[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the Wealth Builders podcast. I'm Billy Epperhart, and on this show you're going to hear from industry leaders in business, real estate and investing. Our wealth builder coaches and myself are excited to teach you how to make sense of making money for making a difference. Okay, let's get started.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Hello and thank you for joining us today for the weekly wealth Builders podcast. We are so grateful for you, our wealth Builders family, and we've got a very special guest today. Oh, my goodness. We've got Pastor Tafara, who is him, and his beautiful wife Chippo run our wealth Builders Africa. Welcome, Pastor Tafara.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Oh, thank you so much, Karen. And thank you for having me.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Wow. I'll tell you, if you have not heard, Pastor Tafara, you are in for a real amazing podcast today. So encouraging. And before we get started, I just want to remind all of you that we've got the wealth Builders conference coming up. It is filling up really quickly.
Pastor Defarl, I don't even know if you know this, but Lance Walno is going to join us for a couple of sessions. He just came on and it's going to be a power packed weekend. So if you have not yet registered, please do so. I assure you it's going to be one of the best decisions you've made in 2024. You can go to wealthbuilders.org events and you can choose live stream or in person. So we're very excited about that. And Pastor Jafar, you've got an amazing topic today, one that I am certainly looking forward to. And it's about how to live a stress free life.
And I think as we go into 2024, I think it's the election year here in the United States, there's a lot of economic buzz happening. I think this is definitely a message in due season. So I'm going to turn it over to you. Here's Pastor Tafara.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: Thank you so much once again, Karen. So looking forward to joining again at the wealth Builders conference in February. And I always look forward to this event.
It's a highlight in our calendar and we almost put that first before we put anything else because it's just a great place to learn about finances in a healthy way. And really, it has inspired us to pay off properties, to buy new properties, to get into real estate, and to really take advantage of the wisdom that we get from wealth builders. And so if you're watching, man, I encourage you to think about coming and joining in February. It will be worth your time. And so today I just want to encourage you.
Like Karen said, we want to talk about living the stress free life. And notice I didn't say the problem free life because that doesn't know. Jesus said, as long as we are in this world, we will suffer tribulation. In other words, things are going to be thrown at us. But he turned around and he said, but be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. And so in Jesus, we know that we can have a stress free life. We can actually enjoy peace that surpasses all understanding.
He is the prince of peace. And really, when we are plugged into Jesus, even though there may be storms going on around us, there may be things that are going to happen. Things will happen election year, the financial markets may crash, things will happen. But those who are in the Lord, those who put their trust in the Lord, shall enjoy peace.
There is peace for us to enjoy, to take advantage of. And so I want to share quickly from first Peter chapter number five, from verse six to eight, I want to share from first Peter chapter number five, from verse six to eight. This is the apostle Peter's perspective on the worry free life.
Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ had a lot to say about worry and how to deal with it. If you go to Matthew six, he says plainly in verse 25, do not worry about anything, what you will eat, what you will put on, or where you will sleep. He says, if you look at the birds, they neither toil nor spin.
They do not have storehouses, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than them? And so he went on to say in verse 33, what we should be doing, instead of worrying, is to seek first, prioritize first the kingdom of God. And he says, all these things will be added unto us. He also warned us around worry. In Mark, chapter number four, Jesus shared a parable about the different kinds of grounds. And one of the grounds there was the hard ground. And he says, that's a person who lacks understanding if you look at Luke's perspective of that same scripture. And he said, the second ground is the thorny ground. And he said, of the thorny ground, he said that there is lust of this world and deceitfulness of riches and cares of Life entering in choked the word. And then there is also the shallow ground, stony ground with the Elect Conviction. But if you look at that thorny ground, jesus warns us and he tells us that a worry can actually choke the word of God. It can stop the word of God from bearing fruit in our lives, because the same ground we should be planting the word of God so that it can produce 30, 61 hundred fold could be taken over by weeds, right by wiry. And jesus says very practically, it's going to choke the word. And so if you look at Jesus perspective, he really made it practical, Karen. He didn't just kind of threaten us with some religious tip on it. He didn't say don't worry because it'sin to worry. He actually gives us perspective. He says, if you look at Matthew six, he says you won't grow taller by worrying. In other words, no one has ever gotten any benefit from worrying about life. And he says in mark four, it chokes the word. And if you look at Paul, Paul also had something to say about it. In Philippians chapter number four, from verse six onwards, he says, do not worry about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. Same thing. But in prayer and supplication, make all your requests known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind through Christ. And then he says, finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of a good report, whatsoever things are praiseworthy, if there is any virtue in it, think on these things. And the reason he connected our worry to our meditation is because worry is a form of meditation. And that's why Scripture tells us he will keep him in perfect peace. He whose mind is stayed on him because he trusteth in him. And so this is just a brief introduction of other places where we find scripture encouraging us not to worry. And again, it's not a sin to worry. You could worry if you want to, but there's just no benefit in.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Farah. This is so good. And I was just thinking, as you were saying this, that really wealth builders, what Billy and Becky are called to do, is coming in to bring a solution to this potential problem. Because everything that we do at wealth builders is based on biblical principles and on the Bible. And just, even what you were reading with that scripture, just bringing that the cares of this world is choking out the word, or could, I think you even said like, that could stop our increase.
We have the solution. So I just want to encourage you that this is so good and such a great tie into how we're going to be sharing with people how to approach money that can avoid these type of sorrows and worry.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: Amen. And that's the thing about it, is when we come to wealth builders, there's such a wealth of information and wisdom that equips you to counterattack when worry comes. You know, what to do. And you can fight back. And this is why Chipu and I invest not just money, but time. And we fly all the way across to the other side of the world, and we could watch online, but we find value in being in the room. And so there's someone who wrote a book, and I really enjoyed the book, and I'm not here to promote it. It's called the power of proximity. And I really enjoyed it. And he was talking about how sometimes you just need to be in the. So, you know, I concur with, you know, Billy and Ms. Becky, they're really going to give us information that's going to change your life and radically position you for a healthy 2024. And so that was Jesus and Paul. They talked about worry. And if the apostle Peter also jumped in and he said something about worry. And in verse six of first Peter, chapter number five, it says, likewise, you young people submit yourselves to the elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So he's talking about humility, and he begins to give us insight on what this humility is. Verse six, he says, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you in due time. And if you're reading in the King James Bible, he puts a semicolon there. And now he gives us a description of what that humility looks like and that humility looks like this, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. Now, in Africa, the word humility has been described in so many different ways. And one of the ways is when you just inconvenience yourself. When you wear clothes from 1942 and women, they don't wear makeup, and you use low Internet, you ask them, what are you doing? They say, man, I'm being humble. That's not the Bible definition of humility. The Bible definition of humility, according to Peter in this context, is casting all our cares on him because he cares for us.
It means that when we try to carry the cares, it's a form of pride.
Now, I know this may sound harsh and it may come at you like, man, what is he talking about? It's not me. It's the apostle Peter. He says that when we don't cast our cares on him, it's a form of pride. But we can be humble by casting all our cares on him. Why? Because he cares for us. And so this form of humility, the definition that I get from this is that humility is when we become God dependent and not self reliant. Now on the journey of wealth building, you're going to have to be God dependent and not self reliant because Jeremiah 23, I believe, tells us it is not in men that walk to direct his own steps in and of ourselves. We cannot and we do not have the know how and the wisdom to do this thing. We don't. And so we're going to need God's help. And that's part know what we will learn at wealth builders. You will learn how to pray marketplace prayers, you learn how know listen to the Holy Spirit when you're about to buy a property or sell a property. You also get insight on how to actually look at the property and what to look for and things of that nature. And you'll get insight on what the markets look like and really learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit, on what to do, how to go about it. And man, it's amazing because it teaches you how to be God dependent and not.
Karen, do you want to jump in there?
[00:12:53] Speaker B: That's just so good. Pastor Tafara and I really love how you tied pride to worry. And in that, I'm not sure that that's a connection that most of us have heard before, but it actually is almost like a tool to get out of that worry. You know, we've probably all had those times we wake up at night, we're worrying about something, thinking about something, so we begin praying or whatever that is. But it would actually be a motivator like, whoa, I'm being prideful here. Like, stop. We're not going to be prideful and cast our care. So I love the practicality of that and the connection that gives us those tools that will help us to get our mind focused back on God. And if we know being truly humble is to not worry, I actually think that's going to help. I know it's going to help me personally.
[00:13:47] Speaker C: Praise God. And so Jesus also taught us in the same regard. He said in Matthew six, he said, for us who are in the kingdom, he said, your heavenly father knows that you are in need of these things. And in that portion of scripture, Jesus introduces God as father. He didn't say, your God knows that you are in need of these things. He said, your heavenly father. And if we connect it to this part here, Peter is telling us to give our cares to our father. And the greek word for the word father is know pater. And it means nourisher, it means protector, and it means provider. And so whenever you see the word father in scripture, it's talking about God being your protector. It's talking about God being your nourisher. And it's talking about God being your provider. And I'm telling you, God knows how to do this thing called father. God knows how to father. He knows how to nourish us. He knows how to protect us and to provide for us. And so back to first Peter five.
The apostle Peter tells us to cast all, not some, all of our cares, the big ones and the little ones. But the word he uses there is cast, which is forcefully thrusting with a reckless abandonment and without leaving any connection between you and the thing that you are forcefully thrusting or throwing. And this is different from fishing because when you fish, you throw the bait on the fishing hook and you maintain a line and you can reel it in every often. And sometimes I feel like that's what I did in the past. Instead of casting the cares, I would just throw it in on a fishing rod and a fishing line. And every night before I go to sleep, I would reel it in to see what the Lord has done with it lately. That's not what he's talking about. He's saying when you cast, you forget it. You have to, oh, good.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: You have to forget. Know, you have to leave it on the.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: That is so great. Pastor Defaro, my goodness, what a word induced season here for us, especially during this year. And it's just going to help us tremendously with this subject and worry. We've been listening to Kenneth Hagen Sr. Dave and I have frequently just kind of going back to those faith roots, and he really has a revelation on worry as well, which has been helpful. But the things that you have brought up today are just really connecting the dots for me personally, and I'm sure for our wealth builders family.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Praise God. I'm so glad it's helping.
Now I've learned to cast, and one of the ways I check if I've truly casted the thing is I check what my meditation is like over the thing. Do I now meditate what's good, what's lovely, what's honest, what's of a good report out of the situation. In other words, I check to see if I'm meditating the outcome of a great testimony, the test becoming a testimony, or I'm meditating on the problem, actually crushing me and destroying me. And so back to Peter. He says some more things. He says in verse eight, he says, be sober and be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And the enemy here, the devil, he only has three ways to devour us who are born again. He uses thoughts, ideas and suggestions. You can't force us to do anything. He uses thoughts, ideas and suggestions. That's what he did in the Garden of Eden. He didn't take the fruit and just force it down Eve's throat or Adam's throat. No. He went and presented thoughts, ideas and suggestions that contradicted God's word. And similarly, that's how he brings worry in our lives. He brings worry by bringing thoughts, ideas and suggestions that contradict the outcome that God promises us. And when we accept these thoughts, ideas and suggestions and we start to meditate on them, that's where worry comes from. It's just meditating on problem instead of the solution to which the apostle Peter says, be know. And he's not talking about drinking, he's talking about the word sober in the american heritage dictionary means to be void of speculative imagination. To be void of speculative imagination. Why? Because 99.9% of the things people worry about are just. Chippo likes, for me to use the correct english term here, figment. But I like pigment better. It's just a pigment of their imagination. I like it because some of the things I would worry about, only a pig could have come up with it. It's like, man, are you crazy? Tafara, you have a father. Chill out. Relax. And I'm like cooking up all kinds of permutations.
And I remember Karen when I graduated university way back in 2002. And, man, I would sit on the couch at my brother's house. I was looking for a job at the time. It only been two weeks out, looking for a job. I'm part of the soft generation. We don't know how to wait on the Lord, right?
It's only been two weeks, and I'd start worrying and sit there and say, man, I'm never going to get a job and I'm going to be a loser and I'm not going to get married. I won't be able to start a family. And, I mean, I'd get all kinds of thoughts, ideas and suggestions just piling up. And before you know it, it's 100 degrees outside, but I'm cold. I'm in an embryotic position on a sofa with a blanket on. Why? Because worry cripples you. This is why ever. No one has ever grown taller. No one has ever gotten a solution from worry. Worry seps the creativity out of us. Worry will just cripple you. It will freeze you, and you won't be able to do the things that God has called you to do. And so the apostle Peter says, we need to. Void of speculation, of speculative imagination, the only thing we should use our imagination for is victorious outcome that's based on God's word. Amen.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:20:43] Speaker C: We have a story. I'm going to end with this. We have a story in Genesis that really highlights this. And it's in Genesis, chapter number 37, Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was a dreamer, right? He was a marketplace leader, and he used to have ideas of how he was going to lead this nation, and his brothers were going to be part of his team. And the brothers didn't take it kindly because of what he was saying, that they were going to work for him, and they decided that they were going to kill him. And one of the brothers said, no, let's not kill him. Let's throw him in a pit. So they threw him in a pit. And I think Ruben then said, let's sell him to the ishmaelites. So they sold him to the ishmaelites and he went to Egypt. But what they did, in verse 37, it says, in chapter 37 of Genesis, verse 31, it says, they took Joseph's coat, you know, the coat of many colors the dad had given him. He says, they took Joseph's coat and killed a kid of the goat and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, this we have found. We don't know whether it be your son's coat or so they just presented to Isaac, right? To Isaac. Is it Isaac? I think it's Isaac. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob is Joseph. Rather, they presented to Jacob. And so they presented this coat of many colors to Jacob. And they said, listen, this is what we found. We don't know whether it's your son's coat or not, and we don't know whether it's his blood or not. And what they were doing really was they were presenting fear, right? The acronym for fear is false evidence appearing real. And so they had a coat that had blood on it, but it wasn't Joseph's blood. And then they left this information with Jacob. And Jacob said, this speculative imagination. He said in verse 33, I knew it. This is my son's coat. An evil beast has devoured him. In other words, the lion came out of the woods and ate him up. And Joseph is, without doubt, renting pieces. And now this is just a pigment of his imagination. Now, it's not what happened, but he's just using his imagination to create something and he's going to worry about it. And Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son so many days. And all his sons and know daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said this, I will go down into my grave unto my son's morning. Thus his father wept for him for many, many days. Now, meanwhile, back at the ranch, Joseph was having a good time. He was getting promoted in Potiphar's house. He wound up being the prime minister. I mean, things were well with him.
But what happened was the enemy presented false evidence appearing real. And sometimes the enemy will just present your bank account and with some numbers, and if you have an unkept imagination, you could start to run with it and start saying, man, this is it, my company, this is it. It's not going to make it this year. We're not going to make it. And just like Jacob, you start to stress and worry about something that's not even real. And this is why they say 99% of the things people worry about won't even happen. But here's the sad reality, is that after you worry about it, there is no place where you can actually go and get those days back that you were stressing and worrying about it. And so this is an encouragement that as we go into 2024, man, for all of us, myself included, I used to be a master warrior, so I'm not just knocking at you. Not a master warrior, master warrior. I could worry in a three part harmony. I'm telling you, Karen, I would worry about things 10, 20, 30 years from now. And once I learned these things, I realized there's no benefit in worrying. And, man, every time I run in that direction, I just hit myself in the head and say, stop it.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: That is good.
[00:25:09] Speaker C: And focus on the word.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness, Pastor Tafar, this is such a word. In due season, one of my friends, Elizabeth Mirren from, she actually is part of the Andrew Womack ministries, she would say it like this. What movies are you playing in your head?
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Come on. Yeah.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: And I was like, you know what? That's what we do. We play these movies in our head. So are they going in God's direction? Are they going the opposite direction with fear? And that's what you're describing, too. And I just think this is something that we all deal with.
I think sometimes the way we're brought up, if our family was worriers. If you don't know that there's anything wrong with that, it's tough to kind of break out of that on your own. But what you presented to us is so powerful today and the word of God and all of you wealth builders, family listening, you are going to love spending time with Pastor Tafari and Tippo at the wealth Builders conference. So is there any final words that you want to share with people?
[00:26:13] Speaker C: Pastor yeah, I just want to know. The apostle Paul encourages us to just create kind of like a perimeter around our hearts. The Bible tells us in proverbs 423 to guard our hearts with all diligence because out of it will flow the issues of life. And the apostle Paul says, in terms of our hearts, we should only allow things that are pure, lovely, honest, praiseworthy, virtuous of a good report. And he says, when we allow those thoughts, we'll be able to manifest the promises of God. And so I want to encourage you, if you're watching today, just to take some time out and start thinking about what you're thinking about in 24 and just carefully select the thoughts that are thoughts of good, thoughts that are based on God's word, thoughts that are based on his promises and the outcome that he has in mind for us. He tells us that he has good thoughts for us and it's time that we adopt his thoughts and kick out these negative thoughts that bring worry and fear and stress. It's not our portion. Jesus paid on the cross and he took our sorrows so that we can enjoy life, so that we can be worry free and enjoy his peace, which surpasses all understanding.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: So good. Thank you so much and thanks all of you for tuning in. Each know if there's people that you know that would enjoy or benefit from the Wealth Builders podcast, please share this with them. And again, if you have not yet registered, please do so. Join us. We invite you to join us for the Wealth Builders Conference February 16 through the 18th. Again, you can learn
[email protected].
Events Pastor Tafara, thank you so much and all of you listening. Thank you. God bless you and make it a great rest of the day.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: Thank thanks for listening to the Wealth Builders podcast. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review the show. You want to learn more about who we are, visit our
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