Transcription
I'm glad to be here. I love being at church LV. I love Pastor Benny and his family and the church here. So I'm going to share some stuff with y'all that's really, really practical to me. The Bible is an instruction guide on how to do this thing called life.
I recently had a doctor's appointment—I say recently, within the last couple of years—and I got some blood work done. I went back, and the nurse practitioner is talking to me, and she's looking at my blood work. She asked me this question; she looks at me really confused. She says, "Do you ever worry about anything?" I said, "No, why?" She said, "You have the lowest cortisol levels of any human I have ever seen." I'm like, "Wow, amen." So, you know what my question is? What's cortisol level, right? Cortisol is the stress hormone that creates all kinds of havoc in your body. And the reason I don't have high levels of cortisol is because I am free. And when I say free, that's not just a word. So I'm going to give you what I perceive to be a good biblical definition of free: I have nothing to lose, I have nothing to gain, I have nothing to prove, I have nothing to hide. I'm free. Nothing's missing. I'm not hoping some particular thing happens; I'm not wishing some particular thing isn't going to happen. I just trust that God is Sovereign, and if his will is done, it is good. Okay.
But I know, because I heard people talk about it, that people stress, and they carry a lot of stress about a lot of things. But one of the biggest things people stress about is money. Um, and I'm not going to say I've never stressed about money, because I have—like I can remember a time as a full-grown man with full-grown kids and a wife that I'd been married to for decades—I can remember sitting on my back porch after we had already made millions of dollars and then lost millions of dollars. I can—and not being able to figure out how to make my life work again. I can remember in 2013 and 14 sitting on my back porch or my back patio crying on my wife's shoulder because I couldn't figure out how to make it work anymore.
And I'm going to share some principles with you that I discovered in the Bible in 2014 that changed my life financially in ways that I could not have imagined. Like, and if somebody would have described it to me, I wouldn't have known how to imagine it. I mean, it's like magnitudes—orders of magnitude—and it's not because I'm so wonderful and I'm this unique person from another planet. It's just because the Bible is the word of God, and it does what it says it's going to do, right? And so I discovered—I discovered in the Bible a long time ago, like when I was a teenager—I discovered that the Bible is a very practical book, and if you do what it says, it will do what God says He will do. It will do, right? And so I found this—I found this passage—these passages of scripture, and I began to study them, and they showed me a model for business that I said, "I'm going to apply this to my—" While I was broke. I'm not talking about—I'm not talking about—why I have had—had stacks of cash. I didn't have any stacks of cash, right? I—I didn't have—like, I can remember—it's hard for you to believe—but like, this is after having made millions of dollars. So it's worse than just being broke, right? It's—it's like being rich and then being broke. It's way worse because now you have these memories. Do y'all know what I'm talking about? So you remember what it felt like when you didn't have to worry think about at all how much something costs, and now you're like—and every couple of months you're like going down to the—to the—to the loan shark place on the corner of Waters and Dale Mabry Highway to borrow $5,000 on the title of your car, right? Okay.
So I want you to understand it wasn't that long—wasn't so long ago that I don't remember it. You know what I'm saying? And so but I found this stuff that I'm going to share with y'all tonight in the Bible, and I said, "Oh my goodness, this is right here hidden in plain sight." And I can remember talking to my brother Dwayne. I'm like, "Dwayne, I found this principle in the Bible, and it's like—like you remember King Solomon, right? He's the richest person who ever lived. Well, guess what? God put his business model in the Bible. Like, He showed us everything that Solomon did. Like, no, not some of it—all of it. Like He showed us every single thing Solomon did. And I'm—I'm like—I'm like, 'Well, like principles don't care who you are.' So I said, 'I'm going to do what Solomon did,' and I know it's going to work. Not—I don't hope it's going to work; it's a principle. It can't—it can't not work. That's texting for it—it has to work. Okay. And so I said, 'I'm going to do this,' and I didn't know—I mean, I knew it would work, but to me, like work was, you know, you get to make a million dollars a year or something. It works so much better than that. Like it's—it's—it's—it's like—it's—it works so well. And I'm—I'm—I'm telling you this because wherever you are financially, what if you could use the energy that you use worrying about how you're going to pay the bills? What if you could use that energy to love your family? What if you use the energy that you use like, "Oh my goodness, it's almost the end of the month. I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent. I don't know how I'm going to pay my mortgage." What if you could use that energy to create a solution for somebody else? What if you could use that energy to go serve somebody instead of just using that like, "Oh, you—you got all this—you're wasting all this energy worrying about something that's probably not going to happen anyway," right? What if you could use that like for Kingdom purposes? And so—so I'm like—I'm blown away. Like people talking about, "Oh my—in Golden is so—so amazing to talk to you, bro." It ain't that deep. I spend all my time with me. Trust me, I know things. I—me—I'm not—I'm not doing anything underhanded, but I'm just saying like, yeah, sometimes I think I'm funny, and I'm not. I'm keeping it real. Like sometimes I—I remember I used to say to my daughter, "Baby, I'm so—I'm funny." "No, Dad, you think you're funny," right? She would let me know for sure, right? I'm a very funny guy. "No, you think you're a very funny guy," right? And um—and—and like if I don't use deodorant, I don't smell good, right? Like just like everybody else, I'm just a regular guy who found some supernatural principles in a supernatural book and applied them to my natural life, and God put some super on my natural. And I'm going to show you—like—like not just—I'm not going to—I mean, you're going to get hyped up because it's truth, but I'm not going to just get you all—I'm going to show you the principles. They are so incontrovertible—that means you can't argue with them—that it doesn't matter whether people believe them or not; you can't break them just because you think you have bad luck, whatever that means. You ain't going to break a God's principle. Well, stuff like that don't work for people like me. You can't mess this up. How you going to mess up the Bible? That's crazy. Now—now you—I read the Bible, and—and—and—and I applied it, and—and—and it stopped working for everybody. Does—no, that's not how it works. This ain't that. And so I'm going to share some stuff with y'all tonight. Yes, I've been—I've had some success, like—and like I—I don't need to work to make money. Like I don't have to do anything. I don't have to work another day in my life. I don't work to make money; I work because I'm made in the image of God. And what did Jesus say? "My Father worketh hitherto; I work." I'm not working for money. Like—like I could literally live off the money I have for the rest of my life—the money that I have and the money it makes. I can live off. So I'm not working for money. Like I don't need anything. And so people, "Oh, you just trying to sell me—" Like I'm not trying to sell anybody anything. I don't care. Like there are so many levels on which I don't care. Like I don't—and I would like for you to have that level of financial freedom where you have a choice about what to do financially. It's—see, people say—people, "Oh, you just—" K about—I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you something. My beautiful mother-in-law, who I love to pieces, she's 80 years old. When I met her, she was 38, and I thought she was grown. That's the funny part about that, okay? So she was 38; I was 21, right? Neither one of us were grown, right? And she's got a lot of health issues. She's got rheumatoid arthritis and some other issues, and—and I love her, and she loves me, and we've got a great relationship. And she wanted to come and stay with us, but she couldn't—like—like she can't step over a bathtub. So we had the bathtub taken out, and we put in—build a shower—a walk-in shower that has nothing to step over. It cost $6,000. Most people wouldn't be able to do that. They would want to, but they wouldn't be able to because they haven't discovered the principles where money doesn't—and it doesn't own you anymore. Money can't tell you, "No, you can't care about the people you love," right? Like people say, "Yeah, but the Bible says that—um—no man can serve two masters. You'll love one and hate the other." Yeah, but what's a master? Someone who owns you and tells you what you can and cannot do. Money was more of a master for me when I didn't have any than it's ever been for me since I got plenty. And—and the reason I'm having this conversation with you—'cause I'm going to share some stuff with y'all—but this—but the enemy, right—right—has assisted you. He's commissioned you to build such a stronghold in your mind that resists the principles of abundance that are in the word of God. I don't have any blessings for sale tonight. I'm not going to tell you to sow a seed into my life, and God's going to bless you. Maybe He will; maybe He won't. I don't know. But I'm going to tell you, God has put some principles in His word that if you apply them, they will work for you. But if you resist them, they're not going to work for you. How—how they going to work for you? You're resisting them. And so—um—like I see people struggling their way through life because they resist the truth of God's word. And I—I'm going to show y'all some stuff. It's going to blow your—and like I—I almost don't want to say this, but I'm going to say it. Like I've got some books if you want to buy one. Do—if you think I'm just trying to sell books, please don't buy any. Like I don't need your money at all. But if you don't buy it and I just gave it to you, you probably wouldn't read it anyway. That's the reality of it, right? Um, and I'm going to say this now—now—and they can remind you at the end, 'cause I don't want—I don't even want to think about this anymore tonight. I've got a book called *From the Trash Man to the Cashman*. I used to be a trash man. I drove a garbage truck for $6.25 an hour. That's what I did was my very first job after I got married, right? That was in 1987 that I drove a trash truck, right, for $6.25 an hour, but $99.50 an hour for overtime, okay. Um, but that's what I did during the day, but at night I sold financial services, and I learned about how money worked. And guess what? I learned how to get my money working harder so I didn't have to work so hard. One of the reasons you have to work so hard is because your money's unemployed. You're working for money, but money's not working for you, right, right? Okay. This book is $20. It'll change your life if you read it and do it. If you don't read it and don't do it, it won't change your life. If you read it and don't do it, it won't change your life. It's $20. They have them for sale in the bookstore—or is it the bookstore? Is that what it's called? Okay, what is it? Church LV store. Church LV store. Okay. And then this—so this is my financial literacy brain in a book. This book—just the principles in this book helped me never to be broke again. Like, so boom, there's that book. There's this book. This is called *Boss Moves*. BOSS is an acronym; it stands for Business Optimization Success Secrets. I co—I have clients that pay me—I want you—not because this makes me some cool dude. I'm just a cool dude. No, I'm just kidding. Um, not the—I'm—I'm really kidding. Don't hate me for that. I really—see, I told y'all I think I'm funny. Um, so but—but it stands for Business Optimization Success Secrets because I have clients that pay me $40,000 an hour to coach them. And when I coach them, I coach them on the stuff in this book. I have clients that pay me $55,000 a year, $375,000 a year, a million dollars a year to coach them. This is what I—the stuff in this book is what I teach them. It's $30 if you buy online. You pay $30 plus you pay $10 shipping and handling. I shipped them out here on my own dime so you wouldn't have to pay for shipping. Take advantage of it if you'd like. Okay. So I'm done talking about the books because I don't want anybody to think I'm just trying to sell you something because God knows I don't need your money at all. Um, but like you need these principles. You don't necessarily need these books—principles—'cause all the principles are in here; they're in the Bible because all truth belongs to God. So if you have a Bible, you don't even have to buy the books, but you're just going to have to study harder. Okay. So we've gotten that all out of the way. So I'm going to share with y'all tonight the most mind-blowing—one of the most mind-blowing principles in the world. I—I have this company that's worth tens of millions of dollars that just reached out to me and said, "Hey, we'd like for you to come and speak at our conference." Okay. "How much do you charge?" I charge $250,000 for me to come speak at a conference. 250,000. Like I don't say, "Well, it's a 250,000." No, it's 250,000. If they—if they flinch, they're not the one, and I'm okay with that. Okay. Like, where do you get the intestinal fortitude to tell somebody they're going to have to pay you $250,000 to come talk to a group of people for an hour? Where do you get that from? I got it from the Bible. You're—by the way, I'm going to show it to you. So why am I spending so much time talking about what I'm going to talk about before I start talking about it? Because—because the stuff that I teach is not new; it's old, but still somehow people have never heard it before. And so—but if you see it, you won't be able to unsee it. So—so I built this business on the business model of King Solomon. And they want me to speak for them. My speaking fee is $250,000. Um, if I have to fly there, they have to pay my private jet fee, 'cause I'm not flying commercial. Like you say, "Why?" 'Cause I don't want to do it. Anyway. You say, "What? None of it?" I don't want to do any of it. I would rather play golf, play with my granddaughter, or play my guitar or hang out with my wife. I don't care. Like, so if you're going to make me do something I'd rather not do, I'm going to make you pay me an amount you'd rather not pay. I'm not confused. People say, "Well, I don't want to pay you." Great. You want somebody else. I literally had a guy—if I named him, you'd know who he is—he wanted me to come speak at a conference he had in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, and he had one of his guys call me. "Hey, this person wants you to—wants to know if he'll come speak at his conference. How much is it?" It's $250,000 plus $111,000 an hour for my jet fee all the way to Las Vegas. That's $55,000 there, $55,000 back—all the expenses for me and my team—all the hotels, all the food, all the everything for me and my team, plus $250,000. Plus—and he said, "Well, I don't know if he's going to want to do all that." Then I—and I said, "Then I know he doesn't want me." Like I didn't call y'all sitting at home minding my own business. I didn't, bro. Okay? You got me confused with somebody. Don't play with me. Okay. So—so he called me back later. Yeah, he's—they're not interested. He thought you might want to do it for the exposure. Exposure. I got two words for you, bro: child, please. Okay. So—so—so where does all this certainty come from? This—this whole perspective that I have where—like—what makes you think you're a $40,000-an-hour man? "You crazy." You're right, I am. But I'd rather be crazy and rich than sane and broke. I'm crazy. Okay. So I'm done ranting. I should probably start reading then maybe start sharing some principles. So I'm going to read—I'm going to read First Kings chapter number three, uh, starting in verse one. I'm going to read down to verse number 13. In fact, I'm going to read down to verse number 14, and I'm going to share with y'all some things that you've maybe read before, but you probably haven't seen before. And some people wonder, "Man, this stuff you get in the Bible—where do—how—how do you get this stuff out of the Bible?" I am a remedial reader. I don't have the ability to speed read. I read—I read—I read so slow. I'm not even fast enough to read slow. Say what? Does that mean? I read slower than slow. And because I read so slow, I think about a whole bunch of stuff in between the words and in between the lines. And so one of the things I share with people is we need to treat the Bible more like a school zone and less like an interstate. Slow down so some learning can take place. So I'm—I'm gonna read the first 13, 14 verses here. We go. "And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building of his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Then the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar in Gibeon. And the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou gavest him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches—"
For thyself, nor hast thou ask for the life of thine enemies. Thou hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy word. Lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like unto thee before thee; neither after thee shall I arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked; both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the Kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
I’m exhausted reading that, Father. I thank you that your word is truth. Yes, I pray that you, your spirit would speak to us in ways that we’ve not allowed your spirit to speak to us in the past. Open our minds and our eyes that we might behold wonderful things out of your word, and we bless you for it in the name of Yeshua. Amen.
How did Solomon get to be Solomon? Now, there’s a passage in Romans that says, “The things that were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope.” That word “hope” is not a wish. That word “hope” is a well-founded, well-rounded expectation for the future. So God gave us some stories in the Old Testament to show us patterns, principles, promises, precepts, prophecies, and prayers that give us the ability to make predictions about outcomes in the future, so we can position ourselves in the right place at the right time. So when God gets ready to bless, we are under the spout where the blessing comes out. And so this story about Solomon, it’s not just about Solomon; it’s a story that shows us a pattern. And the things that Solomon did—and he did so many things—these are just the things it’s talking about he did in chapter number three. Wait till you see the stuff he did in chapter four. Wait till you see the stuff he did in chapter ten. It’s it’s it’s mind-blowing. So I’m going to I’m going to cover as much ground as I can, um, according to Pastor Benny, before the sun comes up. Okay, it ain’t going to be like that because I still have to pack my clothes tonight, uh, for when we get out, uh, the hotel in the morning.
So the first thing we see is that Solomon, the King David’s son—the first thing we see about him, because we know who he is, we know that he is a person who is not perfect—it’s the first thing we see. It says, “And Solomon.” Now, all I need to know about all I need to know about Solomon is know his name, know what the rest of the the rest of the story—who is Solomon’s mama? Bathsheba. Who is Solomon’s dad? David. What was the story between David and Bathsheba? David committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband killed, received judgment fourfold on his family for that sin. Solomon was the second child born to Bathsheba from David, out of a relationship that, by the biblical principles, that shouldn’t have happened. You might think right now, “I’m an imperfect person. I’m not smart enough. I’m not tall enough. I’m not talented enough. I’m not skilled enough. I don’t have enough education.” Something in my life is amiss. If there was anybody who had something missing in their life, it was Solomon. He got out to a bad start. Can you imagine how his brother—yeah, that’s that’s that’s Solomon. You know, you know who his mama is. Yeah, Dad messed up on that one, didn’t he? Right. See, now, now David messed up, Bathsheba messed up, but God didn’t mess up. You might like, you might have got here on through a mess, but the mess that you came through, it doesn’t make you a mess. You’re you may come from a home where your parents concluded that they made a mistake and they got married, and then they got divorced, and they said, “Our marriage was a mistake.” You might think, “Well, if they’re marriage was a mistake, I was born out of a mistake.” You ain’t a mistake. God don’t make mistakes. You are here by divine design. Solomon was an imperfect person. So if you are an imperfect person, you got a really good shot at doing well. It was a person who wasn’t perfect, but that—on it says, “And how do I know how else do I know he was perfect?” Some of the stuff he did—this J-man, like he made some s—made some good moves, but man, he made some huge, huge mistakes. It’s so—one of the things that Solomon did—so and I’m not going to write these on the board because I’m going to wait till I get to the business model I’m going to share these with you. You write them down best you can, fast as you can, and then when I get to the business model, I’ll start writing those down, okay? So because there’s only three points, everything I do before I get to these three points is all introduction, so you can know like how we got here, okay?
So we see next that it says Solomon—what did it say? Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David. That word “affinity” literally means a contract. He made an agreement. What did he do? He married Pharaoh’s daughter. Why? Because Egypt was a powerful nation. Solomon said, “If I marry Pharaoh’s daughter, and me and Pharaoh’s daughter have some babies, they’re Pharaoh’s grandbabies. In order for Pharaoh to come and attack us, he has to kill his own grandbabies. He ain’t going to do that, cuz grandmas and granddaddies don’t kill their own grandbabies.” So here what we’re going to do, we’re going to have a partnership. So Solomon, he procured some powerful partnerships. I’m going to tell you something: Partnerships are one of the fastest paths to profits that exist in business. In fact, in fact, until you become a person of renown—whatever that means in the arena in which you are—the fastest way for you to create massive profits is for you to partner with people who are already people of renown. Can I tell you something? Anybody in here sell insurance? Where are my insurance people? Anybody sell insurance? Okay, a couple insurance people in back. Great, great. Anybody in here sell real estate? Where my real estate people? Okay, couple real estate people. Congratulations. Okay, anybody sell cars? Any car sales people in here? Sell automobiles? Nobody? Nobody sells automobiles? Anybody in multi-level marketing? Okay, couple of y’all. Good. Anybody in here, um, have their own consulting business? Any like any? Okay, perfect, perfect. Can I tell y’all the secret? The master key to having success as an entrepreneur or as a salesperson who sells real estate or sells insurance or sells multi-level marketing or you sell coaching or you sell books or you sell speaking, you have your own business, maybe you have an agency where you sell advertising—can I tell you the master key? K, the number one determining factor—like this is so far past anything else, anything else that you’re going to find, like whatever’s in second place, you can’t even see it in the rearview mirror. You ready? The lynchpin, the number one determining factor that determines how well you’re going to do in sales is this: Who is the person that made the offer? That’s that’s it. More important than the product, more important than the service, more important than the real estate deal, more important than the insurance policy, more important than the made M—make or model of the car, more important than the network marketing company’s compensation plan, more important than the network marketing company’s products—the most important thing component in any business deal is who is the person making the deal. What does that mean? I’m going to show you. Ready? Your phone rings. Ring ring. Everybody say, “Hello.” Hello, hello. Hey, uh, this is Joe Schmo from Cuckoo. I’ve got a coaching program. We’re looking to coach 12 people into becoming millionaires over the next 12 months. Would you like to be considered as one of those? Click. You’re done. Why? Why did you hang up? You don’t know Joe from Cuckoo. But Joe’s phone rings again, and this time it ain’t Joe from Cuckoo. It’s Daymond John from Shark Tank. It’s Robert Herjavec. It’s Mr. Wonderful. It’s Oprah Winfrey. It’s somebody who you know is a business mogul or a business maven, and they say, “Hey, we’ve got a coaching program, and we’re looking to coach 12 people into making a million dollars in the next 12 months. We saw you on LinkedIn, and we’d like to consider you as a candidate. Are you interested?” Yes. What do I have to do? You didn’t ask how much it cost. You didn’t ask where you have to go. You didn’t have to ask what you didn’t ask what you have to sacrifice. You just said yes. Why did you say yes to one person and no to the other person, and you knew the exact same details about both offers? Why? Because the person who brought you the second offer was noteworthy. Right. So my—what are you saying? I’m saying the way for you to experience success in any arena that you put your foot into is to become the person people say yes to before they know what the offer is. Say what? Become the person people say yes to before they know what the offer is. What does that even mean? Okay, I’m going to show you what it means. There’s this individual a few thousand years ago. He had a he had a presentation. It was extremely short, but it was so powerful, people left their families, they left their business, they left their homes, they left their towns, and they followed him around the countryside as he healed people and gave speeches. His name was Jesus. Here’s what he said: “Follow me.” Presentations can only get one word shorter than “Follow me,” and people left everything. Now, I heard this man named Jim Rohn ask this question: “How could Jesus have a presentation that was so short and yet so powerful?” Is that a good question? Yes. You know what his answer was? “Because of all that he was that he didn’t have to talk about.” And then he said this too: “Too many people attempt to make up in words what they lack in substance.” Wow. What do we all learn from that? If we will become more, we can say less. You know there’s a way that you can do that. You know what you know what it’s called? It’s called serve people, love people. It’s called prove to people that you can help them by actually helping them. It’s a game changer. Okay, so it says—okay, wow, this is amazing how much stuff is in here. I’m still in the first verse. Okay, um, so he he married Pharaoh’s daughter, so he procured a powerful partnership. He was he was a person who was imperfect, and he brought his city to David, and um, until he ended the building of his own house and the house of the Lord. And then it says, “Only people sacrificed in the high places because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord on those days.” And Solomon loved the Lord his God. Okay, we see that Solomon possessed a powerful passion for God. He was passionate about God’s word. He was passionate about—he was so—he loved the Lord. Hey, I’m going to tell you something: It don’t get any better than that. He loved the Lord. It was like it—Solomon Solomon loved God more than Solomon loved Solomon. See, like, where do you where do you go and somebody say, “You want the key to success? Love the Lord.” Well, that’s what the Bible says: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. Okay, it’s like, who knew that was a business secret? Right. And then it say says it says, um, “And he walked in the walking in the statutes of David his fathers,” his father. Uh, that tells us that the path that he patterned was paternal—David, I mean, not David—Solomon followed in the paternal path of his father. Solomon found somebody not who was good, but who was great at what Solomon wanted to do, and instead of him trying to create his own path, he followed in the path of one he saw as a father. Father—this is—oh, oh, by the way, by the way, let me help you understand even more better. The Old Testament Hebrew word for father is Aba, or A. It is spelled with two letters. How many letters? Two. Two. It’s spelled like this: It’s spelled Aleph-Bet. I I made that too big because I got all excited. It’s spelled Aleph-Bet. Now, Aleph—all Hebrew words are built because all Hebrew letters are building blocks. They’re not just letters, they’re also—they also have their own—each letter has its own definition. The letter Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it represents God. And by the way, it’s made of two yods and a a yod and a yod and a—what is a yod? A yod is a hand. What’s a—a nail? The letter that represents God is made of two hands and a nail. What—the name Elohim begins with the letter Aleph. Okay, the letter the letter Bet means house. What does that tell us about a father? It tells us that the father is God in the house. Now, it doesn’t mean if you don’t do what he says he’s going to strike you with lightning. That’s not what it means. It means he is God’s representative in the house. Who is God? God is the progenitor. So the father’s the progenitor in the house. God’s the provider. The father’s the provider in the house. God is the protector. The father’s the protector in the house. God is the promoter. Promotion and come from the east or the west. The father’s the promoter in the house. God is the pattern. Be followers or imitators of God as dear children. The father’s a pattern in the house. And the scripture says that Solomon walked in the statutes of David his father. Stop trying to figure it out on your own. Find somebody who’s representing God in the house and follow that pattern. It’s in the—I—I didn’t put none of this in here. It was in my Bible when I got up this morning. Okay, I’m going to keep it going cuz I want I want to get to I want to get to the me of the message, and I’m I’m going to go a little faster in the introduction. And then it says, “And the King went to Gibeon in verse four to sacrifice,” therefore that was a great high place, and a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon the altar. A burnt offering is a picture of total sacrifice. So when you when you gave a burnt offering unto God, what you’re saying is, “I’m not keeping any of this for myself. Yeah, it’s all yours.” The scripture says Solomon offered a thousand—God—Solomon said to God, “You can have everything that’s mine a thousand times over.” Talk about a life that’s yielded! He said, “God, I am here for your you because I am yours a thousand times over.” Let me ask you a question: Can you honestly say that you live like that? I I don’t want you to answer me. I want you think about about it. Can you honestly say that this is how I live my life? A thousand—God, I am yours a thousand times over. A thousand—a thousand in the Bible is it’s the it’s the word alph, right? And it what it means is it means like everything, right? It’s like when we say, “Oh, it’s 110 million,” right? And you probably—okay, so y’all don’t say 110 million in Las Vegas. Got it. Okay, so just like scratch that last illustration. When we say ginormous, right? Okay, y’all get it? He offered a thousand burnt offerings unto the Lord. Well, do you know there’s a picture of that in the New Testament? The Solomon offered a thousand dead burnt offerings, but we’re supposed to offer our life as a living burnt offering. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” So I am supposed to use all of the energy of my life to burn up my energy of my life as a sacrifice to God. That’s what—that would be a picture of—y’all tracking? So we see in that passage that part of the passage—the price that Solomon paid was a premium. Why? Because people who pay premium prices pay premium attention. And so Solomon Solomon paid the price—Solomon paid was a premium, and it’s this is it’s this is so mind-blowingly beautiful. And after Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings in the altar in Gibeon, the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Wait—God! Can you imagine God waking you up? What— “Wake up! I’m about to give you anything you want. I wrote out the check. You fill in the amount.” God, who owns everything, giving you a blank check. What you going to ask for? Well, if you could give me two of these, three of those, four in red, one in black—oh, and this outfit over here, I got to have that, right? That ain’t what Solomon said. That’s not what he said. What’d he say? So we see that when Solomon answered the Lord, he prayed this prayer. The prayer that Solomon prayed was for the people. Don’t let’s don’t miss that. What—watch what it says: It says, “Ask what I shall give thee.” And then verse six: “And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto David—showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth and in upright—uprightness of heart and righteousness of—um—and truth and in righteousness and uprightness of heart with thee, and thou hast kept for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant King instead of David my father.” And here’s what he said: “I am but a little child. I’m but a little child. I know not how to go out or how to come in.” What’s he saying? I don’t know how to do a royal procession. You made me King, and I don’t know how to be a king. How many of you ever were faced with a responsibility that you didn’t know how to fulfill? Where are my people? Where are my people? Exactly. Do you understand that your lack of qualification often times is your greatest qualification? Because if you were totally qualified, you wouldn’t need God. The fact that you’re not qualified gives you a space in which to invite God into what’s about to happen. And he said he said, uh, “I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in.” Verse eight: “And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen—a great people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great people?” Can you tell that God loves people? So can I ask you a question: Why do you hate people so much? Oh, snap! Did I did that slip out? God loves people, but we hate people. We’re clearly missing something. In fact, we’re missing it so much that the Apostle John said, “How can you say you love God whom you haven’t seen if you hate your brother whom you have seen?” When when God said to—“I’m going to give you anything you want,” Solomon said, “You put put me in charge of these people to serve these people, and I don’t know how to serve these people. I’m like a little child. I don’t know how to serve these people. I don’t know how to judge these people. I don’t know how to be a king over these people. You love these people, God. I don’t want to mess it up cuz these are your people.” Is that how you pray when it comes time for your work? So I’m going to put the prayer of Solomon in modern-day vernacular. You want a prayer that will change your life for the—I mean, the prayer of Jay-Z is nice, but the prayer of Solomon will change your life for the rest of your life. Here it is: “Dear Lord, give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do in a way that pleases you and serves the people you put me here to serve.” That was the prayer. That’s all that’s all he said. He said he said he said, “I don’t know how to be a king. I’m a little kid. I don’t know I don’t I don’t know what to do. I’m lost in the sauce. I don’t know how to be a king.” He
He said, "Give me a wise and understanding heart, that I may judge your people." Why? Because the king's job was twofold. Go read Deuteronomy chapter 17; you'll see the king's job. The king's job was to study the word of God all day long, with a pen and a notebook pad in his hand, and then write out the law and then judge righteous judgment. That was the king's job. And he said, "Like, I don't want to mess this thing up, so give me a wise and understanding heart." Why is he saying that? He's saying, "Dear Lord, give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me on this Earth to do, in a way that pleases you, serves the people you put me here to serve."
I'm going to tell you something: there's some new mamas in here that don't know how to—I don't know what to do with this baby. I just don't know. Congratulations! That is the perfect place to be. Dear Lord, give me the wisdom to be the mother you put me—put this child in my life to be, so that I can please—serve this child in a way that pleases you. Some of y'all are newly married; some of y'all have been married for a long time, still ain't figured out how to be a good husband, how to be a good wife. Am I keeping it real? Dear Lord, give me the wisdom to be the husband you put me here to be, in a way that pleases you and serves this wife you've given me to serve. Dear God, give me the wisdom to be the wife you put me on this Earth to be, in a way that pleases you and serves this husband you've given me to serve. Dear Lord, give us the wisdom to be the parents you put us here to be, in a way that pleases you and serves these children you've given—here—here to serve.
Dear Lord, you come to church, LV, give me the wisdom to be the kind of member you put me here in this church to be, in a way that pleases you and serves the other people in this church. Like, if we—if we just learn to pray like that, we're so big, busy looking for what we're going to get out of the deal, we forget God put us here for two reasons: please God, serve people. If I'm pleasing God, I'm serving people; I'm on mission. Yeah, right now, if I start flipping the script, I'm out of whack. I start pleasing people and serving God, I'm out of whack. Now, I'm going to serve God, but how do I serve God? Well, Jesus said, "As you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it also unto me." So the whole thing is solved when we please God—please God, serve people. Solve the whole—that's the whole equation. That's why you are here; that's why I am here. If I'm—if I'm looking for something else, I'm looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing.
This is how Solomon became Solomon, the wisest, wealthiest man who ever lived. Why? Because he was consumed with the love that he had for God and the work that he was put here to do. He wanted to fulfill his purpose in a way that pleased God and served people. It's in the Bible; I didn't put it there; Pastor Benny didn't put it there; it was in there. This moan, okay? And then it says—then it says, "And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon asked this thing," and God said unto him, "Because thou hast asked this thing and has not asked for thyself—" Solomon didn't pray a selfish prayer. See, we like, "God, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me." God, can you just give me some o—and then once you give me some o, if you could just give me some o—am I keeping it real? Like, when was the last time we just prayed, "Lord, give me the wisdom to do the thing you put me here to do, in a way that you're pleased and people are served?" Like, if that becomes your Magnificent Obsession, you are going to be blessed beyond measure. Okay, okay. I got to read faster because we need to get to the point. Eventually, we're still in the introduction. Pray for me. Y'all think I'm playing, but I ain't—nobody ain't—nobody ain't playing with you. Okay, all right, so—okay. "And the speech pleased the Lord. Solomon asked this thing, and God said unto him, 'Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself, long life, neither hast thou asked riches for thyself, nor hast thou asked for the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment—'" Why? Because that's why he was there—to discern judgment. "Behold, I have done according to thy words; I have given thee a wise and understanding heart." How wise, how understanding. God said, "Solomon, you about to be the GOAT, the greatest of all times." That's what it says. It says, "Behold, I have done according to thy words; I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. You will be the greatest of all times." Why? Because your desire was to please God and serve people. Why? Because Jesus said, "He will be greatest among you, let him be a servant of who—oh, do you look for ways to serve the people whose paths you cross every day? 'Cause if you're not looking for that, you are looking for the wrong thing; you're confused." I—a lot of people are confused, so it—it ain't you. It's not terrible to be confused; it's just terrible to stay confused. Okay. Now it says, "If thou wilt walk in my ways, keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, and I will lengthen thy days." And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream, and it—and um—and he came to Jerusalem and stood uh before the Ark of the Covenant and the Lord and offered burnt offerings and offered up peace offerings and made a feast unto—a service. We're going to—we're going to go over to chapter four now, just for the sake of time, and I want you to see the promotions that Solomon promoted. Wait now, y'all do understand there was no Facebook, there was no YouTube, there's no LinkedIn, there was no Instagram, there's no TikTok. And without all that, Solomon's promotions that he promoted and produced carried his fame around the world. Watch this. Here's what it says in First Kings chapter 4. We're going to skip down to uh—who—there's so much in here—um, I'm going to start with verse number 29. "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much." How much? Exceeding much. How much? Everybody, talk to me. Exceeding much. "And largess of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men." And then God said, "Just so you don't miss what I'm saying, I'm going to start naming some people, right?" He said he was wiser than all men, "than Ethan the Ezrahite, than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol." And his fame was in all nations roundabout. How did Solomon's fame get in all nations roundabout? All nations? How? What—what's happening here? They don't have—they don't have cell phones; they don't have social media apps. Solomon's fame went throughout all the world, but all the people in the world were paying attention. Have y'all heard about—"Hey, do you hear about Solomon? Do you hear about Solomon? Hey, do y'all hear about Solomon?" Okay, watch this. Here's what it says. It says, "His fame was in all nations roundabout." Verse 32. "And he spake 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005." Everybody take out your cell phone. Take out your cell phone right now; take it out. I want you to go to your—I know you're like, "This dude is different." Yep. Go to your Instagram, and I want you to tell me, is there anybody in here who has posted 3,000 proverbs on their Instagram? I have not. I'm not—I'm not—okay. Is it okay if I confess in front of the church? I ain't even at a thousand, and we post stuff all the time. I—I just looked at my Instagram; I was like, "Oh, Mar, you got to set it up, bro." Uh, I only have 774 posts on Instagram. Sol had 3,000—not on Instagram, clearly. Oh, there's an idea: start posting Solomon's proverbs on Instagram. Okay, anyway, I just got a great idea. So—so in the middle of a sermon—who knew? Okay, so he wrote 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. Everybody go to your YouTube channel. Go—go to your YouTube channel. Maybe—maybe you got—maybe you have 3,000 on TikTok, or maybe have 3,000 on Facebook, but probably not. You're wondering why your business is struggling. You know why? Because you ain't helping nobody. Solomon started writing stuff that would help other people, and the word got around because the promotions that he created—like people started talking about—"Did you hear what Solomon said about this? Did you hear Solomon said about that?" So you go to YouTube. So I'm going to go to YouTube; I'm going to go to my YouTube channel and see if I've—his songs were 1,005. I just want to see if I have 1,005 videos. Please, Lord, let me have 1,005. I haven't looked, so I don't even know. Oh, dear Lord, I'm putting myself on blast right now in front of God. Like, 747 videos. I got work to do. You put up three videos on YouTube, two posts on Instagram, I don't have any followers—you ain't done nothing yet, baby. Is that too real? Solomon—now let me—let me tell you what Solomon did. Okay. In fact, I'm going to read it to you, then I'm going to tell you what he did. It says—it says he—he spake—his songs were 1,005. He spake of trees—"You speak of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth forth—that springeth out of the wall," and he spake also of beasts and fowl and creeping things and fishes. What—what do—what—what do we read? What is this like? Is anybody else confused? Like, what—what are we—may I ask what are we talking about here? Here's what we're talking about: Solomon had the ability, because God gave him wisdom, to teach uncommon lessons through commonplace things, and when he did, it was noteworthy. Solomon wrote proverbs about trees and animals and fish and insects, and his fame went throughout all the nations roundabout. Oh—oh, okay. That—that didn't hit you. Okay, watch this. And then it says, "And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wisdom." Do you realize that God has orchestrated and ordained your life to go down a very specific path, so you have specific trials and specific triumphs, so that when you get to the people you're supposed to serve, you have the answers that they have been looking for? And then guess what? They're going to go tell their friends, and their friends are going to come. Okay, watch this. So—so we're going to—we're going to skip forward a little more. Let's go to chapter 10. This is where we get into the business model. Okay, so I saw this stuff, and I'm like, "This is amazing." Like, I got—I started geeking out. I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I'm getting chills right now thinking about—like uh—this is so good. This has helped me so—" Like, like when I say so—so just—just so y'all know what I mean, so you—I don't want to be ambiguous, but I also don't want to sound like I'm flexing, because I'm not flexing, 'cause God did it. I just followed his—his blueprint. Are y'all tracking? Yeah. I'm talking about in the last five years, more than $50 million of revenue—not 5 million, not 10 million, $50 million of revenue, working part-time from this—what I'm showing you right now. Okay, okay. So here we go. Let's look at First Kings chapter 10. It says, "When the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon—" How did she hear of the fame of Solomon? He wrote 3,000 proverbs; his songs were 1,005; his fame went to all nations roundabout. So the thing—the—the content that he produced attracted people to him because he proved to the people that he could help them before he started charging them. So they knew that he could help them. You know what I call all the stuff that I post on social media? You know what I call it? I don't call it free content, because it's not free. You know what I call it? I call it community service content. It's the stuff that I create to serve the community, because I know everybody doesn't want to pay me, and I'm okay with that. So I create stuff just to help everybody, even the people who don't want to pay. They now—they have to pay with their attention; they don't have to pay with any money. And I never put anything on social media—on YouTube, especially because YouTube long form is my main platform—I never put on YouTube anything that I couldn't have sold. If I can't sell it, it's not worth giving away. Okay, so I'm—I'm really giving y'all some nuggets here. Now, here's what it says. She heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, and she came to prove him with hard questions. And it came to pass—um, I'm—I'm sorry—and she came to Jerusalem with a very great train and camels that bare spices and very much gold. How much gold? How much? Very much gold. "And precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart, and Solomon told her all her questions; and there were not—there was not anything hid from the king what he told her—not. And the Queen of Sheba—when the Queen of Sheba had seen Solomon's wisdom—" What does that mean? When you have wisdom, it shows up in your life, so people can't miss it. What you do speaks so loudly, you don't even need to open your mouth. Okay, y'all tracking? Okay. "When the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, in the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her." What does that mean? It means what he did before he opened his mouth took her breath away. She's like, "Oh my goodness, I think I'm going to pass out." Yeah. And then it says, "And she said to the king, 'It was true—it was a true report that I heard in my own country.'" She said unto the king, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom." And then she said the same thing that all of us are thinking. "Howbeit, I believed not the words until I came." Wow. So his reputation was so big, she said, "There's no universe in which that could be true." True. And she said, "I didn't believe it." So when all these people talking about Solomon this, Solomon that, Solomon, Solomon—"I'm so tired of hearing about Solomon. Ain't nobody that good." That's what she's saying. "I didn't believe it." And then she said—she said—"How—howbeit I believed not the words until—till I came—" Lost my place. How—verse—um, seven—"How—howbeit I believed not the words until—till I came and mine eyes have seen." Watch what she says next. "And behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and thy prosperity—" Thy wisdom and thy what? Thy prosperity. "exceedeth the fame which preceded thee." And it was so big, I thought it exceeded you until I met you, and then I realize that you exceed the reputation of you. Like, the experience of you is greater than the reputation of you. Is that what people experience when they experience you? Like, like they hear—"Yeah, okay, that sounds good. I know, I—yeah, I heard already." Okay, and then they meet you—"Oh my goodness, now I see why all these people—" That's what happened. Okay, y'all track back. And then it says—this is so amazing—the first—this is so beautiful—the first thing the Queen of Sheba noticed was the byproduct of the blessing of the people who served in Solomon's court. It's—here's what it says: "Happy are thy men—happy are thy servants—servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee and set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel." She said, "God put you on the throne to serve these people, not because he loved you, but because he loved them so much, he gave them you." What? Can God demonstrate his love to the people he put you here to serve by giving them you? That's what she—she—God—God loved these people so much, he gave them you. He loved them so much, he gave them you. Solomon is the most mind-blowing person on Earth, and the thing she saw was how blessed the people around him were. He was the rising tide that lifted all ships. Okay, calm down, Mar. You're 63. Pump the brakes, bro. And it says—it says—"Happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever." When God looks at your wife, men, does he say—"God loved your wife so much, he gave her you"? When God looks at your husband, ladies, does he say—"Uh—" When God looks at you, he—he said—when God looks at you, does he look at you—look at you and say—"God loved your husband so much, he gave him you"? When God looks at your children, parents, does he say that—"God loved these children so much, he gave them you as parents"? What—when God looks at your clients, business owners, like—does—does God look at you and say—"God gave these people—he loved them so much, he gave them you"? It's—I'm not making any of this stuff up; I'm just reading it kind of slow. I know some of y'all think—"I wish you'd speed up, bro." Okay, I'm going—I promise I'm going as fast as I can. I don't want to get a ticket; we're in the school zone. And then it says—it says—it says—"Happy—because the Lord loved—because the L—" "Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he thee king to do judgment and justice." And then it says—it says—"And she gave the king—" Here it comes. "She gave the king 120 talents of gold and spices—his great store—precious stones. And there came no more such spices, no more such abundance of spices as that which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon." Okay, so we're finally into the business model—through the introduction. The sermon is going to be really short; the introduction takes most of the time. Okay, here it is: King Solomon's business model. Y'all ready? Everybody say, "I'm ready." Ready. He was a consultant to his contemporaries. What does that mean? Solomon was a king, so what he did was he let other kings and queens—you're going to find out the kings came to him too; it wasn't just the Queen of Sheba—other kings and queens came to him and paid him to learn how to run their kingdom as smoothly as Solomon ran his kingdom. So when you get really good at doing something, other people who want to do the thing that you're really good at doing will pay you a lot of money so they can run their kingdom as smoothly as you run yours. Now, I believe that in our modern-day era that entrepreneurs are like kings and queens. We have our little businesses, and they're like our little kingdoms. And so a consultant to his contemporaries means if you're really good at photography, then you can become a consultant to photographers. If you're really good at music, you can become a consultant to musicians. If you're really good at graphic design, you can become a design—a consultant to graphic designers. If you're really good at business, you can become a consultant to business owners. Like—so the only—I knew a couple of things. I'm like, "I don't play the piano—" I mean, I can play it a little bit, but I don't play the piano. I don't play the guitar that great. I can draw, but I'm, you know, I'm no Picasso. So, you know what I can do? I understand business; I understand sales. Those are things I understand. I like—have a little insight into the Bible, so I figured I'll tie this stuff up together, and I'll use the Bible to teach people how—
To do business, and I'll teach them how to sell, and I'll teach them how to do marketing, teach them how to grow this, scale their business; that's what I know how to do. So I'll teach other people who wanted to learn how to do that, how to do that. I took the thing that I know and turned it into a consultancy. That's what Solomon did. Now it says that the Queen of Sheba paid him—how much did she pay him? 120 talents of gold. Do you know what that meant to me when I read it? Absolutely nothing. Has anybody ever—anybody in here ever received a talent of gold? So what did it mean to me? Meant nothing. So, so I had to research so I could find out. I want to know how much this woman paid him. Why? This is a pattern. He was a consultant to his contemporaries. When King Solomon was a consultant to his contemporaries, the Queen of Sheba is the one story that it told us so we can get a grip on how much monarchs paid King Solomon. This is one of the king—this is one of the monarchs of the earth: 120 talents of gold. So I'm going to help you all do the math. If you want to get your calculator out, you can. I've already done it, but you can take your calculator out as well. So 120—a talent of gold, depending on whe—where it was from—is it from Babylon? Is it from—is it from um—um Egypt? Is it from Rome? How much does it weigh? Well, somewhere between 68 and 74 lbs. So let's just meet in the middle; call it 70 lbs. 120 talents of gold: you take 120 times 70; that gives you the number pounds of gold. Does that make sense? Yeah. How many ounces are in a pound? 16. So you take whatever that number is; you multiply it times 16; that tells us how many ounces. So in today's dollars, the price of gold is $2,893.57 an ounce. I know that was very specific, wasn't it? I just looked it up before we got started so I could give you the exact number. So when you multiply that number times 2893.57, the Queen of Sheba—this include—this—this does not include the precious stones; this does not include um—um the—the spices; this is just the gold—the Queen of Sheba, in today's dollars, paid King—this is one consulting client—in today's dollars, that would have been $388,913,281. One client, one consulting session. Say, "May, why do you charge so much?" Solomon did. Now you're laughing. I'm very serious. Okay. Does it—but see, here's the—here's—here's the caveat: I have to make sure that if I'm going to charge somebody that much money, they get a return on their investment, because they're not investing in me; they're investing in themselves through me. So would y'all like to hear from somebody who's invested in one of my coaching programs? Ju—like I don't—I'm not selling anybody here a coaching program; that's not the point. But do you want to see how this works? Okay. Can I get a hot mic? Can I get a hot mic? Is that okay, Pastor Benny? Can you give me a hot mic? Okay, Omar, can you come up here? So two—was it two years ago? Year and almost two years ago—not quite two years ago, right? You—you came to Tampa to some months—yeah, come on, come on over here, bro. 18 months—18 months ago. So 18 months ago, Omar came to Tampa to an event that I did, right? And you're a business owner? Yes, right? And do you mind sharing with people how much your revenue—your business was doing when you came 18 months ago? And by the way, he bought—he didn't—he bought a 55—he only—he only bought a 15—$55,000 program, but that's a lot—that was a lot of his revenue, right? So how much revenue were you doing? I was making about 250—250,000. He took 55,000 of 250,000 and paid it to me. How many y'all know he had to have a lot of faith in either—either something I said or in me or some—or in him—somewhere he had a whole bunch of fa—somewhere. Okay. And then that was for one year? Yeah. And then your year was up, and then you renewed again? Yeah. How much business do—how much revenue did you do last year? Last year did like 1.2—1.2 what? Million—1.2 million. Yeah, give it up for Omar. So let—so let me ask you a question: would you say that at least some of that increase in revenue was due to the things that we shared with you from King Solomon's business model? Cuz literally he joined the coaching program that I started; it's called King Solomon's court, right? That's what—right? Am I telling the truth? So I mean, share with people in your own words—I don't want to like make you say something like I don't know—no, I—I—I just ran the play—I ran to play the man set out, but I paid attention because I paid the money. You paid attention because you play—PA—you because you paid the money. Now let me ask you this: were you at least a little apprehensive about paying this—whoa—$55,000 for some coaching, right? And that comes with no one-on-one coaching at all, right? Right. No one-on-one coaching at all; it's all group—like who does that? Right? Were you at least a little apprehensive about it? A lot of bit. I texted my wife; I was like, "I don't know about this," but I think I know about this, but now you know about this—now I know about this. By the way, appreciate you, bro. Love you. We've had a great—and I do want to say more than what I made—it's what I'm able to give, and I've been able to give of the church that I'm at double than what I made at my last W2 job. Wow. So it's really cool when you get to kind of pay the salaries of people that are working in a church, isn't that awesome? And—and so that's where—that's where the—the real blessing is. God—praise God. Thank you. Give it up for the Lord, y'all. Thank you. Omar—like the only reason I wanted you to do—I wanted to do that is so you could know—like some people think that's so wrong, charging people that much money—like I want to show you I'm not stealing people's money. I mean, he's—he's—he's one of hundreds—one of hundreds. Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask you: have you ever done—what's the most revenue you've done in a day before we—met? The most revenue you ever did in a day before—just shout it out. 5,000. Okay. What's the most you've done in a day since you started working with us? How much? 400—what? $400,000 in revenue in a day. Now can I say this? This is not because my—own is so awesome; I didn't come up with any of this stuff—like I didn't make this up. I am not smart enough to come up with something this good, clearly, but it's in the Bible, and I just said, "I'm going to do what the Bible says." So Solomon was a consultant to his contemporaries. Omar had a business; his business was doing some money; he wanted—he wanted it to do more. I'm not taking credit for his success; he had to do the work. He didn't even get to talk to me like one-on-one—like yeah, we have group coaching calls, and they get to ask questions, and we have M—like masterminds where I take two whole days and teach really, really cool, but he didn't—like—if he got stuck, he didn't get to call me and say, "Hey, my—what about this?" Right? That's not part of the program, but he's still—you know—he's doing all right, and you'll probably do even better over the next 12 months, right? So all I'm saying—God's way works. It's not because it's me—do—am I—I'm—I'm a guy who found a thing in the Bible, and I did it. I'm not any better than you; I'm not any smarter than you; I'm not any sh—oh, Mar's just so wonderful—ah, sometimes—other times not so much. So he was a consultant to his contemporaries; that's the first part of his business model. And when he charged his contemporaries, he didn't charge them a little; he charged them a lot. Are y'all tracking? Yes. Okay. I'm—I promise I'm almost done; I only have two more points. I'm almost done. I'm going to be like Pharaoh and let God's people go very shortly. Okay. So—so watch this—um, it says—am I still in chapter 10? I think I am. Okay, I'm still in chapter 10. So let's go down to verse number 23. So the king exceeded all the kings of the Earth for riches and for wisdom. If you read 2 Chronicles 9:23, it tells us that all the kings of the earth came to Solomon and paid him to learn his wisdom. If every king on Earth comes to you and pays you 388 million, you're probably going to be okay. Hash—just say it, right? Okay. And maybe—maybe they didn't all pay that much; maybe they paid a percentage of their GDP, but they all paid him a lot; that's the point. Does that make sense? Okay, y'all track it. So then it says, verse 23: "So Solomon exceeded all the kings of the Earth for riches and wisdom," why? Because all the kings of the earth came and paid Solomon. Do you know if you could get—not if you get everybody on Earth to give you a dollar, you'd have n billion dollars. Okay, y'all tracking? And then it says, "And all the Earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart." Wait, all the Earth? Why? Because when the kings and queens of the earth came to Solomon and paid him to learn his wisdom, they sent their people to go learn from Solomon. So when they started implementing the—the—the form of government that Solomon was implementing, so the people wouldn't revolt, so they went to learn how to be citizens in the Kingdom where King Solomon taught the king how to be a king, but guess what? He didn't teach them for free either. Now watch this: can Solomon talk to every individual human on earth individually? Is that even possible? No. So what did he do? I believe that Solomon—point number two—he was a communicator to crowds. Solomon did seminars, why? Because you can't talk to all the people on Earth one at a time. So what do you do? So I've been to the ancient world—like to the ancient city of Ephesus; I've been to ancient Israel; I've been to um—ancient Greece. They have stadiums that will hold 30,000 people, and the acoustics are so good you can stand on the bottom and have a conversation; the people in the very top back rows can hear you. Okay. I believe that people came to these seminars by the thousands to hear Solomon's wisdom, why? Because those kings and queens sent them. Now Solomon is a communicator of crowds. I don't like talking to crowds of people; I'm so embarrassed; I'm so shy; I'm so B—I'm an introvert. I know it's hard for y'all to believe I'm an introvert who operates as an extrovert in business, because operating as an introvert—vert in business means nobody knows I exist; therefore, they cannot do business with me. But I am naturally an introvert. So communicating to crowds means you put a message out for the world to hear. Guess what? Some people are going to judge you; some people are going to misunderstand you; some people are going to call you names. Oh, well, it's your job to communicate to crowds. So what do I do? I communicate to crowds, and guess what? I charge them for it. What? Here's what it says: why do I charge them for it? Because here's what it says: "And all the Earth sought to Solomon to hear the wisdom which God had put in his heart, and they brought every man his present—vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments and armors and garments and armor and spices and horses and mules." Solomon did not teach people for free; he made them pay him. See, do you know why people think that doing something for somebody for free does them the greatest favor? But I believe that doing work for people—providing value for people for free—does them one of the greatest disservices of their life, why? Because you're buying into their belief that they have a limited ability to pay for the value they receive. So I'm disempowering you by saying you can't afford—I paid for mine, but you can't afford to pay for yours, so I'm going to give it to you, so you're going to be my charity case? No, that ain't how we do it, because I know that when I pay for something that's outside my payment comfort zone, it allows me to access a level of creativity that I cannot access any other way. I have to make a decision to pay a price that previously I was unwilling to pay; it makes me uncomfortable; it might make my heart palpitate; might make my hand sweat, but I'm going to pay the price, why? Because the heart follows the pocketbook. If you don't believe me, ask Jesus; he said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." So Solomon was a consultant to Kings. Here's the last point, and I promise you I'm done: he created continuity cash flow. Say, Mar, what's continuity cash flow? Continuity cash flow is you sell something to somebody once, and they pay you for it continually; that's called continuity; it's also called—some people call it MRR; some people call it WRR. So what does that mean? MRR means monthly recurring revenue; WRR means weekly recurring revenue. Here's what it says: they—it says they—in verse 25—"They brought every man their present—vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and garments and armor and spices and horses and mules." Watch this: "A rate year by year"—Solomon did not charge them once; he charged them every year. Say, Mar, why do you make people pay you $55,000 and then you make them pay you $55,000 again? Or people pay $375,000 for your VIP program, and then they pay you $375,000 again? Cuz Solomon did. I'm not going to—like I am not smart enough to improve on what's in the Bible. Hashtag—just say it. This—how we going to do it? And you can either pay every year or be in this year and out the next; I'm good either way. And so what we have to do is like—why are we going to attempt to improve on what God has put in his word? I promise you, if you will get to the place where you've got like the communicator—the crowds—Solomon did seminars; people paid to go to the seminars. Guess what? Like we generate in—in—in ticket sales for our events—virtual and live events—we generate over $100,000 a month just in ticket sales. I'm not bragging; I promise I'm not bragging, cuz I was going to brag—it'd be about something more than 100,000 a month, cuz that's—I get it. And I'm—by the way—why—why—why are you acting like that's a little bit of money? Cuz it is. Now you say, "Why do I say it is?" Here's why: because like I know it is, but there was a time—the amount of money you make now you thought was a lot. Can I get a witness? How many y'all remember your first job? I remember my first job. You know how much I made when I got my first job? A $1.55 an hour, and I thought I was rich. I got my own money; I'll buy my own Converse All-Star. Thank you very much, right? They didn't have Nikes and stuff when I was a kid; just Converse All-Star; that was it. Okay. That was the level you were leveling up, because you didn't get the coaches; you got the All-Stars; you got the Chuck Taylor. Some of y'all remember, anyway. $1.55 an hour—my first job as a married man, $6.25 an hour—like I've—I'm not bragging; I'm just telling you what's possible. I—I've made millions of dollars in an hour—hour—and I'm not saying that cuz you could—so you can think I'm somebody—I'm just a regular—I'm tell—I'm—I'm not telling you that so you can think I'm somebody; I'm just telling you it works—like it could work for you just as well as it works for me. I ain't—ain't that special. Watch this: I—I tricked myself when I was in my 20s and 30s; I would take a number that I thought was a big amount of money, and I would put the word "only" in front of it. People say, "How much did you make? How much money do you make?" Well, last month we only made 25,000, why? Because I realize that seldom will I make as much as—never will I make more than the amount I allow myself to think of is a lot of money. I like—we—we have a decent revenue stream in our business. I was talking to a new mentor of mine; I was sharing my story with him; he—he almost like patted me on my back like, "Poor thing," right? He's like, "My—you've done really well," and then he paused and he said, "But you could do so much better." This is a guy who's worth $5 billion—"Poor thing," right? That—but guess what? I didn't resist it. You think I'm challenging you, right? Okay. I am 63 years old; I have not made $100 million in my entire life—like the whole—all the money I've made my whole life is not $100 million. Okay. This man looked me in my god-given eyeballs, and he had enough nerve to say to me, "If you do what I tell you to do, you're going to accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate in the next six months, and I'm going to show you how to do it." Did you say a 100 million? You said hundreds of millions. He said hundreds of millions of dollars. All I'm saying is like—whatever the amount of money is that you think is so ginormous—none of it's bigger than you; that's what I'm saying—none of it's bigger than you. And I'm telling you—I decided when I discovered this stuff that I just showed you tonight in the Bible—I said, "I don't know how it's going to work, but I know it's going to work cuz God did it, and I'm going to do this." People might laugh; nobody may understand; people are going to think I'm crazy talking about God in the marketplace and business in the same breath. People in the church ain't going to understand why I'm talking about business; people in the marketplace ain't going to understand why I'm talking about God. I don't have time to care; it worked for Solomon; I'm fixing to do this. So I am here to let you know that God put you here to please him in great ways and serve people in great ways. Let's do that in 2025. Father, thank you for your church; thank you for Pastor Benny; thank you for this word that you did not leave us without; bless us to be a blessing; we pray in the name of Yeshua hamashiach, our Savior. Amen.