows what good is, only God." I was a teenager when I got that key. Therefore, from that day forward, my definition of good was canceled, 'cause I don't know what good is. Only God knows what's good, because what you think is good may not be good, and what you think is bad may be good in God's plan.

So we find, for example, here's God prophesying crisis. God is making a promise to a whole country. Crisis is coming, and he tells the leader before it happens. Let's read Genesis 41. You might want to turn in here. This is an important verse to underline and remember this in your Bible. Turn to Bible Genesis chapter 41. It's a story about a young man named Joseph. Y'all know Joseph. Joseph was 17 years old when he began to make an impact. Not Joe the Plumber. Is that what you're laughing at? I don't believe this. [Applause] This is Joseph, the Prince of Egypt. By the way, Joseph wasn't even a licensed plumber. Said I talked with that you were reading as a plumber. Genesis 41, verse 42 says, "Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, 'Watch carefully now. The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is one and the same in the dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterwards are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind. They are seven years of farming.'" The word "farming" here means crisis. Write it down in your notes. Famine. Every time you see the word famine, it's talking about economic crisis. In those days, that economy was built on agriculture, so the worst thing for those countries was farming. Our country in the Bahamas is built on tourism, so the worst thing we could ever have is what affects travel. So we are in crisis because consumer confidence has fallen 0.3% again in the last seven days, which means people are not spending money. Not good for us.

So here, God is prophesying there's gonna be famine. Now, I have a question here. Who allows crisis? I want you to read this verse because God says he allows crisis to touch it, to test your management. Look at verse 32. Joseph says, "The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh, Pharaoh is the the leader, the president of the country, the king. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do its own." Underline that verse. Look, there's gonna be crisis. Don't pray for it to go away. I ain't taking it away. I've decided. God decides crisis. Well, let's fast and pray that it'll go over. Because everything's going over, y'all. Let's go hit and hit everybody. God is quite aware of the global economic confusion. He probably orchestrated it just to remind the capitalists that they are not capitalizing on anything. Our faith has been in our money, and God has made our money lose value. When your God is money, and he devalues your money, he just devalued your God. Look at that verse again. He says, "The Lord not only showed it to you once, he showed it to you twice in case you try to change his mind." I'm not changing my mind. There will be crisis. There will be famine. I've decided. God says. We always blamed the devil. Now I want you to think about this. God has a young guy named Joseph, and Joseph is fairly unknown. So God is about to create opportunity for him to get promoted, but he needs a crisis so the guy could show his management ability. We don't believe me? Read the next verse. This is very interesting. In the book of Genesis chapter 41, verse 33, it says, "And now Joseph talking, left Pharaoh, 'Look for a discerning and wise man, and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held and reserved for the country to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the crisis.'" You know, last week, someone had been him. They've been insulted by what I said when I mentioned that there was a time not too long when the Bahamas was doing well, we had good money, and the question of what did the leaders do with the money? Joseph says, "Look, take the good years and invest them and store them up, because everything goes in cycles. Nothing is permanent. To everything, there is a season." That means you got a good tourist season, I guarantee right behind that is a tough one. So you gotta use the resources in the good season to back up yourself against the bad season. He says that you can work will be not be ruined by the crisis. Very important.

Now, watch the response to Joseph's chapter 20, 41, rather, verse 39. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all of this known to you, there is no one as discerning and as wise as you. You shall be in charge, promotion now, of my palace, and all my people are to submit to you and to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you." Is that a promotion? Is that a promotion? By the way, Joseph is only 30 years old at this time. 30. He's getting promoted in the midst of crisis that is about to hit the country because he came up with a management plan. Look at the next verse. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby appoint you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his own finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He transferred all the authority of the country to this young man. He dressed him in a robe of fine linen, put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way! Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. First of all, remember that Joseph is not even an Egyptian. He's a foreigner. Let me tell you something. If you're a good manager, it doesn't matter where you came from. And that's a poor hand, 'cause some of y'all got some problems. Let me tell you something. Is that why they bring them in? Well, it depends on how well you've been doing. Do you know? Listen, I went to do a seminar at Atlantis some time ago, a whole session. Some of y'all here might have been in that seminar. And do you know, before I went down to do the seminar in the big meeting room there, I met with the general manager in a private meeting and two other people, people in Atlantis. And he said, "We invited you to talk to the people because we're having some problems." The main problem he talked about was stealing, i.e., f-i-e-f-i-n-g. He said, "We are losing some chicken." Oh, you think it's funny? He says, "Pilfering. Pilfering is such a major issue here." He says, "We know we bought in 3000 chicken, we can only find 2000." Well, check anything on the wings, they did. They can't fly. And these people, that's people's money. And then we get mad when someone comes from outside and says, "You know, let me let us join us." Watch my chicken. Joseph was a foreigner. It was management that promoted him. If you steal a paperclip, chicken, any far away, you think I'm kidding? Once your conscience doesn't bother you, get a paperclip. There are some companies right now in our country who are celebrating the crisis. They finally got an excuse. You fill in the blank. He said, "Joseph, I'm gonna put you in charge of my whole country because you have a management plan."

I look at the next verse. This is good stuff. Genesis 41, verse 46. "Joseph was what? 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout the Egyptian land. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentiful tourism." Joseph collected all the food producing those seven years of abundance in Egypt, and he stored it up in cities. In which each city, he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain like the sand of the sea. It was so much that he stopped keeping records. You should keep records. You see recording every power. It was beyond measure. What a manager. And that may sound simple, you know, but he had to convince people not to teach the grain. Nothing's going on there. Who did it? Stranger. Come on, tell us what to do with our grain. Hey, you see that's why Pharaoh gave him the ring. 'Cause he knew his own people. They were from the Bahamas. Hey, hi, how come you tell me what to do? I'm not. You ain't from here. You sure? Ring. We're gonna store the grain over there and take the stuff with your pocket to start with your pocket. Okay, over there. See ya. What's the matter? It's put the chicken back. Yeah, okay. Sometimes we hate it when people come who are new. They break up our racket. Look straight. Look straight. Will nobody look at you? Look at straight. Yeah. That's why we like to help people who we know around us because they buddy in on the racket. See, that's why God brings new people in like Joseph to get management done. You need to have authority that's respected. One of our problems in the Bahamas and then the Caribbean alone is the spirit of entitlement. "I'm entitled to this. I'm being slave." You know, "Oh, shut up and manage." Well, you know, I know I was oppressed enough in my time. Oh, yeah. You get the spirit. Frog. We got this strange idea that life is over something and what they pay me enough so I can't some of this chicken. They justify it. You work in the food store, stocking the shelves, but they ain't paying me enough so I can't some of this. 'Cause just make it for what they should have been paying me. And you take them and stuff on the warehouse. Justify an evil. And God is taking notes. Joseph said, "We are gonna save this. We're gonna store it up." By the way, you know what's important in this verse to have it underlined? "He stored it up." Hey, boys. They stored it up. I mean, we take what's important to learn from that. God wants you to save. Write that down, please. You know, my God is abundant. Abundant. You better save. People who've been disciplined and who have been careful with their resources and they have disciplined themselves to save it over a long period of time. Those are the ones God gives more to. You know, God used to bless you. You remember that? And you say it slow. God used to bless you. You wonder what? You don't know why it stopped. He can't figure out what you did with the blessing. Hmm. May God have mercy on our souls.

So yes, I want to remember the principal key that God gave man was management. You manage, God promotes you. Manage, God will protect you. Manage, God will prosper you. The foundation of Kingdom life is management. The reason why God put you on earth was management. That's why God put you on earth. You know, I showed you this last time that the word "manage" begins with "man." It's the age where man is responsible for God's resources. Manage simply means you are in charge of another person's resources. God gave man dominion over the earth, which is management, and all humans are managers over God's property. God gave us rulership, not ownership. So we are always managers. And that means that in the kingdom of God, no one owns anything. Even those who claim to own, they don't own anything on the earth. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and the world, and they that dwell therein." And so, no matter who claimed to have what, God says, "You are only a manager in my eyes, and I'm watching how you handle my resources." Accountability is the natural result of management. God will check to see if you can give an account of what he gave you, and that includes everything like time, relationships, money, investment, people, opportunities. How you manage everything. God's watching. You can mismanage friendships. You can mismanage your marriage. Effective management determines the amount of your resources. You can always tell who's a good manager. They keep attracting more. A good manager will attract more. A good manager will attract more.

And so, here is my, my reminders. What is management? Write this down. Those of you who are in business, you wanna write this down twice. Management is the effective, efficient, correct, and timely use of another person's resources, and you do it for the purpose for which they were delegated, with a view to producing the expected added value. Management, therefore, is the correct, efficient, and timely use of another person's resources with a view to giving them a report in keeping with what they expected you to gain from the investment. Can I put it another way? A good manager always adds value to what was given to him or her. A good manager always adds value to what was given to her or him. A good manager always adds what value to what was delegated to them. That's management. Management is proven by value. You know, we began this ministry with nothing, seven people. Today, we were over ten million dollars. I think God might kind of think I did okay. Now, if God gave you ten dollars, I wonder what he wants. Remember the guys who had the talents? Three guys with the talents. Remember the one who had the one? He had it. One. Yeah. He was from being down. He took that one and he buried it in the ground. The Bible says, and he said to himself, "I gotta keep this so I can give it back to the boss because I know the boss is a stingy fella." That's what he said. He says, "My random master came back." The one who had the five made a ten. The one who had the the the four made it eight. He said, "But this guy who had the one, he still had the one." Now listen to his response. Firstly, call them lazy, and then wicked. Wickedness is not juju and bubu. Wickedness is when you mismanage any of God's resources. That's wickedness. Wickedness to God is when you take something that he gave you, and it loses value. Now, Jesus said, "And the master said unto the servant, 'At least you could have put it in the bank and got interest.'" In other words, management has to do with at least interview and work in it. At least let it work for itself. Let me draw that home to you. I don't know who gonna lose their job in this church, but a whole lot of jobs don't get lost. We could pray and fast and believe God, speaking tongues, and carry Bibles in our pockets, but let me tell you something. That Christ got storm gonna hit everybody. How valuable have you made yourself on your job? What kind of value do you bring to that department? How have you made yourself so valuable that you're the last person they think about getting rid of? God gave you the job. He gave you an opportunity. Have you added value to it? And I didn't value doesn't mean you're showing up for work, you know. It means being creative on the job. Come with ideas to make the business grow because you are there. Conquer ideas to make the department expand. Find some new ideas to bring more business. That's management in your area. You're the kind of person they don't want to get rid of. Some folks just come to collect a paycheck. Do you add value? I put it this way. Cities are loud with me, please. Go. God will not give you what you pray for, but what you can manage. Can't say it again, everybody. God will not give you what you pray for. He will give you what you can manage.

Number two, economize means to maximize the minimum. He's supposed to get the most out of the least. That's being economic. We got a bunch of land in Andros. Ever since I was a little boy, I kept wondering why they got no big farms. Some of the best soil I ever saw is in Andros, and we still import 90%. We'll be eaten. I'm sitting thinking, what's going on here? There's no dedication to maximizing the minimum we have. I want to encourage some of our young people here. Ask God to not let go and be no lawyer and no doctor. Be any kind of farmer. The more of them, we need some farmers, some horticulturists, some people who can produce food. Let me tell you something. Those who produce food will become the most valuable people in the world the next ten years because you cannot eat a computer. I guarantee you, you're gonna go to college, study agriculture, agricultural science. You got a choice between gasoline and milk. I think you're going for the milk. You have a choice between a palm violet and some food. You're going for the food. And that's why we're coming down to. We're coming down to whether being of oil or we have food. Let's think. Write this down, please. To get the most out of the least is economizing. When you add value to your gift, then God treats you as an attraction for resources. I made this statement years ago. Let me make it again. Answered prayer is regulated by your capacity to manage. No matter what you pray for, God listens to your prayer. He's watching whether you can manage it. He doesn't look at what you're asking for. He looks at what you're doing with what you have, and then that determines where he should answer your prayer because your prayer is regulated by your capacity to manage what you ask for. And most of us, if we got our prayers answered, it would kill us. Could you imagine asking God, "Lord, a million dollars"? A million dollars would kill 90% of you in this room if it dropped on your lap right now. I'm dead. Will last for 90 days straight in Miami, bomb Flagler Street, pure. Now, some of you are skating on New York right, going to your family. It's just out of control. No management. I remember years ago, you know, when a Bahamian group became famous and they hit one day records, hit bomb boy. Next thing we saw, he so I kind of call that cheer. Yeah. Now, all them broke. They didn't understand management. Management determines how God answers your prayer. God does not encourage waste.

I'm coming down to the final point here tonight, I mean this morning, because I want you to leave this place in the next three or four weeks. You know, we don't know what happened, but based on all the predictions, it's not going to be encouraging. But I want to encourage you today. What to do like Joseph? Prepare for the crisis. First thing you must understand is that God hates waste. So start going through your house right now and check all your waste. I remember this story here when Jesus fed the people bread and fish. We find this that says, "So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. And taking the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to him, and he gave thanks, and broke the loaves, and then he gave them to disciples to sit before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied." But here's the part that was interesting. It says, "And the disciples picked up twelve baskets of broken pieces." He said, "Pick up every crumb." I don't know what you're gonna do today when you go to lunch, but be careful what you leave on the plate. He hates waste. You and a filled with 5,000? He said, "Pick up every crumb." He was trying to teach them a lesson about management. Do you know where everything is in your finances? Well, where'd it go last month? Can you account for every penny? And if you account for it, did it make sense? Management. Pick up every crumb. It's a good time to have a rummage sale, a garage sale. You got a bunch of stuff, you sell them cheap, collect some money, and clean your house at the same time. That's management. It's good management. Management is defined as diligence with resources. He has two verses of scripture I want you to remember. Proverbs 13:20 says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is thought of for the righteous." We're done with that last week. The fact that God knows who has your wealth, who has it. The sinner who gave it to him. God. Why? Because the sinner can manage it. That's a very, very terrible indictment on the believer. Proverbs 10:4 says, "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth." The word diligent here means management. Lazy hands make a man poor. Diligent hands bring a man wealth. Ain't no mystery about wealth. It's a product of management. Management means you keep that car for the next three years because you're trying to manage enough to get property because property and car are two different investments. Yeah, but just just a guy on your car. Forget sister. Just like a car. But no house. You're trying to get a house. That takes discipline. Diligent hands. Sometimes even when, even where you rent, get check where you rent it. You might be renting out of your league. Let me say it slow. You might be renting out of your capacity because you're trying to impress some people. If you gotta borrow to pay rent, you need a lot of help. And I don't take it personally, please. I want you to understand that may simply means you got to sit down with someone and let them go through. I don't get mad at me. No, think it might be where you were able to do. See, that's why you missed them now. You wouldn't listen to advice. The only time that because you ain't got no problem. Listen to me. See, you don't tell me my story. I feel like telling a piece of my story right now. I came from school and lived with my mother-in-law for four years in the same house with a wife and a child because we couldn't afford to pay no rent. We were trying to buy property. We kept the red car so long the car helped me see on us. I remember going off my wife laughing. Go with. I took that silver tape and taped up the bumper. I tell her, "We ain't changing this car." Why? We got to get that property down there in Western Villas. We gonna get our own house. We gonna sleep at your mama's. I got to a pride. You better go back home now. I got my house is paid for. I got my car. Got three of them. Don't get. But you don't know what I went through to get what I got. It's management. Listen. Don't try to be like me. It took me 30 years to beat me. Let me get all uptight. You know what you don't understand? Thank God for good medicine. Laws, boy. She was a good mother. I love my mother-in-law. She's in heaven now. Bless your mama. Good boy. You know, I put my pride between my legs. [Applause] Now I got my house paid for. And you see right mad at me trying to impress everybody else and can't pay the rent. Hey, boys. In management, you got a management. Don't live above your means. You ain't got no one to impress. You try to impress people, you can depress yourself. Great cop race. Come on. You, you get a brush and a thing. It is harmony, folks. You're trying to impress. They're depressed. They can't pay. There's either. And by the way, and I told you last week, you know, the best company to keep is not bad poor people. If you pull on your friends, poor boy, you're in big trouble. It says, "A lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions." That means I prize that red Datsun. Didn't they laugh at me? Smoke. I go into my education. But they didn't know what I was paying for property in West Village. But as many money, fourteen thousand dollars for one piece of property. Today, it's worth a hundred and sixty thousand dollars just for the property. But I had to manage, hold back, discipline, swallow my pride. Management. Some of you got to make some changes in the next few weeks. That's why God let's send your pastor to talk to you. Street. See, someone got to tell you what you're doing. You can't afford right now. Step back, make some new decisions, get yourself back on level ground, and manage what you can manage, 'cause you can't pray your way out of this stuff. You gotta manage your way out of this stuff. Proverbs 13:4 says, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing great." Let me. The sluggard, the lazy fellow. I was growing boy. I hit it big. You know, you're the big. I gotta think big. You broke. And they almost got when plying and always the sluggard. They always got a plan. Sluggard. They always got one idea, and they always broke. I avoid them. I can smell them a mile away. See, the Bible. The Bible's so good. The Bible says, "What the sluggard craves, wants plenty, gets nothing." But it says, "What the desires of the diligent, that means little by little, fully satisfied." Proverbs 21 says, "The plans of the diligent need to profit, as surely as haste leads to what? Poverty." Mister boy, you know, I hit it big. If anyone tells you it's that easy, it ain't true. I've never seen fast money in my life yet. There's no fast money in the world. Now, some of y'all playing numbers and all that good stuff. I rebuke that spirit of this church in the name of Jesus. If I, I tell y'all right now, now if I ever find out, make sure I don't need to do it. Make sure I don't find that if I ever find out you playing numbers, I come into you. I can rebuke you in Jesus' name, and I expose you publicly. Look at that verse. You're supposed to plan your way to success. No quick money. I hear this guy on TV the other day talking about, you know, legalizing gambling for the Bohemians. I said myself, you know, he don't understand the whole principle that we're after. The president is not the gambling. It's the weak fella sitting next to you who can handle it. Take his whole mortgage payment, mess his family up. We got to protect that guy against himself. I'm Bahamian. Would any plenty protection? Or they come to the church to fix it. Yeah, yeah. Blues. I was wonderful. Yeah. The church bail 'em out. See, no quick money in life. Ya know, manage your life.

Let me just close. It's a couple of thoughts here. Write this down. Look, Jesus said there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his goods. And he called him and asked him, "What is this I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot manage me any longer." He got fired. Jesus is speaking. Well, I guess. Look at the next verse. Verse 8. "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted wisely. And he said, 'The people of this world seem to be more shrewd and wiser in dealing with their own resources than the people of light.'" I tell you, make friends with the world. Use worldly wealth to make friends. He says, "Make friends with wealthy people so that you will know how they do it." Now, notice what he says here. He says, "The people are wise in the world, and the people of light." That's why they got the money. God doesn't give me money because you saved again. Money because you can manage it. My God, have mercy on us. I like the way Jesus ends this story. He says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever can be dishonest with little, will be dishonest with much." See that paperclip and the chicken, that one envelope from the company will lead to a typewriter later. You can carry home in your car. He says, "You can be honest with the little." Poor chicken people. Let me tell you something. The reason why your parents would whip you for stealing a truck lens is because they know one day you're gonna be a teller in the bank, and if you get away with it, Thruppence started taking the people's money from there. The teller. If you are dishonest with little, says you'll be dishonest as much. If you mismanage little, you'll mismanage as much. And then he says, "If you are not worthy to handle worldly wealth, who will give you true riches?" Oh, by the way, let me explain it to you because I, when I did the research of this particular statement in college, I was in Dr. Honda's class. The Greek day is very interesting. It actually means that if you are able to handle people's resources, in the company, God will give you true riches. Churches means people. In other words, if you handle other people's departments, will he give you your own employees? You know, we always have people say, "Well, I'm leaving my job and I'm stopping. Maybe I'm gonna leave my job and I'll start my business." My first question is, "How well did you do on your job? Who told you somebody wants to work for you? You couldn't even go to work on time when the other man's job. How about your people skills? Did you learn them on the other man's job?" The last part is one that always gets me. "If you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?" Write this down. God will never. You never begin with your own property. God will never begin with your own property. You have to earn the right to own property. That's why when you got married, you had to start renting. When you start your business, you have to start renting. Let me start this ministry. We had to start renting. God, let's see how you're handling other people's property first. Some of y'all are renting right now and don't know that that's the will of God for you right now. God's got a plan for your own house, but read that verse carefully. He's watching how you handle the other man's property. If you treat the other man's property as if it's your own, then I'll give you your own. How often of this? And by the way, those of you who, who rent things to people, I know you know what I'm talking about. If you own apartments and you rent to people, Jesus Lord, you feel like you're selling it. Yeah. Some up here. I mean, it's just crazy. People think it's, you know, and that's why they're still renting, and they'll always be renting. It's a law that I tile. I fix in that tile in the bathroom. Wait a minute. You live in there. Your children in the using the bathroom. Well, I know in the landlord here, where he come back next week, and he come back for a change. It's like, "Both, what's wrong with you?" God said, "If you can't be trusted with other people's light bulbs, so give me your own light bulbs." You know, it's dangerous to loan someone your car for two weeks while you're on vacation. Boy, that's a test. In the mud. This ain't my car. I remember that here. You guys watching. That's why you catching the jitney. You cannot be trusted with other people's cars. Got to make sure you always catch a jitney. Go to work tomorrow. Clean up around your desk, or clean up around the place where you work. Treat as if it's yours already. If you are a contractor, treat the place in the house as if you're building for yourself and your wife. Give them the nice, beautiful cut kind of wood, right, right, doc. Take your time. If you treat it like it's yours, he says, "I'll give you your own." Management. In the name of Jesus, help us, Lord.

Write this down. Tithing is God's management training program. God will watch how you manage resources by how you manage his tithe. God doesn't need no money. You don't need nothing from you. So there's another reason why he asks you for 10%. 10%. God can use 10%. He owned the whole thing, but he's trying to check if you can manage putting aside something that ain't yours. Now, remember, if you've been faithful over another man's property, he'll give you more property of your own. Tithe, for example, is not your property. The Bible says the tithe is the Lord's. So I want to say, I don't think but money only, okay? It could be you got 10 pairs of shoes, only one of them one day is gonna belong to you. He could tell you, "Give that repair shoe away." Tithing is God's management training. If you cannot stay consistent in disciplining yourself to always be faithful in paying what God says is God's, I can't trust you with more. Tithing requires accountability. It requires discipline. It requires honesty. It requires diligence, faithfulness, trustworthiness. All of these make up management. I remember God telling the train of Israel in Malachi. He says, "Look, you guys are tithing from me." They said, "How are we tithing from you?" He says, "Unto my tithe and offering." He said, "You are eating my tithe." And then he says, "If you would be faithful and start paying your tithes again, I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you cannot contain." Then he says, "And if you do that, the Devourer will not come and take what you have and eat up your crops and destroy your vineyards." In other words, if you don't learn to manage, even by just tithing, I'm gonna let the Devourer overtake everything. You'll always have nothing. God doesn't want your money. You know, the hardest part of our ministry as a pastor, I tell you now, is offering time. Boy, I tell you, it's a struggle because people think you really want their money. God's trying to do something deep. Do you know why we can't really give and pay tax? Because we haven't managed our own resources. So we are so mismanaged, we can't afford to give God his own property. All right, we got four toothpastes and four tomato paste. You know, God, I can catch you next week. I gotta take care of the toothpaste for the kids. I can buy something. Let's see because Polly so mismanaged, we can't even give God what's his property. And then he says, "If you mismanage my property, I'll make sure you never have any of your own." So you always got like now, not having any of your own means whenever you get something, you borrowed it. So you're constantly going deeper and deeper in debt all the time. You got to borrow money just to live. So tithing protects you against the future crisis.

I have seven ways for you to manage crisis. Write this down, please. Are we gonna pray? Number one, determine what your needs are first. I'm giving you advice to go through the next 12 months first. If you're going to manage yourself, you have to decide what are your needs. Hey, boy. Say needs. Say it loud, please. Needs means these ain't things you want. When you're in crisis, you got to know the distinction very quickly between what you want and what you need. Your wants will destroy you in crisis. I want to eat out for last year, but now it's crisis time. You need to carry lunch from home. I want to still go for lunch with my friends, everybody here, but it's crisis time. You need to stay home and cook. What's the difference? You want that dress in the window. Yeah, I know. But you don't need that dress in the window. You better know what to do right now. It's a difference.

Number two, and this one is important. Only acquire what you need. Say loud. Only acquire what you need. I'm talking to all my family here, please. I'm begging you to take these seven points home with you. Only acquire what you need. You don't need a new piece of property right now. You can acquire them later. And you know now, you know if you're a good manager, you're probably in a good position to buy property. But if you've been a bad manager, you can have no property right now. So don't walk around trying to impress nobody. I read the idea. You broke. And if you have money saved, keep it. Hold on to it. My Joseph, until the crisis. We taste something in crisis. You need liquid. That's for the bankers, okay? We say it again. In crisis, you need liquid. Hard assets don't make no sense in crisis. You need liquid. Liquid means you need cash in the bank. That means don't spend your cash. Everybody say it. Say it loud one more time. I'm talking as a prophet. Say it again. Don't spend your cash. No matter what they tempt you with. No Miami trip. No Christmas shopping with the cash. And don't borrow money to go over. No Christmas tonight. I want you to ask God to give you a vision of what the gift for gifts. Get some coconuts and Peter. What do you think I'm kidding? Let me tell you something. When you see February and March hit in the first quarter, there's gonna be a whole lot of folks in this church screaming for help. Don't be foolish. Only acquire what you need. Listen, I got a big family. Most of them in here right now. I'm telling them right now to expect much from Papa. What anybody got to manage? Do I impress nobody with no Christmas baked cakes? Put their name on it in town. This was tough. He's the given plastic bag. These tough min. Your poor can app and juju and poke a plum in a bag with a bowl right on. And you take your time and eat each one slow. Enjoy that Christmas. I remember one time, man, my daddy ain't yet. It's one of the venues. Hey, Daddy. Hey, son. We can take Paul bike. We can rewrap it for.

You, Paul, is my brother. Rewrap my brother's bike for me. That's Christmas. I was so glad I finally get you back. Yeah, that has arrived again. Not a word. Don't stress yourself and cause yourself to lose management. Joseph had to stop eating grain during the good time.

Number three: Decide not to live beyond your ability. Hey boy, say "decide." Say that loud, then louder. Shake the roof. Come on in louder. That has to be a decision. That ain't gonna happen by itself. You got to decide. Beginning this month, I will not extend myself beyond my ability. If I can't do it, I can't do it. This is crisis management. And before we draw the unnecessary, okay, you're part of a club and you pay in fees. Tell them. Make a big draw for now. You're in this group, and they want you to get at it. To get rid. Draw for that for now. See? Yeah, you know, you, you, you use plan to go to the girl with the girls. Go in the Orlando. Sharpen your dues every year. I've been drawing for now, you know, a little soon. And I've been drawing for now. You gotta withdraw in crisis. You got to, like Joseph, you got to get a fine hole and put the wheat in the hole. It's okay to withdraw in crisis.

On the five: Delay major projects. You know, governments are doing it. Companies are doing it. You have to do it. You know, these major companies are amazing. They ain't got no feelings. They say things like this: "Cut staff 35%." And then they walk at the boardroom. That's how you got to be in your personal life right now. They don't care who goes. They don't care how you did it. Just cut it 25 percent, they say. Because when you're in crisis, you can't have feelings. That's why Pharaoh gave Joseph that ring. He couldn't work on feelings. He had to work on authority. You have to delay major projects. I know you've been planning to build this house or building a condominium or trying to stuff. Back off for a minute and make sure you recount what your preservations are, your reservations are, because the market is doing crazy things. And you want to be in a position of strength. You want to have liquid.

Number six: Value your possessions. I wish I had time to even talk about this one. You know, there's stuff you get that are very valuable, but you don't know they're valuable until you really think about it. Some of you got, for example, two cars. You only drive one. Well, that's a good time now. You know that old car, you can see could sell it now and get some liquid. Put it in the bank. You got five pieces of property. All right. You can get one of them. You know, sell what looks like you got possessions. You want to get some liquid. Sell one of them. Put the cash in the bank. You want to have access to liquid. Value your possessions. You got a house with five rooms. Only you want to live in there. Maybe you could extend for someone to come and move in and pay rent. But they can't afford the rent somewhere else. And I'm come living rooms, and they pay you. That room was dead. You sleep in a house with three bedrooms, then giving you nothing. Now you can make them produce something. That's valuing your possessions. You got his truck. No problem. I notice a nice truck. You got your big wheels on it and everything, but you broke. So turn this truck now into something to carry some thing. Move a moving company. Value it. Turn it into money. Yeah. I almost crashed my dress scratch. You can lose the scratch and the truck if you don't pay that note to the bank. You better turn that truck into an asset that is liquid. Cut of all your possessions. Is this making sense?

You, the last one, and this one is a tough one for Bohemians: Save, conserve, and protect. Save is so tough. People come to me all the time as I cannot save. And then they sit with me after, but you know, an hour, and they realize they could save. You could save. Some of you think you need money. You don't need money. You need management. People come to me for help, and I tell them, "Okay, go and see this person." "Why?" "I want that person not to give them money. I want to give them some sense." They need some wisdom, some structure. They need management skills. Save. Conserve means turn the lights off. Only drive if you need to drive. If someone picks you up, tell them, "Come right along, pick me up. Save my gas." Hey, conserve. You used to buy for a dollar bread. You can't afford four dollar bread no more. Go back to, you know, how much it is. That their bread. What's your lease price bread? We can call it the Saints bread. Okay. Here, you better on, huh? Two dollars, nine cents. But I still up there. No, Jesus. Then, but that's the lowest one. If what are you talking about? Yeah, that's the lowest one. You do, you know why? Because the price of flour is so high for them. See? So they need to to get that money back. So you see everything. Someone say, "Bake your own bread." Baking bread. Yeah. You might only have brands coming to chew these heavy breads like me. Everybody say conserve. Yes. Only use that condition the way you need it. Turn the rest off. With all this cool air, open the windows. Shut it off. You buy farm. That's conserving. When you are in management mode and crisis mode, you have to conserve. The governments that have to do it. And then protect. You have to protect what you have. The most important thing you have is your name. So you don't want to go running around, borrow money from everybody else. That's putting your name in danger. Because when it's all over, all you got is still your name. May the Lord give us wisdom in Jesus' name. Thank you. Thank you once again for listening to this message. As we hope that it has been a blessing to you. Our goal is to show you new paths and opportunities so that you can discover your purpose. It is your love, support, and partnership that makes Munroe Global possible. Please visit us online at you.