Imagine being in the city of Jerusalem 3000 years ago. You see the palace of King Solomon. The walls are lined with cedar. The drinking vessels are made of pure gold. The sheer volume of wealth is so overwhelming that silver was considered common, why? Because there was so much gold. He had made stables with thousands of horses-the cars of those days.
At the center of the city, was the temple of Solomon. The temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. King David himself had collected vast treasures for its construction.
When completed, tourists would came in from the world over, to see it. Israel believed it would last forever.
The plans for its construction were made by divine inspiration.
Sister Ellen G. White, in her book, the Great Controversy, confirms that the temple was the most magnificent building which the world had ever seen. Other than its sheer beauty and splendor;
• A cloud of glory filled the sanctuary.
• When they offered sacrifice upon its altar, fire from heaven would descend and consume the sacrifice.
• Inside it was the ark of the covenant that Moses had made, which had the mercy seat, and the tables of the testimony.
• In the Most Holy place, the Shekhinah glory abode between the Cherubims.
• And whenever a priest would inquire of the will of Jehovah inside it, a voice would sound from heaven to make known to the inquiring priest the will of Jehovah.
But if you walked past the gold, past the ivory throne and past the stables with their thousands of horses, you would find the true source of this empire. You would find a library. You would find the scrolls. King Solomon wrote two pillars of a financial empire; a manual of operations in Proverbs and a risk management strategy in Ecclesiastes.
What money challenge do you have today? You are working harder than your parents ever did. You are earning more than people did 20 years ago. But somehow you are broke. All that you earn vanishes; and you have no savings.
What is your current biggest money struggle. Is it debt? Is it spending too much?
So, what principles of wealth building can we learn from King Solomon that can assist us to grow our wealth in a Godly way?
Principle 1: Wealth begins with Wisdom. God appeared to King Solomon and said, “ask for anything you want”. Most people would have ask for money; most people would have ask for power. But Solomon asked for wisdom. And because he asked for wisdom, God gave him wealth also.
He had so much money that silver became worthless in Jerusalem, for there was so much gold. Proverbs 3:13-18 says, “13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.
So, what is wisdom on matters finance? Wisdom in finance is what is known as financial literacy. Financial literacy is what can give you the highest return on your investments.
Here is the harsh truth; most people lose money, not because they do not have opportunities, but because they do not have knowledge. So, they move with the current. They buy bitcoin because everyone else is doing it, and loose. They invest in businesses they do not understand, and loose. The ignorance tax is the most expensive tax you will ever pay.
But Why? Why is ignorance on money matters dangerous? It is dangerous because money does not change who you are, it only magnifies who you are! If you are reckless, then, more money to you will only result in more expensive mistakes. But if you are wise, then more money to you will become more impactful for good!
It matters little the much you make in a period; just remember this; before you ask God to increase your income, ask Him to increase your wisdom. Start learning about money stewardship. Start learning about debt management; and start investments in the Godly way. Why? Not because you worship money, but because you want your money to honor God.
Principle two: Stewardship. Do you actually own your money? Think about it. You cannot take it with you when you die. Inflation steals its value while you sleep, the government can freeze your accounts. So, do you really own it?
King Solomon confirms in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that, “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end”.
So, you are not the owner of your money; instead, you are the Manager. And here is where most people fail. They blow their money on things that lose value the second they buy them. New phones, designer clothes, expensive dinners; then they wonder where money has gone.
Remember, we are constantly under a test. The question is, will you pass the test? Can you manage Ksh.1,000 without wasting it, if you do, then God entrusts you with Ksh10,000. Can you manage Ksh100,000 wisely? Then here is Ksh1,000,000. You have to beat each level before unlocking the next one.
Your next level of wealth depends on how well you manage your current level. Pass the test.
Is money your servant, or your master? Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”.
When money controls you, you become a slave. How? You start to compare yourself to people with bigger houses and nicer cars and feel worthless. That is slavery.
You adjust to a lifestyle you cannot afford; a bigger house that you cannot afford, a luxury car beyond your means, a private school for kids that drains you.
But here is the flip side; money as a servant is powerful. It buys you time. It gives you options. It solves problems. It creates freedom.
So, do you use your wealth to show off? Or is it a tool for stewardship? Saints, money is a seed. If you keep digging it up to show people, it never grows roots, so, plan your dreams in privacy with God.
Principle 3. Work! Why? Because hard work beats talent.
You must work. Active income from your labor is the foundation. You cannot invest money you do not have. Why? Because you gain diligence through work. This will involve showing up every single day, getting better every week, and learning from mistakes.
Proverbs 10:4 says, “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich”.
The slack hand implies a hand that is deceitful, lazy, or negligent. It is a hand that cuts corners. It is a hand that does just enough to get by.
Solomon contrasts this with the diligent hand. The diligent hand is consistent. The concept of diligence here is not just working hard but also working with excellence.
So, stop looking for the lottery tickets. Stop gambling. Instead, develop skills! Work! The results will come.
Work is the engine that drove the economy of Israel during the Solomonic golden age. The wealth of Solomon came because Israel became a center of excellence. They had the best timber, the best stone, the best Craftsmen, and the best administration.
Ecclesiastes 10:10, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. So, develop new skills.
In Proverbs chapter 6:6-8 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest”.
This is about self- management. The Ant does not need a boss standing over it to work. The ants know that you cannot eat in the winter if you do not work in the summer. Many people are in financial winter today because they slept during their summer. They had a season of opportunity, a season of youth, or a season of open doors, but they had a slack hand. They did not gather.
Our capacity to work is a gift from God and to waste that capacity is sin. In Proverbs 22:29 he asks, “Do you see a man who [a]excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before [b]unknown men”. The King preached and demanded excellence!
Laziness is destructive. When you do not maintain your home, it decays. When you do not maintain your skills, they atrophy-meaning wasting away or decreasing. The hand of the diligent makes rich because the diligent person is solving problems.
Proverbs 24:30-34 says, “30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; 31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
When you apply the principle of the diligent hand, you are aligning yourself with the creative nature of God Himself, who worked for six days and rested on the 7th. We are created. In His image, and therefore we are created to work, to build and to manage.
Principle 4: Save.
King Solomon observes in Proverbs 21:20 that “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down”. In other words, the wise save, and fools squander all their money. So, are you wise?
This is important, and probably the reason we are here today as Mizeituni SACCO. I call it Joseph’s principle. Save 20% of all that you earn and invest it in a passive income.
Joseph used this secret not only to save a nation, but also to make Egypt a world superpower. This principle, if you practice it, I promised you, you will find it the most practical wealth building strategy in human history.
The world calls it the golden rule of wealth building – 50-30-20 rule i.e 50% for your needs, 30% for wants and 20% for savings.
Godly men would amend it to 10-20-50-20 rule. 10% tithe, 20% savings-paying yourself first, 50% for needs and the remaining 20% for wants.
Genesis 41 tells the story of Joseph. Egypt had seven years of massive harvests. Most people would celebrate and spend everything under such circumstances. But Joseph did something different. He stored 1/5 of all the grain. That is 20%, for seven straight years.
After the abundance, the famine hit. Seven years of no crops. Every surrounding nation, except Egypt, was starving. Egypt was rich. They sold grain to everyone. They became the wealthiest superpower of the ancient world. Why? Because of one simple rule. They saved 20%.
Save 20% of all that you earn for 7 years. Put it in a SACCO, or in a special fund, where it can earn you a passive income in the form of a dividend. Reinvest back all the dividend that you have earned for 7 consecutive years. I can assure you, the money accumulated will make you survive and thrive when times are bad.
Now let us put it to perspective so you understand; Let us assume you are a young person who has just gotten a job and is earning Ksh. 30,000 a month. 20% of that is Ksh. 6,000 per month, translating into Ksh. 72,000 per year.
If you put it into the Bank for seven years, you shall have saved Ksh. 504,000. In 20 years, your Ksh. 6,000 would be Ksh 1,440,000.
But if you take the same Ksh. 6,000 per month, and put it into a SACCO, even in Mizeituni SACCO as deposits earning 10% interest per annum, and re-investing all the dividends for the next 7 years, your savings shall have grown to Ksh. 683,064. And here is the beauty. You could take upto 3 times the loan. So you can access a loan of about Ksh. 2Million. So with just Ksh. 6,000 saved every month, 7 years later, you would have the ability to buy land for your own house. In 20 years, it would have grown to Ksh 4,536,180.
Assuming you are in your early 40s, say 43, and no longer interested in loans. You also earn Ksh. 30,000 per month, and you join Mizeituni SACCO, and given Mizeituni ambition to differentiate savings products, you decide to go for the high yielding medium risk savings products earning 15% interest annually; by the time you become 50, your Ksh. 6,000 per month would have become Ksh 796,334; about Ksh. 800K. In 20 year, your Ksh. 6,000 would be Ksh. 8,482,329. It is called the power of Compound interest.
So what choice would you make? Squander everything and you retire poor? Or put in the Bank and get Ksh 1.4Million; or invest in a saving product in Mizeituni and get Ksh 8.5 Million after 20 years? The choice is yours; but I urge you to choose wisely.
You may say, Timothy, I am barely getting by. I cannot commit 20%! I advise you, plan! Implement the 10:20:50:20 rule? According to the order of priority, 10% belongs to God as tithe; 20% belongs to you, after giving to God what belongs to him, next, you pay yourself first by investing the 20% to produce more and secure your future; 50% of your income for needs, to carter for your daily living-food, shelter, clothing. The remaining 20% for wants-pick nicks, holidays, eat outs, cars and name it. It is all on how you plan it out.
That first 20% is not just emergency; it is your freedom fund. It is what you invest to build passive income. It is what separates people who stay broke from people who build generational wealth.
For those who argue that you cannot afford to save 20%, I want you to remember Joseph. Joseph did not ask if Egypt could afford it, he made it non-negotiable; and it saved an entire civilization. What is your excuse? Make it non-negotiable.
Principle 5: Diversify. Ecclesiastes 11:2 says, “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land”.
The wisdom in this text is this; spread your risk across different assets and industries. If you rely on one source of income, you are fragile. If that one source breaks, your entire house falls.
But if you have 7 streams and one dries up, you still have things flowing. This is how Solomon maintained his wealth. He had trade routes. He had tributes from other nations. He had vineyards. He had livestock. He had mines. He was not dependent on a single source of income
So, how do I diversify? Start by building one more bridge. It may be a saving plan that can build for you some passive income. It can be through a new skill that you learn after work and that you can commercialize; or it might be a small honest side business.
Ask yourself, if my main income stopped tomorrow, what would keep me standing? If that question makes your stomach drop, don't run from it. Let it motivate you to build differently with God.
Regarding diversification, King Solomon talks about a virtuous woman. Look at Proverbs 31:16. It says, “She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard”. This is real estate acquisition and asset development. She does not just buy land to hold it, she improves it to create cash flow in it by planting a vineyard. She is not holding a dead asset. Land without cashflow is a dead asset.
Verse 24 says, “She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes”. This is manufacturing and supply chain management. Using the example of this woman, Solomon is teaching us that the foundation of wealth is production. You cannot pray your way to wealth if you are not producing something of value for the marketplace.
Principle 6. Be generous: Generosity is a wealth magnet. King Solomon says in Proverbs 11:24-25 reading from English Translation version, “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 25 The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” In another place, in Proverbs 19:17, he says, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done”.
But you may ask; how can you get when you give away?
Luke 6:38, Jesus Himself speaking, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Money is like water, it has to flow to create value. Stagnant money loses value to inflation. Flowing money creates businesses, jobs, relationships, and opportunities for wealth.
But how does it work? This is how; when you help people, you create goodwill and relationships that return in unexpected ways.
Generosity is not a loss, It's an invisible investment. It builds, favor and open doors that money can never buy.
This doesn't mean giving recklessly. It means giving intentionally in obedience, trusting that God is the source behind everything that you have.
Principle 7 is the fear of the Lord as the foundation. This is the secret that holds all the others together because without the fear of the Lord, wisdom becomes manipulation, discipline becomes pride, and wealth becomes an idol.
Question: If God suddenly doubled your income, would it draw you closer to him or quietly pull you away? Build your finances on the fear of the Lord, or you will build a life that can't survive success.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. Remember, the enemy doesn't just want you broke, he is just as happy if you're rich, proud, and far from God.
You can have 7 income streams and still lose your family. You can be generous in public and empty in private.
But what does Jesus say? He says in Matthew 6:33 says, “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”.
How? This is how; when you are with the Lord, you will walk in integrity. You attract people and opportunities that align with your values, and you will build wealth without losing your soul in the process.
Wealth with God is not just a big number in the bank, it is a clean heart, a clear purpose, and a legacy that doesn't die when you do. The fear of the Lord is in saying God, you are God. My money is not my God, but just a tool to be used for your Glory. God Bless you!
I want to pray over you and your finances right now.
Father, we thank you for your wisdom spoken through your servant King Solomon.
In our financial lives, you understand the stress, the debt, the bills, the confusion, and even the shame. Help us resolve every unwise decision and every habit that keeps us stuck.
Holy Spirit, teach us to give with joy, to walk in discipline and to fear You above everything.
We surrender our plans, our careers, our businesses, and our dreams to You. Make us wise; build in us a life that honors You; a life that blesses others. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Sermon delivered at Merisho Central SDA Church on 14th February 2026.
