Transcription
This morning, we want to share a seed of wisdom, using a scriptural foundation and reference. But evidently, many times you've heard messages based on these same scriptures. The other lessons that are obvious have been emphasized, and what we're about to look at today is not something you may have had often.
So, the message is titled "A Seed of Wisdom That Could Have Helped." A seed of wisdom that could have helped Samson. Please open with me to Judges chapter 16, the book of Judges chapter 16, verse 4 through 20. You know, this is a story that many of you have heard many times, you've read many times, and quite a lot of great lessons to learn and insight.
Well, this morning, we are looking at it from the dimension of something called trade secrets. A trade secret is a secret formula, could also be a method, or sometimes even a device that gives you an advantage over competitors. It gives you an advantage over competitors. It is any valuable commercial information that provides a business with an advantage over competitors who do not have that information. In the process of life, God is going to bless you with something that will give you an overwhelming advantage over other people, over competitors, over enemies, over opponents. In the process of life, God will give you access to valuable information that your competitors do not know and they do not have. And we are praying this morning that as the Lord does this for you, you will not make the mistake that Samson made.
Trade secrets are secret practices or processes that give a company a competitive advantage over its competitors. Now, we have many illustrations, so many left, right, locally and globally. There are many examples of trade secrets that are tangible, physical, and then there are those that are not. A famous example of a product that is protected by trade secret is the Coca-Cola recipe.
Now, let's look at the context of the scripture we looked, read this morning. Judges chapter 16, and that brings us to the first lessons we'll look at. Just three lessons this morning.
Lesson number one: Don't reveal your trade secrets. Don't reveal your trade secrets. In Judges chapter 16, verse 6, Easy to Read Version, he says, "So Delilah said to Samson, 'Tell me why you are so strong.'" Another version would say, "Tell me the secret of your great strength. Why are you so strong?" There are some answers to this question that you can afford to share, and there are some answers to this same question that it will be most unwise of you to share. Most unwise of you to share. You share it, it's just a matter of time, and you just observe that people don't know that they no longer need you.
The people that you would have remained relevant to, and who would have kept on seeking you from time to time, they take that trade secret, and you never see them again. He told Delilah everything. He said, "I have never had my hair cut. I was dedicated to God before I was born. If someone shaved my head, I will lose my strength. I will become as weak as any other man." And that was the beginning of the end of Samson, the beginning of the end of his reign of outstanding victories over the Philistines. Don't reveal your trade secrets. They are selling things that God has already given you. In particular, so valuable.
I see it can be a big problem when you are not even aware of something very valuable that God has already given to you. You are not even aware. And it could become dicey when someone else is aware of something important about your life that you are not aware of, because that person could take advantage of you without you knowing. That person could exploit you, and it will take a very long time before you will discover what has happened. Conceal your trade secrets from gold diggers, from traitors, from fair-weather employees who will easily what took your organization so much time and resources. You know, to eventually achieve. Protect and conceal your trade secrets from schemers, from opportunists, and protect them from people with an entitlement mentality. People with an entitlement mentality.
There is what is called reverse engineering. It is one of the reasons why you must protect it. And in this present time, you know, it's uh, it is the normal, it's almost like the normal thing to do, because the cost of developing certain products and processes is much more expensive than competitive intelligence. Companies have an incentive to figure out what makes their competitors successful. However, the law permits businesses to purchase a competitor's products and subject them to laboratory analysis for the purpose of unlocking hidden secrets of the trade. That's a key of what we are talking about today: unlocking hidden secrets of the trade. And people can pay you a billion dollars, a billion dollars for a trade secret. And for them to give you that offer, they already know how much they are going to benefit from it. So, reverse engineering is a process, you know, through which you take a product, you take an equipment, you take a tool, and then you begin to break it into parts, seeking to understand the components and possibly the process of actually putting that thing together in its finer shape. And it's something, it's a process that works. And so, it's a global uh practice today.
Lesson number two, as we'll begin to close it up: Protect your idea, not just the money. Protect your idea and not just the money. Protect your idea and not just the money. In 1980, a certain 25-year-old young man, who had just begun making inroads into the computer business, struck a deal with a tech giant to develop an operating system. After adapting the operating system for what was to become the personal computer, he sold it for a one-off fee of $50,000. But he did not transfer the copyright to the tech giant, believing that other hardware vendors will clone the product.
And so they did. And he became the sole provider of operating systems for major PC manufacturers. For details, and you know that that man, this man in question, became, rose to become one of the richest men in the whole world. One of the richest men in the whole world. So, as confidential information, as trade secrets are known in some jurisdictions, trade secrets are the classified documents of the business world. Just as top-secret documents are closely guarded by government agencies. To protect the trade secrets, a company may require employees privy to the information to sign non-disclosure agreements upon hire. So, therefore, trade secrets such as secret formulas are often protected by restricting the key information to a few trusted individuals. A few trusted individuals. Whatever type of information is represented by trade secret, a business must take reasonable steps to safeguard it from disclosure.
And then lastly, third lesson, number three: How to be a blessing with your trade secret. And this is what God also told me personally as well. You can express your kindness and generosity by being very generous with the profits obtained from the use of your trade secrets, but don't share or reveal the trade secret itself. So, the Lord gave the example, just use a common example of Coca-Cola. I said, "Look at Coca-Cola and the formula." He said, "If the owner of Coca-Cola wants to be very generous, wants to be very kind, and wants to empower people, you don't do that. He won't do it. You don't do that by sharing the formula of Coca-Cola." You can empower people, you can give out billions of dollars, what of uh, you know, charity work and seeds through the profits that you make from the use or trade in that particular product, which is in this instance, Coca-Cola. But I spent the secret calling people to say, "Well, uh, God has been kind to me, and I want to also, you know, empower other people." And then you call like 10, 10, 10 people together and say, "Let me share with you the formula of Coca-Cola." If that had been done 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, Coca-Cola would not, would no longer be where it is today, and Coca-Cola would not have been where it is today.
So, you can be a blessing, a great blessing to people with certain gifts that God has given to you, but you have to do it wisely because there is a way you can also do it, and the support, advantage, and effectiveness of that particular thing will be lost because now it is now known to too many people, and it is now a common thing in the public domain. I believe that this message is for someone listening to me right now. And I believe that you have clearly learned certain things. I pray that the mistakes you made before, you will not make them again. But I know that for this message to come today, there is something big ahead of you. There is something better than the best you have had so far that is coming this time. And any plan to take advantage of you, even very sophisticated plans that ordinarily even an intelligent man or woman will fall for, I pray that through divine intervention, you will not make the kind of mistake that Samson made, in the name of Jesus.