We want to address some very basic and practical kingdom financial management principles. First, we need to go over a couple of principles that can help keep us on the right path.

There is a difference between wealth and riches. Riches come quickly and usually leave quickly. Riches are gained easily and quickly, while wealth is the result of endurance, hard work, and faithfulness. In principle, anything that happens too fast or too easily is usually insignificant. Riches that come fast usually leave fast because those who receive them do not know how to manage them. However, the hard work, endurance, and faithfulness required to build true wealth usually helps impart to us the wisdom and care to manage it right.

There is another major factor in understanding righteousness that is rarely, if ever, addressed. We tend to think of righteousness in relation to the moral and ethical teachings of Scripture, which are certainly crucial and not to be overlooked. But nearly half of the teachings on righteousness in Scripture have to do with managing what we are entrusted with well. Righteousness means to do it right. We are coming to the time when the prophecies about the wealth of the wicked being given to the righteous will come to pass, but what we need to understand is who the wicked and righteous are.

The righteous servant cares enough about what his master entrusts to his care to do the best that he can with it. All Christians should be living to hear the words on that great judgment day, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" (see Matthew 25:21 NIV) As we are told in the Parable of the Talents, the ones who heard those words were the servants who managed what they were entrusted with well. The one who heard, "Depart you wicked, evil slave" (see Matthew 25:26) was the one who buried what he had been entrusted with by his Master. Think about it. This most basic designation between being a faithful servant and a wicked, evil servant was based on management.

I was very moved when I heard that Bill Gates, possibly the wealthiest man in the world, had set up a foundation so he could give his entire fortune away. Then, Warren Buffet, another man worth tens of billions, decided to do the same thing—give his entire fortune to charity. However, he did not just give it to charity, but to Bill Gate's charity! We recently discussed this in a roundtable of church and business leaders, where it was brought up that there really was no one else that Buffet could have given such a fortune to who would not have been ruined by it, and where it would have been managed well. Bill Gates was the one person he knew he could trust to use this fortune for good and not waste it.

Christians should be convicted and challenged by this. Are Bill Gates and Warren Buffet more righteous than Christians? Of course, we know that there is only One who is truly righteous, and that true righteousness is the result of faith in the cross, but there is a righteousness which is based on managing what we are entrusted with well, such as the Lord described in the Parable of the Talents, of which I think both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two remarkable examples. This is extraordinary considering that they are probably two of the most successful capitalists of our time. I personally am very thankful for this great example that they have set, and I am also convicted and challenged by it, and I am praying to be able to do better than this.

I have asked a number of major business leaders if they knew of anyone in the church that could handle and manage serious wealth (I'm talking about billions), and to date no one has come up with a single name of a church leader that they thought could handle that kind of wealth without being ruined by it, or who would not mismanage it. This must change—now.

The wealth of the nations will be coming to the righteous, but I think in this case it is the righteousness that is based on sound management, as well as moral and ethical standards. We need to also keep in mind that the resources of the kingdom are far greater than Bill Gate's and Warren Buffet's combined, or even that of all the nations combined. If we could draw on kingdom resources, we could pay off all the debt in the world, the debt of every nation and every individual, and heaven would not even notice that anything was missing. Kingdom resources are unlimited. Having access to the resources of the kingdom is greater than even having the wealth of the nations.

I personally have a vision for being trusted with the resources to pay off the debt of some nations as a testimony that the Lord paid for the debt of sin which was far greater. I have a vision for radically transforming some of the most devastated regions and people of the world, and making them an example of the power of the kingdom of God to restore and renew. However, even though I do want to be trusted with billions, I have a much greater vision than that. I want to be trusted with the true riches of the kingdom—the power to heal every disease, set the captives free from any yoke of bondage, and preach the gospel under the anointing that would cause every knee that hears it to bow before the King.

Would you rather have the money to feed five thousand poor every day or have the power to do it by multiplying one hamburger? We should have a vision for being trusted with the wealth of the nations, which will be coming. To do this, we need to prepare for it by learning to manage our resources well, but we also have to have a greater vision than that. It would be great to pay off the medical bills of everyone in a hospital, but it would be better to heal them so that they do not have any medical bills.

As I have said, this year we will be covering the practical teachings we need to be able to handle the fulfilling of these prophecies about the coming in of the wealth of the nations. This begins with learning to handle money, because the Lord said we could not be trusted with the true riches if we could not handle unrighteous mammon (see Luke 16:11). We must keep our heart on the ultimate purpose, not the lesser one.

It is time, and we will see these prophecies about the wealth coming in being fulfilled more each year. I believe you will find that the basic principles of management, which we need to understand to handle this, will not only be interesting, but in many cases life changing. Then, after our lives have been changed, we can be used to help change the world. That is your destiny. That is why you were chosen to be alive in these times.