Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. ² Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. ³ If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. ⁴ Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. ⁵ As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. ⁶ Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. ⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:1-6)

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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 today's program, we're going to talk about "risk". Risk assessment is an integral part of thinking about corporate strategy. Here, we should pay attention to the difference between risk analysis and risk assessment. Risk analysis is to decompose and analyze risks according to the actual situation and data; and risk assessment is to consider the possibility of risk occurrence based on positive and negative factors. What we need to do is to assess risk, not to analyze risk. In risk assessment, we need to intelligently determine which risks should be avoided and which risks can be mitigated. Objective risk perception helps us to recognize the situation we are in, which helps us to win the battle in the market.

        Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches us how to face uncertain risks. These six verses are paired with every two verses, and the first verse says: "Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return." Here, “Ship your grain across the sea" means that the grain is transported out by sea for exchange of other goods. "after many days you may receive a return ", which reminds us that normal transactions take time, and also tells us that only in this way can we exchange what we need in return. The second verse responds to the first: "Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land." Seven is the perfect number, and eight is the perfect number plus one. This means that we do everything we can to share the risk - diversification is an important part of risk management. This pair of verses shows us that in order to obtain the resources we need, we should conduct business and manage risk in a decentralized manner. It also reminds us of the fact that doing business involves risks, but in order to get the resources we need, we need to face the unknown with confidence. We don’t lose heart in doing good, and we reap in due time (Galatians 6:9); and risk has a positive effect, making us more determined to do what we are called to do.

Next, Ecclesiastes 11:3 says, "If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie." When the clouds are full of water, it's time to rain. Everything has an end, and the end of one thing is the beginning of another. Here, "the tree falls to the south" means that people get eternal life after death, and "the tree falls to the north" means that people suffer eternal death after death. When a person's life comes to an end, whether the next stop is to heaven or hell, we will stay there forever. What this verse means is, don't wait until you run out of time to think about doing God's work, it's too late. We should take advantage of the day to do more work for the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 goes on to say, "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." If we only look at the harsh environment, we will ultimately be afraid and get nowhere. The time a person has in his life is limited, no matter the environment is good or bad, we should go all out to do the Lord’s work in our lifetime. This action is an outpouring of love that makes us take risks. As Paul said to Timothy: Preach the word, and be attentive. When we are operating business, with love in our hearts, we will overcome fear (1 John 4:18) and venture into business. If the purpose of our money is to expand the kingdom of God, then it is worthwhile to take risk for the Lord. If we only act until everything is in place, we can't do anything.

Next, verse 11:5 says, "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things." It's an obvious fact that we can't know the work of God. Verse 11:6 goes on to say, "Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." Here God reminds us, although we do not fully understand His deeds, we still need to work actively. The correct attitude is to go all out in accordance with the Lord's command, and at the same time focus on the grace that Christ will bring us when he appears (1 Peter 1:13).

Next, we'll talk about how to assess risk.

When it comes to risk assessment, we cannot do without judgment, so we must equip ourselves to be good, faithful, and discerning people so that we have the wisdom from God to make accurate judgments. Matthew 7:1-6 reminds us not to judge people because judging is destructive, but our judgment in assessing risk should be constructive. Now let us learn from this passage the principles that we should follow when making judgments, so that we may judge ourselves well, faithfully, and wisely.

First, Matthew 7:1-2 reminds us not to judge others. If we judge others, others will judge us as well; if we find fault with others, others will deliberately find fault with us. The golden rule of treating others is: Treat others how we want others to treat us. For this reason, when we assess risks, we must have good motives; only when our hearts are right can we rightfully assess risks. Next, Matthew 7:3-4 tells us: We need to examine ourselves first, and think about whether we have any blind spots. If there are any blind spots, we must remove the plank in our eyes, so that we can see everything clearly, and then we can help our brothers to deal with his problems. If you don't deal with your own big problems, you go to blame others for your small problems. This is hypocrisy. Therefore, we must self-examine according to the truth and reflect on the blind spots of our lives before we can make accurate judgments. Thirdly, Matthew 7:5-6 reminds us: Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. Dogs and pigs refer to ungrateful people– after we have dealt with our own problems, we must also know how to distinguish whether the other person cherishes the truth. If the other person does not value the truth, we should not help him deal with the problem, because not only will the other person not accept it, but on the contrary, it may hurt us. We must be wise, make correct judgments after understanding the environment, and do the right thing for the right person.

To sum up, doing business is bound to face risks. We should: 1. Be courageous in conducting business activities and know how to diversify risks; 2. Out of God’s love, take risks to do the Lord’s work; 3. Work diligently while looking forward to God’s deeds. Risk assessment is a necessary preparation for doing business. Correct risk assessment begins with good motives and the right heart; then self-examination according to the truth, to reflect on whether you have blind spots; finally, on the basis of understanding the situation, take correct actions.

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. What was the main risk in your last business decision?

2. In practice, how do you diversify risk?

3. Have you ever done something like "throwing a pearl in front of a pig"?