THE CHRISTIAN ENTREPRENEUR REPORT:

Twelve Biblical Wealth Principles

2008, Mark Freeman EPIC Wealth Strategies www.EpicWealthStrategies.com

About EPIC Wealth Strategies The mission statement for EPIC Wealth Strategies is: Empowering the Christian Entrepreneur with the knowledge of creating multiple streams of income through businesses, investments, and real estate. We believe in equipping the saints with the financial education needed to effectively instigate wealth-building strategies for themselves and for the Kingdom. The purpose of EPIC is two-fold: 1) It takes money to fund the work of the Kingdom. As believers, we can be channels of blessing that God uses to bring the finances into the church. 2) As individual believers, we need to be free from financial challenges so that we can pursue our own callings and ministries as part of the body of Christ. Many of us are not living to our full God-given potential because we have to focus on making enough money just to get by. We are just surviving by living paycheck to paycheck. This affects the freedom of our time, but also the freedom of our mind. If you are constantly worried about money, chances are you arent able to focus on your individual and unique purpose in life to the fullest. Whether we would like to admit it or not, if were honest with ourselves, most problems can be solved with money. In case that sounds like heresy, the Bible itself takes it a step further in Ecclesiastes 10:19: Money answers ALL things [emphasis mine]. While it is true that money cant buy happiness, I like the way David Bach of the Finish Rich series says, Money may not make you happy, but LACK OF MONEY can certainly make you miserable.

Welcome to the EPIC Wealth Strategies Report entitled Twelve Biblical Wealth Success Principles for the Christian Entrepreneur. Im sure there are many more than twelve, but this is what the Lord has shown me specifically through His Word, through research, and through experience. To start off by telling you a little about myself before we dive in to the topic of this Report, my name is Mark Freeman, and I am a Christian and an entrepreneur, in that order, and its really okay to be both. I am the founder of EPIC Wealth Strategies. I left corporate America as an executive vice-president of a highly successful architectural firm. Before then, my goal had been to settle into a large company just like the one I was in and climb the corporate ladder to the top. In my mind, I had assumed that I would retire there, because it was a great company, and I was on my way to attaining my goal. I was one step under the highest position in the firm a partner. But what I discovered is that the higher I went, the more involved in the rat race I became. I was making a good salary, but I was still living paycheck to paycheck. I didnt have any assets to show for my success. I was becoming dissatisfied with the grind of long hours day after day after day. Every time I took another step on the corporate ladder, I thought everything would be better. And here I was, as Executive Vice-President, thinking, Oh, but if I could only get that next promotion, everything will be all right. I suddenly wondered why I was thinking it would be different on the next step. Perhaps being partner wouldnt satisfy me, either. These uncertainties were confirmed when I met with one of the partners of the firm one evening after hours. This partner was talking (bragging) about his hectic schedule and his long work hours like it was the greatest thing in the world! He spoke about how he took work home with him, and how he would leave the office in the late evening to go home for dinner. But then he would work at home after dinner or go back to the office to work until eleven oclock or so. He was saying all of this as a positive note, and he was basically hinting to me that this is what it took to take that last step to become partner. But what that partner meant as an encouragement, God used as a confirmation.

I left the office that evening knowing the Lord had something different and better for me. I started investing in real estate part-time while continuing my job as an architect. I started out with a ten-year plan to accumulate enough real estate so I could quit my job. But that ten-year plan was accelerated to a three-month plan. Since leaving the corporate world, Ive started nine different businesses, ranging from commercial real estate investments and developments, residential investments, architectural design and consulting, online sales, and financial education and publishing. On the one hand, some of them have been very successful businesses, but on the other hand, there are some learning experiences mixed in with the success stories as well. But I believe the failures and setbacks are better qualifiers for teachers and mentors than the successes themselves. So I will attempt to summarize a small part of what I have learned in these twelve biblical wealth success principles. I trust that you will receive from these principles as I have! EPIC Wealth Strategies offers a 7-CD Audio Program called Multiple Streams of Income for the Christian Entrepreneur that goes into much more detail in each of the following principles. Visit www.epicwealthstrategies.com/multiplestreams for more information about this powerful Audio Program.

Wealth Principle #1 Understand The Biblical Principles Of Wealth And Entrepreneurship

I want to present to you a very balanced biblical view of wealth, but most Christians have been on one end of the spectrum or the other. On the one hand, many Christians have believed that God wants His people to stay poor. They believe that God is against wealth because money isnt spiritual. Money is just filthy lucre and the root of all evil. This belief gives them a poverty mentality, which is not a lack of money; its a state of mind and a belief of the heart, which causes you not to have any money.

On the other hand, some Christians believe that as long as they profess prosperity, it will just fall from the sky and land in their laps. Were not saying that God cannot provide financial miracles, because He can and He does, especially in times of considerable need. We have heard too many testimonies and have experienced too many miracles in our own lives to not believe in miracles. But we want to be in the middle of those extremes, and thats us being diligent in learning the principles of how to produce wealth. Gods biggest desire is to teach us so we can learn those principles. Then He will bless our efforts. But the key is that we still have to actually do something to produce it. We have to plant something in the ground as investments, or there is nothing that God can multiply. We have to make an effort in order for God to have something to bless. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth. Notice that God does not give us wealth, but He gives us the power to get wealth, which means the knowledge, the wisdom, the ideas, concepts, and insights we need to accomplish it. This is the balanced biblical view of wealth. Genesis 12:2 says that we are blessed to be a blessing. The money, the wealth, the blessing, is good if we use it for the right reason. We are to be channels of his blessing, where the blessing flows to us but right back out. The Lord is calling us to become apostolic entrepreneurs, which is an anointing that enables you to experience financial increase in many different ways. The word blessing used in Genesis 12 in the original Hebrew implies being empowered to prosper.

childrens children, but the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. If we are not in the process of achieving this goal of leaving an

Proverbs 13:22 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his

inheritance to our children and grandchildren, then we have to change how were doing things or ten years from now, well be in the same place.

Wealth Principle #2 Change Your Financial Mindset

carnal (of the flesh), but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.
This Scripture holds a major key to our success in our entire financial future. Until we grasp the meaning of strongholds and how it relates to our finances, our businesses, our entrepreneurial ideas, and even our outlook on life, we may be stuck spinning our wheels because we will not have dealt with our worst enemy our mind. So before we even begin to implement any teachings on wealth and money, we have to get our mindsets right. Strongholds are automatic, practiced, habitual ways of thinking a practiced way of thinking built into us or perhaps learned as a child. For instance, many of us grew up thinking that wealthy people are greedy and dishonest. We talk about people being filthy rich, as though the two words automatically go together; that being rich is filthy. As believers, many of us believe that we should only have enough money to get by. That sounds spiritual, doesnt it? But in reality its an extreme case of greed because you are thinking only about yourself and not about helping others and the Kingdom. Some believers have a hard time with having a lot of money when others have so little. But what good do you do for those who dont have much money by being one of them? Why not create wealth for yourself so you can in turn HELP those who dont have much money? Many of these statements or false beliefs have been with you since you were young, and they are still with you and are controlling your financial life, whether you realize it or not. We are taught how to think about money, whether from parents, siblings, friends, teachers, pastors, media, and so on. These negative thought patterns become the strongholds that form our reality as we accept them and believe them as truth. We have to get rid of these in our lives and replace them with the truth of Gods word. II Corinthians 10: 4-5 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not

The following is a sample prayer of repentance. Pray as the Holy Spirit directs you:

Father, bring my carnal mind to death on the cross. Let me have Your mind to walk in the Spirit. I give my mind to You. I declare that I do not have a carnal mind but a renewed mind. Thank you for revealing the presence of these financial strongholds that have been blocking my thinking regarding money and wealth and have been keeping me from knowing Your truth. I confess it, and I ask your forgiveness. I renounce this thought pattern, and I submit my mind to the working of the Holy Spirit. Lord, forgive me for believing this is all there is and for believing my current financial reality is Your will for my life, for not embracing the truth about who I am, and for allowing others, the world, tradition, and my culture to tell me who I am. I renounce these issues of reality, in order to embrace the truth of who You, Lord, say that I am. In Jesus name, Amen.

Wealth Principle #3 Understand The Biblical Difference Between Tithes, Offerings, AND Investments
In biblical times, and throughout most of history for that matter, society has been agricultural in nature, so when Jesus spoke parables about sowing seed, everyone understood exactly what He was talking about. They understood thirty, sixty, and hundred fold, and the principle of multiplication. Part of what Im about to say is paraphrasing from the book Becoming A Millionaire Gods Way by C. Thomas Anderson because he explains this idea in a profound and understandable way. A farmer in biblical times always knew he had to do certain things with the harvest in order to insure another harvest the next year. First, he took the first tenth, the tithe, the first fruits, into the storehouse, which in the Old Testament was the Temple, and he gave it to the Lord. This was his insurance that God would protect everything else that he owned. The tithe was the only thing God required of him. Next, the farmer might also choose to give an offering. By doing so, he would be planting seed in the kingdom of God. He could give any

amount over the tithe. God didnt specify any exact percentage for an offering. This seed would produce a spiritual blessing and cause multiplication. The tithe was never intended to be seed sown into the kingdom; the offering served that purpose. The same principle holds true for our giving. Our tithe is that which belongs to God in the first place. It is not seed. When we give it, we protect all the rest of our possessions. On the basis of the tithe, God rebukes the enemy for us so that he cannot touch anything that belongs to us, as you can read in Malachi 3:11. The tithe is an insurance policy. When we choose to give an offering above and beyond our tithe, we are planting seed that has the capacity to multiply thirty, sixty, or hundredfold. After the tithe and the offering, all of the rest of the seed was available for the farmer to eat. But if he ate the rest of it, there wouldnt be any harvest next year. Therefore, in addition to the tithe and the offering, he always kept another bag of seed out of the harvest to plant in the ground. The tithe went into the storehouse. The offering was planted in the kingdom of God. The other seed was planted in the ground. In a way, the offering was a spiritual seed and the planting was a material seed. But they were linked together. The spiritual offering resulted in a multiplication of the seed in the ground. In other words, the tithe protected his stuff and the offering produced a spiritual multiplication but if he did not plant something in the ground, there would be nothing to multiply. One hundred times zero is still zero. To be successful, he needed both, and we need both. We hear a lot of good teaching in the body of Christ regarding tithing and giving, so Im not going into those subjects now in depth, but we also need to be planting material seed, physical seed, by investing, because if we have not invested anything anywhere, there is nothing for the blessing to affect. We have to give God something to work with! As we moved from agriculture into industry, our attitudes began to change. Instead of seed, we started getting paychecks. So, instead of setting aside some of our seed, we need to set aside some of our paychecks to make investments. How many of us in the body of Christ are doing that? I believe not many. As a result, even when we have a spiritual blessing, there

is really nothing planted in the ground that God can multiply for us. As Thomas Anderson puts it so well, We wonder why we dont see the abundance that the Word talks about but we have eaten most of our seed instead of planting it in the ground.

Wealth Principle #4 Get Your Financial Education

Your first investment should be in your financial education. Even if you dont have much money but you want to start planting that seed, start small and seek out good education before running out and putting money on the investment itself. We need to be good stewards and learn to invest the right way in whatever area we feel drawn to, whether thats anything from a mutual fund to land development. But then, while you are learning, you have to take action. You have to actually do something to succeed financially. Many of us as believers try to wait until everything is perfect before we go for something, or we wont move until we hear a booming voice from heaven telling us that its okay to proceed. Im not saying dont rely on the Lord for discernment in anything and everything you do, but many people use that as an excuse, and in reality, they are stalling because theyre afraid to move ahead. Lets look at the story of the widow of the prophet in II Kings 4 when she came to Elisha for help. A creditor was coming to take her two sons to be his slaves. Starting with verse 2:

So Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones. So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not another vessel. So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And

he said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.
If you were in this situation and knew beforehand what was going to happen, how many vessels would you collect? The oil continued to flow as long as they had empty vessels to fill, but the multiplication stopped as soon as they ran out of places to put it. This passage shows that to what degree we prepare for the blessings of God determines how much He blesses us. Her investment was in the number of vessels collected. Educating yourself in areas of building wealth is a step of faith that demonstrates how far you will allow God to go in multiplying your investment, just like collecting vessels. I encourage you to take advantage of the resources available at www.epicwealthstrategies.com/multiplestreams for your financial education.

Wealth Principle #5 Develop Multiple Streams Of Income And Multiple Wealth Strategies
As I stated earlier, the mission statement for EPIC Wealth Strategies is Empowering the Christian Entrepreneur with the knowledge of creating multiple streams of income through businesses, investments, and real estate. Everything falls under those three categories, and I realize there are some overlaps in those three for instance, you can invest in your own business or you can invest in real estate. When I say investments, I am speaking mainly about any investments that arent business-related or real estate related. Most of us have heard the phrase multiple streams of income as a means of achieving financial freedom. This doesnt mean getting another part-time job, but creating wealth and residual income through multiple sources of businesses, investments, and real estate. Residual income is money that continues to come in, whether youre actively working at it or not. The advantage of multiple streams is if one stream dries up or slows down, you have others flowing in to pick up the slack. With the recent

trends of corporate downsizing and the loyalty of employers being a way of the past, multiple streams of income from different sources are more important than ever, and will be perhaps essential in the future.

you will find it after many days. Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 says, Cast your bread upon the waters [plural], for

Multiple income streams is one way to diminish or even eliminate the evil, because if you have enough streams, one can completely disappear and you wont even notice it too much. The evil could be a spiritual attack, but it can also be economic trends or market changes as well. Most people think of diversifying as investing in mutual funds. They believe this is a method of spreading the risk and playing it safe, but in reality, all they are doing is investing in more and more paper assets. What if the stock market crashed? Dont be deceived into thinking that type of evil cant ever happen again as it did in 1929. If the stock market had a major crash, most mutual funds would be wiped out. I understand the buy and hold strategy and dollar-cost averaging, but what about those just entering retirement age? They didnt have time to wait for the funds to go back up. So mutual funds and 401(k)s can have risks, too, right? For a two year period, I bought a lot of residential real estate, and I still believe that real estate is one of the best vehicles to create wealth, and that everyone should invest in real estate whether its your main income or youre just buying a couple of houses a year to add to your retirement portfolio. But something happened that changed my financial plan toward the end of that two-year period. I suddenly found my monthly cash flow from my residential real estate was down significantly income that I had come to rely on as a sole source. Sure, there were some mistakes made, lessons learned, and things I would have done differently if I had it to do all over again. I believe some of it was a spiritual attack. But for whatever the natural or supernatural reasons, this situation was used in my life to teach me the importance of multiple streams of income. Even within real estate itself, there are many

ways to make money through different techniques, markets, strategies, and property types, but I had settled into one method of real estate investing. This is what began my journey with the birth of EPIC Wealth Strategies and teaching other people multiple streams of income so they dont have to go through what I went through.

Wealth Principle #6 Start Your Own Business

This one may sound scary to you at first if youve never gone down this path, but roughly 80% of the wealthiest people in the United States got that way by building their own businesses. Just think that there would not be any companies at all in our capitalist system had it not been for that one person who had that one idea and the courage to break out on his or her own. Somewhere, sometime, it all started with one, lone entrepreneur. Well, why not you? God has that one unique idea for you and your business. You could either start a new business or buy an existing business. These strategies would include franchises or network marketing as well, or working as a self-employed consultant in your existing line of work. But whichever route you choose to have your own business, even if it starts out as a small, part-time venture, the advantages are great. This includes tax advantages as well. Its a great legal tax loophole that Congress allows because they know the economic benefits to this country by encouraging entrepreneurs to have their own businesses, which means growth and jobs and so on. Now, dont go out and quit your job until you have enough consistent income from your business to survive and replace the income you currently receive from your job. You could start a side business while youre working full-time, or start investing in real estate, or write a book on the side, and work to build income in that side business until that income is enough to allow you to quit your job. But you first have to take the time and make the effort to educate yourself in those areas, as we have mentioned in an earlier wealth principle.

Theres nothing wrong or second-class about having a job, but what I am saying is just dont get comfortable with that job and rely on it as your sole source. Your job may be nothing more than a foundation and a training ground for your own business.

Wealth Principle #7 Invest With Cash Generated From Your Business

The idea for your business is to quickly create a continual cash machine so you can use that money to invest in other things or invest in real estate or even start other businesses after your tithes, offerings, and family obligations, of course. Your business should be your seed money to invest in the work of the Lord and to promote other investment opportunities for you and your family. Create a business to generate income and leverage that income to increase revenue streams. Thats what the wealthy do. They are out there creating businesses and pursuing entrepreneurial ventures, and using that money to invest in and develop more assets. Businesses will be your #1 means of filling up your financial funnel, so your own business is paramount to your entire wealth-building plan. Again, with the cash generated from your business, you can invest it in a wide variety of things, from real estate to foreign currency exchange (Forex) to gold and silver to oil and gas to other businesses. Everyone will have different ideas and strategies, but DO SOMETHING. Theres the story of a man who was driving through the country one day when his car broke down. He was in front of a country farmhouse and while someone was working on his car, he decided to join an old farmer who was sitting on the front porch, rocking back and forth with a straw in his mouth. Just to make conversation the man asked, Hey, hows the wheat growing? The farmer, without any change of expression, said, I didnt plant any wheat this year. I was afraid there would be a drought. Well, asked the man, then hows the corn growing? Didnt plant any corn either. Afraid there would be too much rain and wash the seed away.

Well, then, hows the cotton growing? the man asked. I didnt plant any cotton this year. Afraid the boll weevil would come and eat it all up. The man, somewhat perplexed, finally asked, What did you plant? The farmer leaned back and said, I didnt plant nothing this year. I just played it safe. How many of us have been there, or ARE there? You will hear me say over and over how essential it is to educate yourself on the various investments available to all of us, but really no investment can be worse than an investment that didnt work out like you thought. So what investments are out there? Not everyone is going to invest in the same things, and not everyone will have the same plan. God will give you your unique plan based on your strengths and your callings. Now I didnt say comforts, right? Because the Lord may call us out of our comfort zone in order to stretch us to what He has in store for us. This may mean going beyond the traditional forms of investing. You just have to educate yourselves and look beyond the traditional mutual funds, money market accounts, CDs, stocks, bonds, insurance vehicles, or annuities. The three major asset classes are businesses, real estate, and other investments. And in each of those three classes, there are many choices available. The idea is to learn some things about all three classes so you can make a wise decision on which methods are best for you. Pray for discernment in this area and educate yourself in order to gain the advantages of much higher returns.

Wealth Principle #8 Invest WHILE Youre Getting Out Of Debt

There are many commendable programs that teach people to get out of debt, which is a great goal, but they leave people hanging because they dont give them the tools they need to succeed AFTER their debts are paid off. Its like, Okay, now that Im out of debt, now what? We know that many people are engrained with the thought that all debt is bad, but there is a difference between good debt and bad debt.

Consumer debt from buying depreciating doo-dads is bad debt. Business debt used to create wealth from buying appreciating assets is good debt. Bad debt takes money out of your pocket; good debt produces income that multiplies your investment, therefore putting money in your pocket. I believe in getting out of bad consumer debt, but dont make this your goal in its entirety without making any investments. Some people think, Well, first, Im going to get out of debt, and THEN Ill start investing. Im saying work on both at the same time. Take some money and split it between paying off debt and making investments. Waiting three years to invest because youre waiting to be completely debt-free can cost you quite a bit. The idea is the return on your investments in the meantime can allow you to pay off your debt that much quicker!

Wealth Principle #9 Solve Your Cash Flow Needs Before Increasing Your Net Worth
The first thing anyone needs to do is plan for cash flow. You have to have steady cash flow to be able to consistently pay your expenses each month. Dont do like I did. When I started out with my wealth-building, I concentrated on net worth more than I was concerned about income. I went through a period of time where I looked great on paper, but I was low on cash. My personal financial statement said I was a millionaire by the definition of the word, but I was cash-poor. You cant eat equity, you know what Im saying? But once you have planned for cash flow, then you can concentrate on your net worth. Even though I stated in an earlier wealth principle that you can invest WHILE you pay off your debts, I do believe that its a good idea to have a cash reserve for emergencies set aside in a liquid account at the start. Some experts suggest between three to six months reserves. I can present different investment ideas and strategies for you to check out and decide for yourself, but the choices you make must be in sync with the needs of your current situation, your financial objectives, and your vision and goals. If youre working two jobs and still tight on cash, your current situation is different from someone who has a good cash flow already coming in. Your immediate need is cash-flow producing assets, because

future appreciation and net worth is really no help to you at this point in time. Net worth doesnt mean much if you dont have the cash to live on. Once you have enough cash flow coming in consistently, you can then focus on long-term appreciation.

Wealth Principle #10 Change The Type Of Income You Bring In From Earned Income To Passive Income
Rather than working hard for money as earned income, the wealthy have learned to make investments and build businesses that bring in passive income. This is making money work for them or making businesses work for them rather than working for money or for your business. Instead of working to produce something, or adding, they are multiplying. Earned income is just that you have to continually earn it or money stops coming in. Its okay for a part of your income to be earned, just not all of it. Passive (residual) income comes from investments or businesses that do not require continual work, but you work once and get paid over and over again. Passive income allows you to make money even when you are sleeping. Examples include real estate investing, royalties from books and music, internet marketing, etc. The goal is to acquire more monthly passive income than monthly expenses. When your passive income exceeds your expenses, then you will become financially free. You would only work if you choose to work. I challenge you to change your mindset to this goal, instead of the average person who says, How can I think about tomorrow when I can barely survive today? The average person is more focused on security rather than creating wealth. They focus on the risks more than the rewards. Proverbs 23:4 says, Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. It doesnt say, Dont get rich. It just says not to wear yourself out to get rich. This came from King Solomon, who in todays economy, would have a net worth of billions upon billions of dollars. Yes, he was rich, but he was wise. He worked smart, and you can, too. You dont have to work hard and wear yourself out to become wealthy. With

the resources available through EPIC Wealth Strategies, we can show you how to make your money work for you and your businesses work for you.

Wealth Principle #11 Protect Your Assets

So far, we have talked about wealth principles that cover the importance of learning how to build wealth, but just as important, you need to spend some time learning how to protect that wealth through asset protection and tax savings. The two biggest threats to your assets are lawsuits and taxes. Im not going to tell you there are no risks in owning real estate or operating your own business, but you can be in so much fear about the what ifs that its easy to think of all the excuses why you shouldnt get into any meaningful wealth-building rather than focusing on the positive reasons why you should. However, the Scriptures say in II Timothy 1:7, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Yes, there are risks in owning real estate or your own business, but if you set up appropriate entities and structures such as corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), land trusts, etc., instead of you owning your assets in your personal name, you establish a shield between you and your liabilities. You should indeed use wisdom in protecting yourself, and thats what this principle is about. If there is a lawsuit related to one of your businesses, all of your personal assets, including your home, your cars, and your bank accounts, could then be tied to the suit and you could lose it all. Likewise, if you are sued personally, that suit could then be tied to your business. The liability shield you need to put up works in both directions. Regarding tax savings, there is a big difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. You simply want to take advantage of the legal tax breaks that Congress allows us to take, because since the founding of the United States, our laws have favored property owners and business owners.

Business entities allow you to not only protect your assets but save you money by paying less in taxes.

Wealth Principle #12 Dream Bigger And Never Stop Stretching

Most of you may know the parable of the minas, or talents, in Luke 19. This scripture relates directly to money and investing. Jesus was speaking about attitudes toward money. Many of you know the story. A master was leaving the country and gave each of his servants one mina to invest while he was gone, which was worth about three months salary. In verse 13, he says occupy until I come. In a literal translation, that means Do business till I come. When he returned, one servant had invested the money and multiplied it to ten, and the second had increased it to five. These two were told, Well done, good and faithful servants. That saying is well-known by Christians, but did you realize the only place these words are spoken in scripture is in a context dealing with handling money? The third servant, however, buried his mina so he wouldnt lose anything. He operated out of fear and insecurity, so he did nothing with the money. He wanted to play it safe, so he did not take any risks by making any investments. In contrast, he was called a wicked servant because he didnt take what the Lord had entrusted him with and invest it so it multiplied. Maybe its that same fear that holds us back. I believe one of the biggest mistakes we as believers make is waiting for all fear to disappear before we are willing to act or waiting for everything to be PERFECT before we act. God never told us to stay comfortable. In truth, the only time we are growing is when God is stretching us to bring us to a new level, even in our finances, and thats not always a comfortable position to be in. Its not going to be comfortable buying that first investment property or writing your first book or presenting your first seminar or starting your own business. Its not going to be comfortable putting some money out there in your education to learn some wealth-building strategies that could make you

many times more. Wealthy people have fears, but they just dont let those feelings stop them. Maybe youre believing for God to get you out of debt, and I commend that. Thats a start. Maybe you want to save some money. Thats a start as well. Like I stated earlier, there are many good studies and guides on teaching people how to get out of debt, but after getting out of debt and saving some money, then what? Thats where many have fallen short in the body of Christ. You dont get out of debt just so you can breathe easier and be more comfortable, safe and secure and youre not being a blessing to others and to the church. No, you should be learning to invest and multiplying your money as the good and faithful servants did in Luke 19. I challenge you to dream bigger. It is Gods will. Are you going to get comfortable at where youre at? Do you want a thousand dollars? How about a hundred thousand? How about a million? Or a billion, with a b? Dont ever stop dreaming. Ive heard it said that an appropriate definition of an entrepreneur is a person who solves problems for people at a profit. So, in your business, do you want to help just hundreds of people or do you want to help millions of people? Do you see what I mean? Dream bigger. Its time to quit thinking small, when God has so much more for us, for the people we can help, and for the Kingdom. People need help and they need what you have to offer. Its time to share your gift with as many people possible, without feeling guilty or unworthy to do so. No matter what level youre on financially, the Lord is always wanting to stretch us for more. I know of millionaires who believe theyre set and have gotten relaxed and comfortable, while other millionaires are continuously dreaming about the next big idea or concept. Lets be in the latter group. I hope youve enjoyed this Twelve Biblical Wealth Success Principles for the Christian Entrepreneur Report. Bottom line is that youve got to step out in faith and do something. You cant wait for everything to be perfect, and you cant wait until your fear is gone.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. If you take the initiative and get things going, there may be successes and there may be some failures. But if you dont take action, youre guaranteed to fail. You cannot win if you do not play. There are many methods and ideas we can use to prosper, and you can check out our website at www.epicwealthstrategies.com/multiplestreams as we will be continually adding new programs and wealth-building ideas that can be unique to you as individual believers. My purpose of this Report is to be an instrument for Gods people to attain wealth, and I want to be a major part of your journey in your knowledge to help you get there. Were in this together!

For more information about our 7-CD Audio Program Multiple Streams of Income for the Christian Entrepreneur, Visit www.epicwealthstrategies.com/multiplestreams