The Righteousness Of Thinking Big

That conversation Bishop and I just had, we have never had that conversation with each other before. We're just. We're just.

He's like, I gotta hold my head together with my hands now.

But he's gonna share some stuff with us. It's gonna be a game changer. So if your seatbelt ain't fastened.

Right, this would be a good time to make sure your tray table's up.

Your seat back is up in the most uncomfortable and upright position.

Because Bishop about to take off. So without any further ado, I'm going to introduce you to my friend, my Bishop, Wayne Malcolm. All right, give it up for Bishop Malcolm.

Thank you, man. Bless you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And once again, I just want to say what a remarkable gift Myron is to our generation. And we celebrate you, sir, and salute you and honor you and just cherish every minute we can spend at your feet. And even your jokes are just loaded with nuggets. And so we come away full, really excited to meet some of you. Some of you I have met before, and some of you are meeting for the first time. But I'm really excited to be with you. I'm not going to keep you very long tonight. In fact. In fact, most of my people know that I never preach a long sermon.

It's my introduction that takes all the time. But I'm going to make to you the same promise and pledge that King Henry VIII made to his many wives.

When he said, I will not keep you, too.

I'm just checking your humor quotient, but I do want to assure those of you who have somewhere to go that my preaching is never as long as it seems.

Actually, I'm going to drop something with you that has had a very profound impact on me, and I pray it has equally a profound impact on you. Now, I'm going to kick off with a reading. So I'm going to be reading from the Genesis.

My favorite book.

And.

Incidentally.

There are striking similarities between the book of Genesis being the first book of the Bible and the book of Revelation being the last book of the Bible. Striking similarities. In fact, all the things that appear in the world as a result of Adam's transgression in Genesis, they disappear in Revelation as a result of Christ's victory. So sin came into the world, and death and suffering and sorrow, and they all leave the world in Revelation. Likewise, the things that disappear in Genesis as a result, as a consequence of Adam's transgression, they reappear in Revelation as a result of Christ's victory. So the tree of life comes back, and the river of life and this paradise that we lost, it all comes back. And this is fundamentally what Christ means when he calls himself Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end, the first and the last. That is not possible in a straight line. In a straight line, the beginning and the end are two separate points. But in a circle, the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. And what the Scripture is describing is the circle of God's intent, meaning that God will get in the end what he wanted in the beginning. And even if there is some time between that, we're not moving in a straight line, we're moving in a circle, and we are coming back to the beginning. And I think that that is why there is such renewed interest in the teaching of the Genesis. I feel obsessed with it. Right. And love to listen to anyone talking from the Genesis. So, because it's the book of origins, it's the book of beginnings, and it helps us to understand.

The true nature of things. If you want to understand the nature of something, then start where it started, and you get a clue as to what it's all about. So I'm in Genesis 15, and I'm going to read just a few verses, verses five through six.

And it reads, then he brought him outside. That's God brought Abraham outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Wow.

Wow.

Okay, so I'm going to speak for a few minutes on this subject. The righteousness of thinking big.

The righteousness of thinking big. I remember reading a book many years ago called the Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. And it was a great book. It was an interesting read, and it really encouraged and challenged you to enlarge your territory psychologically. But I want to talk about the righteousness of thinking big, and I want you to consider with me.

What happened in this story. In this story, God says, abraham, look up and count the stars if you're able to.

Right? So the answer is you're not able to. Okay. You're not able to. And if you ever. Have you ever been to the Middle east and looked up at the night sky? It's very different to a night sky anywhere else in the world because it's just a blanket of stars. Okay? It's millions and billions of stars. And counting the stars would be the same as trying to count grains of sand.

On the seashore. It's simply not possible to illustrate just how impossible it would be.

It is estimated that There are about 1, septillion stars in the universe.

And if you want to comprehend a septillion, it's one with 48 zeros on the end.

Okay? So when God said, count the stars if you can, the reality is that Abraham could not count the stars. But I think what got to me is, you know, God, you're speaking to a relatively old man here and you're breaking into the mind of a 75 year old man and you're asking him to think that big.

Now, when a young man comes to me with a big vision, I get it. But when an old man comes with a big vision, I get concerned.

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Because it could be that you heard from God. It could also be early signs.

Of another issue.

Because this vision that God gives Abraham is so gigantic.

It'S beyond counting. It's huge. And I want us to think about these three words. It's gigantic, right?

But as you look at the promise in detail.

It is.

Global.

Because God says, in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So God's got this old man thinking global.

He's thinking global. There's no Internet. He's thinking global. There's no social media, there's no telephone, there's no communications, nothing high speed at all. But God says, I want you thinking global.

All the families of the Earth, it's gigantic. It's global. Here's the third G. It's generational.

In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. That's a generational vision. And we know that the seed specifically of Abraham was Jesus Christ. And that Jesus appeared 42 generations after Abraham. We know it was 42 generations because Matthew 1 says, From Abraham to David were 14 generations. From David till Babylon were 14 generations, from Babylon till Christ were 14 generations. So Abraham is thinking 42 generations down the road.

Are you sure he was thinking? Yeah, he was. Because Jesus said to the Pharisees, your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. It simply meant that Abraham was so tall in faith, he was able to see over the mountains of time 42 generations ahead of him, see the seed that God promised him, and experience the sensations of satisfaction as if it had happened in his own day. He saw it and was glad.

God's giving this old man a gigantic vision.

A global vision and a generational vision. And this old man believes God.

He believes it. He identifies with it. So he later says, don't call me Abraham anymore. Call me Abraham, because I now fully identify with the vision that God gave me. He believed it, he identified with it, and he acted accordingly.

And God said.

That'S righteous.

You're righteous.

There's something righteous about thinking big. Now, when I say thinking big, I think that whenever God gives us an idea, we default automatically to trying to squeeze it inside our current means reach and years.

Okay? So.

God gives you an idea. God gives you a vision. Straight away, you figure out, how can I do this? Because you default to your own means.

Right? You default to your own reach and you default to your own years. Now, one of the things the patriarchs understood is something that we're just beginning to understand today. They understood that success is succession.

Because the plans, purposes, and promises of God are simply too big to squeeze into any one person's lifetime. They understood that God is faithful.

And he'll keep the covenant.

From generation to generation.

He identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's the God that keeps covenant from generation to generation. And the patriarchs understood this, which is why when they were dying, they called their children around them.

And laid hands on them and blessed them. And that blessing was a form of passing on the baton. And it was them saying, it's your turn now. They would pass on their estate, they would pass on their authority, they would pass on their responsibility, and they would pass it on with this generational blessing.

And of course, that blessing was coveted by the patriarchs, so much so that Rebekah would conspire with Isaac to obtain the blessing of by deceit. Just act like you know what I'm talking about, right?

They knew that whatever the old man said once, he said was like an arrow being released from the bow. There was nothing even he could do to recall it.

And so they took this, this practice very seriously because they understood that there was no success without succession.

Abraham is challenged at 75 to think gigantically, globally, and generationally.

To where he cannot default to his own means, reach, and years. Because what God's talking about was beyond his means. Meaning, I can't do this one by myself.

And to be fair, this is the difference between a good idea and a God idea.

Because when you have a good idea, typically it's an idea that benefits you personally. And it's easy to default to I can do this. So you become this. I can person. I can do this. And the reason you think you can do it is because it's a good idea.

When you have a good idea, it's within your reach and typically within your years. But a God idea is always going to be beyond your means.

It's going to be beyond your reach, and it's going to be beyond your years. Let me just break that down for a second because I told you, it's the introduction that takes all the time. It's just help me finish the int.

God gives you a vision. God gives you an idea. It's beyond your means. Means that I cannot do this by myself.

Right. Number one, I need God. Like, if this isn't God, I've lost my mind.

It's beyond your reach. Means that the vision will force you to build a team. Wow.

It'll force you to think collaboratively. It'll force you to seek out partners and joint ventures and people that can work with you on it. Because it's beyond your reach.

And when God gives you an idea, it's going to be beyond your years, which means you will factor in succession. Now, when I say factor in succession, and again, I talk about succession a lot and people sometimes think I'm being morbid when I talk about succession. But you see.

No business.

No business.

Can realize its full potential.

Unless the founder, the entrepreneur, has various exit strategies in mind and embed succession planning in the process. Because to scale the business, you have to exit it operationally.

And you can't exit it operationally without identifying suitable people who can continue the operation. And they'll never be able to continue the operation if you weren't planning for that in the first place, to where you document your processes, your procedures, and your systems so that someone else can walk into a system that exists. So entrepreneurs are really working themselves out of a tactical job and they're Thinking succession from day one.

You know, in the beginning, you'll be tactically and operationally involved in every aspect of your business. But if you stay that way, guess what? You bottleneck and stunt the growth of the business. And even if you experience a degree of financial freedom, you'll never have the time freedom to enjoy the finances.

So that succession is critical to success, right?

All right, so.

The God idea forces you to think beyond your means, beyond your reach, and beyond your years. I made a note of actually 12 things that it forces you to do. Can I share them with you? It's not going to take very long.

But what is time anyway, really? What is time really? How long is a piece of string.

Relatively speaking? It's not going to take a lot of time. Okay.

But I just, I genuinely don't want to take a long time. I just want to tell you what big thinking does to you, for you and in you.

Because see, when God makes a promise to you, that promise puts pictures in your mind. That promise produces a movie in your mind. You start watching that movie and you start looking at those pictures and they start to force you to think and behave a certain way. And so when people are thinking and behaving in a way that's unproductive, it's because their vision is too small. But see, once you start thinking and behaving in a certain productive way, it means that you probably have more than a good idea. You have a God idea and your vision is big. I'm going to give you these 12 things. Are you ready? So make a note. Number one, a big vision puts your problems into perspective.

Because sometimes our problems are big because our vision is small.

See, if you stand close enough to a tree, you can't see anything else in the world. But see, when your vision is big, right, some of these problems, it puts them in perspective. They're not as big as they seemed. All right, Number two, a big vision puts your priorities in order.

And it allows you to stop wasting time on things that don't really matter. Because the vision is so big, it's actually reorganizing your priorities. Number three, a big vision draws you closer to God because you already know that without God it is impossible. We can't do this without God. So the vision is just drawing you closer to God. All this is happening to Abraham. All right, Number four, the vision draws you closer to like minded people.

And it has a way of repelling.

Those people.

Who think that.

You are displaying symptoms, early symptoms of a mental health disorder. They're going to avoid you. But like minded people, big thinkers, are going to be drawn to you and it's going to bring you closer to like minded people. Number five is it's going to force you to collaborate. It will force you to collaborate. How many ever read that passage that says no man is an island? No, you didn't. It's not in the Bible. I'm just.

That's a trick. That was a trick. It's a trick. It's not in the Bible, but it might as well be because.

It'S true. All right? God created us, created us to be interdependent, right? Interdependent. Everything in creation is interdependent on some other aspect of creation. And so this big vision forces you to collaborate. Number six, it awakens the giant within you. All right? Because a big vision places a demand on you that locates the most resourceful aspect of you and unleashes your potential in phenomena.

You know, I used to play table tennis. I know some of you could already see that I'm an athletic individual, right? But reality is, I used to play table tennis. I used to play it really well and used to play it so well that I could hardly find anyone that could beat me at table tennis. And so I would just play everyone, right? I'd play everyone. But what I found was when a really good player, okay, they would bring out of me things I didn't even know were in me. And so sometimes your competition needs to be of the magnitude that actually locates and brings out the best version of you or a better version of you. So this awakens the giant within you. Number seven, it activates your time waster detector.

Some of our time waster detectors need new batteries, right? Because we're spending a lot of time with people who are wasting our time. But once your vision is big, your time waster detector gets activated and you realize that this is just a waste of time. Number eight, it exposes small minds around you. Number nine, it gives your life a sense of direction. Number 10, it gives your life meaning and purpose. Number 11, it gives you a reason to grow. Like, if your vision is small, why read a new book every week if your vision is small? You know.

Why get a coach? If your vision is small, why go to the conference? Why attend the seminar? Why be part of the group if your vision is small? People who are reading books and attending seminars and employing coaches are doing it because of a vision that's beyond their current means, their current reach, and potentially beyond their very years. They have reason. All Right. Myron gave me a book today. I said to him, I will have read it before I leave the United States. Why? Because I have reason to grow. My vision compels me to better myself in any way possible. Okay. And the final one is it gives you a reason to lead.

To take the lead. Your vision is big.

You feel compelled to take the lead. Does that sound cool? It's cool.

Did I go too fast? Well, 9 was giving your life direction. 10 was giving your life meaning and purpose. 11 was giving you reason to grow. 12 was giving you a reason to lead. Okay. So thanks for bearing with me through the introduction.

All right. Because I think of the difference between a good idea and a God idea as the difference between a dream and a destiny. There is a difference between your dreams and your destiny. You know, your dreams will only ever be a glimpse of your destiny. Your dream is what you see. Your destiny is the big picture that God sees. Your dream is about what you can achieve, but your destiny is about who you will impact as a result of the achievement. Some people obsess about the dream. But can I tell you something about dreams? Right at each stage of your life, you're going to dream a slightly different version of the dream. Because the dream is always going to be eluding you and escaping you. Because the purpose of a dream, when God gives you a dream, the purpose is simply to put you on a path.

The value of the dream is the path it puts you on because it's the path that's designed to correct and perfect you. It's the path that's designed to make and mold you. It's the path that's designed to educate and equip you. It's as a result of going along a certain path in pursuit of a dream that you become the kind of person who can survive your own success.

So God is more interested in what you are becoming in life than what you're getting out of life. Does that make sense? Yeah. And.

Sometimes in order to become the best in life, you have to be willing to accept some of the worst that makes sense.

So don't ask me how I know this. Right, don't ask me how I know this.

But you can get a lot of pleasure out of eating.

A Triple Dave meal from Wendy's.

Okay, don't ask me how I know this.

But you won't like what you're becoming.

Over the period of time.

You can get a lot of pain out of going to the gym.

But you will like what you're becoming as a result of the process. So the key is that God prioritizes what you're becoming. And when he gives you a dream, he gives you the dream to put you on a path. Now, if you struggle to believe me, then ask my friend Joseph, right? Book of Genesis talks a lot about this guy. He had a dream, but the dream put him on a path when he told his dream. Where some people say, if you have a dream, don't tell anyone your dream. Well, I've got problem with that because it was the telling of Joseph's dream that initiated the process that would bring the dream to pass, right? The dream put him on a path. And on that path he was being corrected and perfected. He's being made and molded. He was being equipped and educated, and he was being made into the person that could survive that level of success. The path was making him.

But when Joseph sat on the throne next to Pharaoh, as the prince of Egypt and his brothers bowed down to him, Joseph was fully living his dream.

But only when he forgave his brothers could he fulfill his destiny.

You can live your dream and fail to fulfill your destiny, right? Because see, your destiny now has to do with who you impact as a result of the person you've become.

And.

Can I just be brutally honest with you.

And say that Joseph could not have known that by the simple act of forgiving his brothers he would make it possible for a nation of Israel to be born.

He could not have known that by that simple act he would preserve the bloodline of the Messiah and make it possible for a son of David to be born in Bethlehem.

By his simple act of obedience, he made it possible for the son of David to give his life as a sacrifice for the salvation of whosoever would believe. And Joseph could not have known that in some way his act of obedience is responsible for Wayne Malcolm standing on this stage today.

Saved Love Jesus. Now, in my Bible.

Because you can count the number of seeds in a fruit, but you cannot count the number of fruit in a seed.

See, the person who led me to Christ, I hope you don't mind me talking about Christ the way that I do. The person who led me to Christ, I think they're going to have a very special reward.

I do. I think they'll have a very special reward.

But I equally think that the person who led them to Christ will have a very special reward and the person who led them to Christ and the person who led them to Christ. Because the reality is you simply cannot count the numbers of people you impact.

By your simple acts. Of obedience. So when God said, abraham, count the stars, he knew that Abraham couldn't count the stars, but God could count the stars. Because God knew that. If you believe me with this big vision I'm giving you, there are people you will never meet who will benefit from your life. There are people that you'll never meet on this side of eternity who are going to bless your name and your memory. And there are people who you will impact both generationally and globally if you trust me with what I'm putting in your heart.

And Abraham said, yes, yes, I'll do it. Don't know how.

But yes to this big, audacious, and even outgoing, outrageous dream. As a consequence, we all still bless his memory.

So I guess I stopped by just to kind of whet our appetite.

To say there's something righteous about thinking big.

Not just in terms of what it does for you, but in terms of what your life means for millions of other lives.

Sir.

Let me. Let me give it to you this way. This will be the. This will be the last piece. Told you. I never take a long time.

What is time?

Proverbs 13:22.

Says, A good man.

Leaves an inheritance for his children's children. When he says a good man, he's really talking about.

A noble, virtuous, righteous, inherently moral, good, just person.

A good man.

Has generational dreams, leaves an inheritance to his children's children. A good man sets generational goals. A good man thinks beyond himself. A good man says, I've got to be the best version of me in this life because there are people that will be counting on me in the next.

A good man says, I want to leave such a mark on my generation that future generations will bless my memory because of what I was able to do in my lifetime. There's something good about that. It's righteous. It is the righteousness of thinking big. Now, in order to think big.

You have to change focus. And this is where I'll close. And if you feel like I've already said I was going to close before, you are correct. But Paul himself did it several closes in one of his epistles. And so I'm just practicing Pauline Christianity, preaching like Paul.

But here's the promise God made to Abraham. He said, abraham, I will bless you.

And that by itself is so deep because the word blessing had disappeared from the Earth after Genesis 3.

That word doesn't occur again till Genesis 12. And a lot happens between Genesis 3 and Genesis 12, including the Flood, including Babel. All. All of this happens. And the word blessing has Gone.

God said, abraham, I'm going to use you to reverse the curse and bring the blessing back into the earth.

I'll bless you. Then he says, I'll make your name great and you will be a blessing.

That's the shift. That's the shift in focus.

Greatness involves you shifting focus from being blessed.

To becoming the blessing.

Because if your entire focus is being blessed, you are a bucket. You know what a bucket is? There's only so much water we can put in. But when your focus is on becoming the blessing, you become a pipe. And there's no limit to how much water we can rush through.

So perhaps God is lifting us out of the bless me generation.

Perhaps he's wrapping up this idea that it's all about bless me.

And he's now raising up people who are saying, I want to become a blessing.

And for those people, here is the bridge. Here's the bridge. I close with this because it's too deep to even go any further. It's my third and final close.

The bridge between being blessed and becoming the blessing.

Is that God must make your name great.

My name? Yeah, your name. I know we want to lift up his name, but he wants to lift up yours.

I know we want to magnify him, but he wants to magnify you.

Because as he builds your credibility, your visibility, your profitability in the earth, you have the ability to bless others.

That's why business in the Bible. How did you put business together with the Bible? Because it's all over the Bible. Jesus called his mission.

My father's business.

Was that all right? My father's business. I must be about my father's business. Business. So if you enjoyed that, once you finish typing, you can put your hands together. I'm going to give it back over to Dr. Golden.

And when you go out tonight, if you see the stars.

Just remember God likes to put big, outrageous dreams in the minds of people who feel like their best days were behind them. And if you believe him, identify with it and act accordingly. He'll say you're righteous.

That, ladies and gentlemen, that is the righteousness of thinking big.

Wow. That was a whole bunch. Let's take it home. Let's go. Put it to work.

All right.

Stay blessed by the best.