Ep. 59 - Purpose Driven Selling: Why Hiding Your Gift Is Disobedience, Not Humility

If you've ever wrestled with guilt about selling as a Jesus follower, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I uncovers the silent lies many believers carry about sales, purpose, and profit and how those lies are sabotaging your Kingdom assignment.

You'll discover the biblical truth about selling, the powerful Purpose Driven Selling definition, and the Spirit-led S.E.L.L.S. Framework™ that transforms selling from hustling into holy stewardship.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
 ✅ How wrong beliefs about selling block your impact, income, and obedience
 ✅ Why selling your gift is not selfish — it's stewardship
 ✅ 3 signs you're carrying silent lies about money and worth
 ✅ The biblical blueprint for Purpose Driven Selling
 ✅ Practical steps to renew your mind, serve authentically, and sell boldly

Stop hiding your gift. Start stewarding it with courage, clarity, and Kingdom conviction.

This is not hustle culture. This is holy commission.
Listen now — the world is waiting for what you carry. 🌍🔥

Join My Next Free "5 day Purpose Driven Course Creation Challenge" - https://www.ucheokere.com/5daychallenge

Transcript

Dr Uche Okere: 0:00

Have you ever struggled with the idea of selling as a Jesus follower? Maybe you thought, if I received my gift for free, why should I charge money for it? Can I sell and still be a person of integrity? Or maybe you're asking, isn't selling manipulative or selfish? If you've wrestled with any of these questions, hear me, you are not alone. And today I'm gonna show you the biblical truth about purpose-driven selling and why embracing purpose-driven selling is essential for fulfilling your kingdom assignments. Now, this is something that is very personal to me because I've been on a journey. In both my understanding and practice of selling, if you read my book, purpose Driven Profits, you will find me talk extensively about my experience with selling and indeed my upbringing and how I grew up and what my family status was like and all of that. And one of the things that defined my childhood and my teenage years indeed, was the fact that we didn't really have much. My dad was a hardworking man, and I'm grateful for him. He was a hardworking man who loved God, a man of integrity. My mom also, but the economic situation of Nigeria in which I grew up wasn't just favorable for my family at the time. My dad had a job, but he happened to lose his job because the company just folded and that didn't happen just once, it happened a number of times. And my mom being, I believe the Proverbs 31 woman she is, was going to support the family. She committed herself to supporting the family and she wasn't just gonna sit down and not support her husband. And so she started selling. She would do things like, go into the rural areas and buy fruits and come into the city in which we live to take them to the market and sell. In fact, we had a stall in front of our house where she sold. Every day she brings out fruits, bananas, oranges to sell. there was a market, which was about maybe 20 minutes walk from my house and or maybe less than that, walk from my house. And she got a stall in that market as well to sell cold drinks. That market was a weekly market. It held every Wednesday, and at 5:00 AM every Wednesday, even as a teenager, I would help my mom take drinks to the market. We didn't have a car, Imagine this, and I was quite tall for my age as a teenager, I would carry these drinks on my head walking to the market, and at the end of the day, say about 6:00 PM I'll also have to go to the market to carry these drinks back from the market. It wasn't dignifying, I'll be honest with you, as a teenager it wasn't dignifying. It wasn't something I loved to do. Even if I knew that my mom was doing this to support the family, support her husband, I could also see the strain on her. I could see that if she had a choice, if there was an easier way for her to support the family, maybe if she knew a better way to support the family, she would have done it. And so without realizing it, these observations in my teenage years formed some ideas about selling in me. I internalized some deep lies even without knowing it. Some of those lies were number one. I began to believe that selling is something that desperate people do. So selling is something that desperate people do. In other words, if you're comfortable, if you have enough, if you have an alternative, you will not sell. Because as far as I could see, that was my experience. That was what I could see in my mom. that was the reason she was selling. She was selling because that was no alternative and so I put it together and I thought that was the thing to believe that was the right thing. Even if I didn't realize this was happening in my mind. Secondly, I came to believe that selling was manipulative. Okay? That selling wasn't something that honest people did. Now, I don't know where this came from because my mom wasn't this person. My mom wasn't a person who would want to take advantage of anybody or manipulate anybody, but somehow. It was a fear of selling. it was something that had to do with attaching this negative feelings to selling, and this negative understanding to selling that just almost snowballed and began to create these lies in my mind. I also came to believe that selling is for people who cannot succeed properly. So people who cannot find a, but a better way to make a living, people who cannot find a more dignifying or dignified way to make a living will resort to selling. Now, like I said, I didn't do this consciously. These were not thoughts. I sat down and roots down and internalized and taught myself and believed I didn't realize I had these biases and fears about selling until much later. In fact, a few years ago. When I began to feel that God was leading me and instructing me to begin to build a business around my gift, I had taught a teaching series in church and it was around the kingdom of God and how everybody's gifted and how it is through our gifts that we can truly, contributed the establishment of the kingdom of God here on earth. And I began to feel that really God was also speaking to me. Through all of that, but these fears about selling, fears about putting myself there and making an offer and asking people to exchange monetary value for what I was providing them began to surface. Maybe you are carrying some of these silence lies as well, and maybe perhaps you've not realized it, but let me suggest three things that could be an indication that you are maybe believing these lies as well. These three things may just suggest that. You also have these discomfort when it comes to selling.'cause I found in the, in past few years of doing my purpose driven business coaching and helping Jesus follow us, align what they do with money for God's purpose, for their lives. That this is always something that people come against. This is always something that people almost express because. Almost everyone I see starts from a place where they're giving what they have for free, and they are never able to come to the point where they say, this is what I charge for this service or for this offer. So this is how you know If there's some lies that you're believing about selling. Number one, you feel guilty or uncomfortable whenever you think about charging for your services. You feel guilty, you feel you're doing something to the people you feel you are doing them harm. You feel you're not being loving. You feel you're not being caring. You think you're being selfish. If you have to ask them to exchange money for the service that you have to offer, you feel guilty. About it, you feel you're doing something wrong. In fact, some people have expressed that they even feel that they're being unfaithful for to God. They feel that they're losing their integrity. They're no longer being people of honesty and integrity as God wants them to be. If that is the case, if you feel guilty or uncomfortable, whenever you think about charging for your services, can I suggest that it's possible? That you have internalized some lies about selling. Secondly, you hesitate to promote your offerings even though you know that it could help people. Oh, I could so much relate with this. I could so much relate with this. I wished when I started my business, I. That people would just come to me to ask for what I had. I wasn't willing to put myself out there and say, this is what I can do for you. It looks to me like self-promotion. It looked to me like I was bragging, like I was boasting even to say that these are people have helped. In the past, even to say, this has been my experience. I did this. This is a result I got, and I believe if you do something similar, you will get the same result. I felt such a strong hesitation, and it cost me a lot. It cost me in time because I was wasting time. I was waiting and waiting for people to come for me to offer them what I had. To work for them. It also cost me money because I was paying coach after coach looking for the silver bullets. That would mean that people will find me even when I haven't made myself findable.. So if you hesitate to promote your offerings, if you hesitate to shout from the rooftops, you cannot post on Facebook, for example, confidently and say, Hey, this is what I do. If you have this problem, if you have this challenge, I think I can help you come and have a chat. If you hesitate to promote your offerings, even if you know that you can actually help these people, then it's very likely. In fact, I would say that it is it definitely the case that you have internalized some lies about selling. And thirdly, you secretly believe that making money and serving God are at odds with each other. And we hear this all the time. People often miso the Bible verse, the love of money is the root of all evil people Misquote that Bible verse, And say, it is money that is the root of all. Evil. And people say, oh, you cannot serve Marmon and God at the same time without knowing that they are even contradicting themselves. Because some of the people who are saying these things are people who are using all of their time chasing money. What does it mean to serve something? It means that the thing is in control of your life. So if you're a servant of money, it means that money dictates what you do with your time, which is the most valuable resource that you have. And most Jesus followers I know. Unfortunately, this is what they do. Their time is dictated by the thing that will pay them. They cannot choose what they do with their time because they haven't got to that point where they have aligned what they do for money with God's purpose for their lives. So I'm saying all this to say that. Making money is not wrong. There's nothing wrong with making money. And if you secretly believe that making money and serving God are two opposites, are two contradictions that it's not possible to have both of them working hand in hand, then it's very likely that you've believed some lies about selling. And if this is the case for you, please hear me. Please hear me because. These are very expensive lies to believe. These are not lies that do not have consequences. The impacts of these lies are far reaching. They're costing you much more than you already know. When you believe lies about selling, I. The consequences are serious, and here are some of the consequences. Number one, you limit the impact that God intended for the gifts that he put inside of you. Think about that. Think about it. You limit the impacts that God intended when he puts a gift inside of you. If your gift is the inherent capacity that God has given you to fulfill your purpose, then that means that when you are believing these lies, you are limiting the possibility of fulfilling your purpose. I believe that success is defined by three things. One of those is purpose. If you're not fulfilling your purpose, you cannot be set to be successful because you're not doing the singular thing, the thing that God sent you here. To do so it's critical really this not fulfilling your purpose. If a lie is limiting you from fulfilling your purpose, from using your gift to the highest level that you can use it, then that's a really significant. Impact. A second consequence of believing this lie is that you limit the income that you can have. You limit the income that you can have. There's no doubt, and I hope you, do not believe that you do not need money. Money is not a bad thing. Money gives you options. If You believe that God has given you something to do and you have a mission, money becomes a tool to fuel that mission. Many people I know cannot pursue God's purpose for their lives because they use their time. In chasing money. So if you believe this lie that money is a bad thing, then you are unable to make the money that you can make. And by extension, pursue God's mission for your life. Money enables you to scale the impact of the gift that God has given you beyond your immediate circle. Money allows you to invest in other tools, teams, trainings, multiply your influence, the things that you need to get better, so that you can be a better person in fulfilling God's purpose for your life. Income provides the resources that you need to fund kingdom initiatives. I'm a local church pastor, and I know what it means. I know what it means. The gospel is free. salvation is free. Jesus paid the prize. It's free. We celebrated Easter a week ago. So salvation is free. There's no cost to it. But hear me as a pastor telling you, running ministry, running a local church, doing local missions is not cheap. It's expensive, and we do need money to do those things. So if you believe these lies, it limits your ability to make money and by extension limits your ability to contribute to the extension of the Kingdom of God through initiatives that will bless others and leave a lasting legacy that will be a testament of your obedience to God and your generosity. The Bible says a good man lives an inheritance for his children's children. If you believe these lies. It limits you from being able to leave a significant financial inheritance for your children. Also, you risk getting trapped in jobs that do not honor your divine design. I know many people who, in jobs that literally say with their mouth, this job is killing me. But they cannot leave the job. They cannot escape that job because this is the thing that pays them, and they need to make that money. One of the reasons they're unable to leave is because they're afraid of selling. They've believed some lies about selling, so they're unable to step out boldly into business that God may have prepared for them. So The impact of these lies are not just about income, It's about your impact. It's about your obedience is about your legacy, so allow me today to show you a biblical perspective on selling. If you've believed some things about selling that may not be true. Let me show you an alternative, a different way from scripture. The Bible says Proverbs 1126, people curse the one who hoards green, but they pray God's blessing on the one who is willing to sell. Now. This couldn't be clearer to me. This verbal verse couldn't be clearer to me. It's very clear that it's not holding your gifts that honors God. It's not holding back on the thing that God has given you that honors God. And we see this principle through our scripture. Jesus talks about that parable of the talent, and he calls the servants who hi, his one talents, he calls him wicked. It did not honor God. The ones who multiplied it were said to be faithful. so selling as received from this Bible verse is not about, it's not about holding or rather holding your gifts does not honor God. What honors God is boldly and generously offering it, selling it to people with integrity. I wanna say to you today that selling when rooted in purpose is a righteous thing to do. Listen to that Bible verse. They will pray a blessing on the person who is willing to sell. They will pray a blessing on the person who is willing to sell, but they will curse the one who herds what they have and refuses to make it available to the people who need it. I call these purpose driven selling, this kind of selling that honors God by generously making the gift that God has put in you available. This kind of selling that is righteous. I call it purpose driven selling. A purpose driven selling very simply, if you want, a definition is steward word in your God-given solution to solve real problems for real people. Aligning impact and income with your kingdom assignment. It is a strategic spirit led act of offering value in a way that serves others, honors God. And advances your calling. Purpose driven selling is not about hustling because that is what so many of us came to believe about selling, that it's hustling, it's labor, it's doing whatever you need to do to make those sales. No, that's not what this is. This is God honoring. It's not manipulating, it's not twisting people's hands to get money after their wallet and give to you whether what you have will serve them. Or not rather, purpose-driven selling is still within your God-given solution with love, boldness, and strategy. Purpose-driven selling is rooted in some truths, so against the lies that I came to believe, these are the truths that God began to teach me. Number one, selling is service. Selling is service number two. Selling is something you do for people, not something you do to them. So what does this mean in practical terms? How do we work out? How do we live out purpose driven selling? I love frameworks and I like as much as possible to put the things that God teaches me into frameworks that are repeatable. And I've got a framework for you today. It spells S-E-L-L-S. So we're talking about selling. So I don't have a framework that is related to selling. So it sells, and I'm gonna tell you. What those five letters stand for? The first S there stands for Serve first. If you're gonna be a person who sells with integrity, who engages in purpose-driven selling, you would focus on people in your sales efforts. It's not about profit, it's about serving people. The first thing you wanna do is to serve people. You will lead. With your heart, your initial desire. In fact, your primary desire is to love God and serve people. This is not hustling to find your daily bread. No. This is about serving God. This is about seeking the kingdom of God first because we are confident that when we do that, as Jesus says in Matthew 6 33, all these things that other people go looking for will be added to us. So focus. On people not on profit. That is why we serve. We give our gifts for free even, first of all, before people begin to pay for it. So that's the first S there. Serve first. The E means engage authentically. This is about relationships. Build real relationships, not transactional exchanges. You've probably been involved In some sales arrangements where as soon as they got the money off you, as soon as you sign the contract, the communication lines cease. You couldn't reach them anymore. The phone lines wouldn't go through anymore. You've probably been engaged or seen that kind of arrangement before, but that's not who we are. Purpose driven selling means that we engage authentically, we build real relationships such that even if the people do not end up buying from us. We're still willing to serve them. We still love them. We still care about them, and we still show them the love of God. The first L there is lead boldly. People need leadership to make decisions. As a purpose driven salesperson, you will guide people ethically. You will help. People, and this is not about convincing people. This is where you persuade people. You help people get out of their way to make a decision to buy the thing that they have already decided. The thing that they know will help them. So we lead boldly. We provide the leadership that people need, points them in the right direction so that they can make the purchase that will truly help them. The second L there is that we love deeply, we care more about the people's transformation than the transaction. The transaction is not the main thing, the transformation. Is the key thing. We want to see the results that the thing that we have to offer these people, the gifts that God has given us to serve them with. We wanna see the results. That it'll have on their lives, and we're passionate about that transformation. And the last S there is steward faithfully. Listen to me. What you have to offer doesn't belong to you. It was given to you by God. Your gift is an inherent capacity put in you by God so that you can use it. To serve people. So we recognize that we're managing God's gift. We're not building our own empire. As we engage in purpose-driven selling, we are not building our own empire. Selling this way becomes worship. It becomes obedience. It becomes love in action because you are offering people something that they are praying for, something that they desire, something that they need to take them from their current pain to the results that they already desire. if purpose driven selling is gonna be a practice for you. Number one, you need to renew your mind. So you need to break every agreement with lies about money, lies about selling, lies about worth, and replace them with biblical truth about selling and serving. Number two, you must offer a real solution. You have to have something to offer. If you don't have anything to offer, you will not be able to sell in a purpose driven way. It is the person who has corn that can sell. So I'm gonna ask you what Elisha asked that widow of the prophet, what is in your house? Do you know what gifts you have? Have you developed it into a thing of value that solves a real painful problem for real people, not one that you've just come up with and you think it's something that people are looking for, a real problem that you've observed, you've taken time to think about and to study and to provide an elegant solution. For this problem, you have to offer a real solution for people to pay you. That is when you can engage in purpose-driven selling. Number three, you persuade. You don't convince. I already alluded to this. Persuading is helping someone overcome the fear of saying, yes, they know they want it, but they've got objections. And we don't go about objection handling like every other salesperson. No. Our intention is to help them see what they need to do. They've got to come to the point where they are persuaded themselves. We don't engage in activities that try to break people's will. Even God doesn't do that with us, so why should we do it with other people? So persuading is helping someone get out of their way so they can say yes to what they already desire. Convincing is pushing people. Pushing people, even when we know they don't want to buy. Even when we know they don't need this thing, and that is wrong. So purpose driven sellers persuade. We shepherd people to make destiny decisions. If you've listened up to this point, I need you to hear that your gift is important. Don't let the fear of selling. Make you hide your gift, make it available. Because when you sell your gift with purpose, you don't just make an income, you make an impact. You extend your kingdom influence. You honor your kingdom assignment. You don't sell because you are desperate or you are hustling. You sell because you are deploying the gift that God has put inside of you. So let this be a challenge to you today to rise up still what your gift will. Sell boldly. Serve deeply, love extravagantly. This is purpose driven selling and the world is waiting for what you carry. God bless you.