¹ You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:1-18)

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thanks for tuning in to GLOBAL REACHOUT. I am Sister Angelie, and starting from November, we have launched the program called the "Kingdom Business Culture". This program is based on the workplace training course by GLOBAL JIREH entitled, "Christ-centred Entrepreneurship". This course was compiled by Pastor Tony TAY Meng Hiang to help brothers and sisters live out Christ in the workplace.

We encourage brothers and sisters to sign up for this course, so that they will not only have the opportunity to communicate directly with the instructors, but also establish long-term and close contacts with the kingdom business operators in the group, learn from each other and encourage one another, and put the theory into practice. Living out Christ in the workplace. For those who are interested, you can refer to the end of the manuscript and register by email.In the previous show, we talked about the image of God. We know that what the image of God reflects is the characteristics of God, so in today's program, we are going to talk about the characteristics of God that business operators should possess.

Before we start, let's read Psalm 139:1-18.

Dear friends, this passage describes the three characteristicss of God in the context of man's creation. Verses 1-6 speak of God's omniscience, verses 7-12 speak of God's omnipresence, and verses 13-18 describe God's omnipotence. Such an inner characteristics gives God the righteousness and holiness of truth—the omniscient characteristics gives God the image of truth, the omnipresent characteristics gives God the image of holiness, and the omnipotent characteristics gives God the image of righteousness. As God's children, we should have the characteristics of God's part—what we know and what we don't know; what we are and what we're not; what we can and what we can't.

First let's look at the nature of God's omniscience. Colossians 2:3 tells us that in Him is all wisdom and knowledge. Hebrews 4:12 mentions: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The Word of God is living, that is, it is alive; the Word of God is effective, that is, it is helpful to us and enables us to discern the truth.

So, the God who surrounds us, He knows all about our reality and our blind spots. God will lead us to the truth so that we can exercise the influence of reason. The more business operators understand the truth, the more they can discover their own shortcomings and come up with new and creative ideas. When business operators believe in and hold on to the true way, the business is a faithful business, and it can partially reflect the omniscient nature of God.

Next, let's look at the nature of God's omnipresence. Ephesians 1:23 says: The church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The "He who fills everything in every way" here refers to Christ, the Christ who fills all things. We know that if our phone goes out of coverage zone, it loses signal. But now, wherever we are, within the reach of the One Who Fills All, we can stay in touch with Him. The psalmist said: If I spread my wings in the morning and fly to the ends of the sea to live, even there, your hand will guide me, and your right hand will support me. This shows the omnipresence of God, and the emphasis here is on relational proximity rather than spatial proximity. The psalmist is telling us that no matter where we are, no matter what our circumstances, God is with us. As children of God, we enjoy the guidance and support of God’s omnipresence anytime, anywhere.

This omnipresence of God is an expression of His love that gives God the authority to demand our obedience. Knowing this, similar to a loving heart of pastoral staff, entrepreneurs should run their businesses with the same loving heart. When the company faces difficulties, we face it together with employees; when employees encounter problems, we are standing by their side.

Someone asked a Christian entrepreneur: How can I make my employees love my company? Is it to give them more shares of the company? The entrepreneur said he made employees fall in love with the company through pastoral care. For example, whenever an employee fell ill and was hospitalized, he always visited in person. Dear friends, this is an example of a "partial reflection of the omnipresent nature of God"—when a company has the omnipresent nature of God, it is a good company.

Now let's take a look at what the omnipotent nature of God has to do with business. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ is sustaining all things by his powerful word. This means that the orderly existence of all things is due to the power of God, and the power of God has the ability to integrate, so that all things in heaven and earth can coexist harmoniously. Today, our national enterprises need to have the omnipotent nature of God in part to improve their ability to integrate, so as to establish a perfect enterprise system. A sound system can supervise people to stay away from evil things and guide people to do good things; a sound system enables people to perform their own duties and take responsibility; a sound system also enables people to share achievements and share failures.

Finally, we'll conclude today's program with Isaiah 33:15-16 which says: ¹⁵ Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—¹⁶ they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.

When an entrepreneur partially possesses the omniscient life characteristics of God, he can speak upright words when he opens his mouth, and he will not listen to evil words; when an entrepreneur partially possesses the omniscient life characteristics of God, he will hate oppression, close his eyes to evil things; when an entrepreneur partially possesses the omnipotent life characteristics of God, he will act righteously and wave his hand away from bribes. May the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent nature of God be partially reflected in our work. Dear friends, this is where we end today's episode. I hope to see you again on the next episode of Kingdom Business Culture!

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Discussion

1. In your opinion, what is the most important divine quality a business owner should possess? Why?

2. In reality, do you know any entrepreneur who runs a business with a loving pastoral?

3. The imperfect system leaves room for human weakness. Have you seen such a case in the workplace?