Easter and Its Impact on Business Today预览

For about 150 years, there was a litany of Jewish preachers and teachers claiming to be the Messiah. They were eventually captured and killed by Rome, and none of them rose from the dead. As such, they were false messiahs.

The resurrection of Jesus proved unequivocally that He was the one true Messiah, and He made a point of presenting Himself to hundreds of people in His resurrected form.

This then led on to the Great Commission, whereby Jesus claimed all authority over heaven and earth as a direct result of the resurrection. In Matthew 28, in the opening line to the Great Commission, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth is now given to me.”

The Greek word “authority” is “exousia” which means a super-human token of control over culture. This is the same word the devil used when he tried to tempt Jesus immediately after Jesus was baptized. The devil was trying to get Jesus to worship him in return for power and wealth, which is exactly what the devil had achieved with the leaders of God’s people. See Luke 4:5-7.

All “exousia” had been given to the devil at the fall of mankind. Therefore, the devil had controlled the marketplace ever since. Now he was desperately trying to subvert the Son of God in human form while he had the chance during the temptation in the wilderness. We all know the devil failed to tempt Jesus, and this brings us back to the Easter narrative whereby the devil has failed once again to stop Jesus, who has now won back all “exousia” over heaven and earth by defeating death.

It is with that authority that Jesus delivered the rest of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (nations meaning ethnos, people groups, communities, or cities), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach them to obey everything I have commanded you...”

In other words, we must teach people to do business in God’s way, with a culture of caring and sharing. We must confront the evil of greed and corruption and form strategies and plans to overcome this root cause of all social distress and human suffering that the devil uses to dominate the marketplace. Therefore, what will you choose when you are confronted with the choice of creating wealth for yourself at the expense of others?

Dave Hodgson, who has decades of personal experience doing Kingdom business, has found that when you choose God as the provider of the wealth over the wealth itself, the Lord will always honor this and apply His favour, which creates multiples in your business.

As a result, this supernatural wealth can then be used to create a better world for all (or, in other terms, create Sheep Nations).

Therefore, Easter is a brilliant reminder that corruption exists not only in the marketplace today but it was rampant during First Century Palestine. However, Jesus presented us with crucial strategies to change this Babylonian culture.

This is through challenging the mindsets of individuals (just like Jesus did with the tax collectors), presenting the alternatives (the caring and sharing principle), and equipping us to have direct access to the Father.

Therefore, whatever greed, corruption, and self-centeredness we face in the marketplace, we can stand confidently because, as Jesus stated in the Great Commission, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This Bible plan was written by Dave Hodgson, the founder of Kingdom Investors (KI). KI is a worldwide marketplace ministry that has taught millions of businesspeople how to apply biblical principles in the marketplace.

www.kingdominvestors.com.au