What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

How do successful businesses fail? How do businesses go from hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to nothing? Or from millions of dollars a year to nothing? Or from billions of dollars a year? How does a company like Kodak go from being a billion dollar, multi billion dollar corporation to non existent? How does Blockbuster Video go from multi billion dollar business to.

Filing bankruptcy? Well, I guess that would be important question for you if you owned Blockbuster or Kodak. But here's my question for you. If it can happen to those big companies, what's going to stop it from happening to you? What's going to stop it from happening to you? That's a good question. And I've been thinking about this a lot lately because here's what I see. I coach a lot of entrepreneurs. I coach a lot of entrepreneurs. And the entrepreneurs that I coach, I see them, some of them will come out. They'll come out of the gate and they'll win big early.

And they'll win big for what seems like a decent amount of time. And then it goes away. Today I want to talk to you about what causes it to go away.

I want to talk to you about this subject. Good, better, best success. Not the kind of success that's a flash in the pan. Not the kind of success that's successful for a couple of years or a couple of decades. But I'm talking about how do you build something that lasts for generations? Well, in scripture, Proverbs chapter 27 and verse number 23 through 25, here's what it says. Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds, for riches are not forever.

And doth the crown endure to every generation. And here's my answer. Nope. The hay appeareth and the tender grass showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountain are gathered. So just because you're successful today doesn't mean you'll be successful tomorrow. Why? Here's the I believe this is the number one reason why. Because what got you here won't get you there. In fact, I'm gonna take it a step further. What got you here won't even keep you here. Because even if you refuse to change, even if I refuse to change, the world is changing around us all the time. I think about the history and the mystery of wealth. You ever think about that? Like wealth is created in eras, and in different eras, it's created in different industries or different types of businesses. If you go back to the Garden of Eden, from the Garden of eden to the mid-1700s, pretty much it Was the agricultural age. And wealth was determined by how much land you owned. Cool. So if you own the land, you own the wealth. If you didn't own any land, you didn't own any wealth. You were either a rich landowner or a landlord, or you were a poor peasant farmer and they would let you live on their land and farm the land, bring them the wealth, and then you keep enough to stay alive so you can farm the land another year. Okay, well, I guess that's better than dying, right? So I'll do it. And so wealth, the only way wealth transferred for the most part in the agricultural age was through war and conquest. Right? So somebody would come and take over somebody's country, and then they would take all their land. Okay, that's the agricultural age. Well, now the agriculture age created a need. How do we, how do we become more efficient and more effective at farming the land? Maybe if we invent some tools, maybe if we invent some machines. Maybe if we invent some tractors, maybe if we invent some hay bait balers. Maybe if we invent some plows and we invent some stuff, some machines that make this work easier. And so they had to make machines, but guess what? In order to make machines, they had to build factories to make the machines. So people went from working all day on the farm to working all day in the factory. And when you went to working in the factory, you made more money as an employee than you did working on the farm. However, you weren't rich. But if you started the factory and you have the employees working for you now you're rich. Okay, that's cool. So we went from the agricultural age into the industrial age, mid-1700s to the mid-1900s. Then we started making so much stuff with all these factories and all this manufacturing. What happened? Well, we got to get this stuff across the country. We got to get this stuff across the world. We have to figure out a way to distribute all of the things we're manufacturing. And so the agricultural age.

Ushered in the industrial age, and the industrial age ushered in the distribution age. And then we had to keep track. We were selling so much stuff and distributing so much stuff. In the agricultural age, land equal wealth. In the industrial age, machines equaled wealth. In the distribution age, outlets equaled wealth in multi level marketing and franchising and chain stores and infomercials and all of this stuff that didn't exist prior because there was nothing to sell you. Now all this production created a need to distribute all this stuff we're producing.

And so, yeah, there were some wealthy people in agricultural age, but there were more wealthy people in the industrial age and yet even more wealthy people in the distribution age. But then we had to keep track of all this stuff. And so Sam Walton, an industrial age mogul, would go and hire IBM programmers and pay them to create programs to manage his inventory at his stores.

And he used technology.

To track his inventory. And so the distribution age ushered in the technology age.

And more people got wealth in technology than got wealthy in distribution. And this keeps on happening and keeps on happening and. Right, okay. Yard tracking. And so I know a lot of stuff, but still, I read five books last week. Why? Because the difference between where I am and where I'd like to be is not going to be found in the things I know and the things I'm doing. It's going to be found in the arena of the things I don't know and the things I'm not doing.

You are right now one idea away from your next fortune, or first fortune, whichever the case may be. You're one idea well implemented away, not 75 ideas. There was a time. Jeff Bezos was one idea from Amazon.

Elon Musk was one idea from Tesla.

Bill Gates was one idea from Microsoft. Sam Walton was one idea from Walmart. You are one idea away and you are not going to find it. Probably watching a football game, baseball game or a basketball game.

And here's the problem. You went through the miseducational, misdirectional system, AKA the government, indoctrination camps, child prisons, schools, whatever you want to call them. You went through that system and they cause you to believe that the purpose of learning is knowing. And so you go through life with the I know that already mentality and it keeps you from learning the things you don't know.

Do you realize that Apple did not invent the mouse? The computer mouse. Xerox did. Has anybody ever owned a Xerox computer? No. Why? Because Apple realized Steve Jobs realized what might what Xerox have. Xerox didn't realize what Xerox had because they thought what got them there would keep them there.

Xerox is not even the number one copy. I don't even know if they're still in business. They're not the number one copy maker in the world. Copier manufacturer in the world. Why? Don't get stuck thinking that what made you successful will keep you successful. It won't. I'm not saying it might not. I'm telling you it will not. When you stop growing, you start declining. Period.

Take heed to know. Like, what does it say? Be diligent to know the. I love the fact that it says this. It says, be diligent.

Be diligent to know the state of life. Lock. To know. Know is something that you do do. Know the state of your flock. Why? Because riches, that's something that you have, don't last forever. Isn't that interesting that be, do, have is right there. This is God's original success formula from Genesis chapter one, when he gave us a wink and said, if you don't get to chapter two, I want you to be okay. Here's the formula. Be, do, have, don't be can't do, can't do, can't have. Be a little, do a little. Do a little. Have a little. Be a lot, Do a lot. Do a lot, have a lot. Here's the problem.

We love to have.

We'll finally capitulate to do something, and then we forget to become. Can I get a witness? And I'm telling you, this is the problem. See, here's what happens. You become the person. You know what? I'm going to undo that.

Can y' all remind me, by the way, to find my little circle box thingy when we get done today? Thank you. Okay, so that's the technical term for the whatchamadougle. Okay? So.

So be, do have is the formula. Be diligent to know the state of the flock. So here's what happens. We will become something. We'll become something. We'll become more than we were. We'll start doing more than we've done. And then we'll have more than we've ever had in our lives, more than ever.

And then people start more than we've ever had. And then when we have more than ever, more success than ever, more notoriety, more sales, more blah, blah, blah, than ever, here's what happens. People start telling us how awesome we are. Danger, Will Robinson, danger. What's the danger? You start believing them. And so you start believing that you're awesome. And you stop growing because you think you're grown.

Am I telling you all the truth? See, I know. I know a lot about a lot. I just also know I don't know enough about enough.

I wish I had some health in hell.

And so I am always. If I do, God is my witness, I do not let a day go by where I don't learn something I didn't know the day before. Period. Ain't happening. Why? I can't afford not to know. It costs too much. Cost Too much time, too much effort, too much energy, too much money, too much heartache, too much heartbreak. I ain't fixing to go through life and not know my whole life, baby. And so what happens is people will have this success. And because they had success, they think they had success because they were good.

And maybe they were.

For a while.

But good has a shelf life.

Don'T it? Good has a shelf life. And the shelf life of good ain't eternal.

And so if you don't.

Think about it like your fitness, right, you don't get to get well. Yeah, I got fit when I was 16.

How's it working for you now, baby? No, you gotta stay on top of it. Like everything in life is just like that. Why? Because the laws of nature make it so. The law of energy conservation. Everything's energy. Energy created and destroyed. It just changes, right? The law of entropy. What's that? Anything left to itself tends to move more and more towards disorder. Well, see, entropy makes me afraid not to grow. What does that mean? It means I know that I don't have to intentionally fail, I just have to not intentionally succeed in order for me to fail. Because success requires intention.

Decay and decline only requires neglect.

I don't lose success because of. I don't People. Everybody who becomes unsuccessful doesn't become unsuccessful because they did something wrong. It's because they stopped doing something right.

And I realized, like I my life. Jesus said, you are the light of the world.

Interesting thing about lights, especially electric lights, incandescent lights. You know lights. When we buy a light bulb and we put it in a lamp in our house, it doesn't shine really bright the first day and a little less bright the next day, a little less bright the day after that, little less bright the day after that, little less bright the day after that. It shines at the same exact brightness every day until one day it's done.

I believe that is how God designed our human lives to be. Not. Well, you know, I'm getting old now, so I gotta be more tired and I don't have any energy. No, no, you don't have any energy because you move too little and eat too much.

My friend.

I know. That was me. I sitting around getting big as a house. People were planning on moving in. Like, no, we ain't doing it. I am not. I mean, it may not be. It may not be. It ain't easy. I don't even like working out. I mean, if I had my wife's love for fitness in the gym, I would be like Superman. I Don't like it.

I don't even pretend to like it. And I ain't fixing to go to no gym. No, sir, not me. The smell of rubber mats and other people's sweat holds no appeal. All of my workout equipment is at the house.

But I still gotta use it.

All I'm saying is, like, as important as it is for us to keep our bodies on top of their game, we gotta keep our minds on top of their game. I just read a book last week, one of the five books I read last week. It's called the Glucose Revolution. It will change your life. It changed my life. And my life was already like I ate. But this one, this one hit different. Y' all ever heard of that? It hit different. This one hit different.

Just one little hack helped me break through a plateau. Just one little hack helped me break through a plateau that I was stuck on for a couple of months, actually, for a couple years since 2018. I am in the 170s right now for the first time since 2018. And I was right, 182, 185, kept bouncing back and forth like a gas needle.

And then all of a sudden, I did this one hack from the book, the Glucose Revolution. And.

It'S just melting. It's like. It. It's mind blowing. Anyway, you say you gonna tell me what the hack is? No. Go read the book. I'm not gonna tell you what the hack is. I'm not gonna tell you what the hack is. I ain't your librarian. I ain't fixin to bring the book to you to read it, baby. No. Okay, so yeah, go read the book. So what happens is we get to the place where we have the thing we thought we wanted. We like the thing we thought we wanted, but then we think that's enough. And so we stop doing the things that got us the stuff. Here's why we do that. Because we don't understand that being speaks to our identity.

Doing speaks to our activity.

And then having is our property. And so what happens when people accumulate a lot of property? They have a lot of property, they mistake their property for. For their identity.

And they don't understand that your property, your car, your house, your bank account, your successful business and all that stuff, if that becomes your identity, you are on the road to disaster.

Because I promise you, just that one thing will make you take your eyes off of the personal growth that's absolutely necessary for you to get where you're going or stay where you're at.

Property does not create identity. Property is the outcome of activity, which is the outcome of identity. And so that's why, like, people. Why do I always talk about, you got to know who you are based on who you are? Because that's the whole. That's the genesis of the whole thing. I mean, we're made in God's image, right? Isn't that what the scripture says? He made us in his image, made us after his likeness. Right? Made us in his image, formed us after his light. Okay, so we're made in the image of God. God created man in his image and formed us in his likeness. Then here's my question for you. Who is God? That's a good question. But we're not the first person to ask it. I remember this. I was reading a story in the Bible. There's a man out there in the wilderness. He's tending sheep. And he's probably, you know, because sheep ain't that smart. So he's probably pulling some briars and stuff out of sheep's wool. And there's a. There's a bush over there on fire. And the sheep sees it, but the Moses don't see it. And the sheep said, moses, fire? No, that's probably that part that probably didn't happen. But anyway, there's a bush on fire. Now, a bush on fire is kind of. Okay, here's how unusual a bush on fire is. Is there anybody here who's ever seen a bush on fire? Like, I've never seen a. I've seen cars on fire, I've seen houses on fire, but I've never seen a bush on fire. So a bush on fire is relatively. It's an anomaly. But then there's no smoke, and the bush is not consumed. So now we got a fire. We got no smoke. Now, I know we ain't seen no fire without no smoke, right? Unless it's on your gas stove at your house, right? Fire, no smoke. So the bush is on fire, and there's no smoke. But wait. But wait, there's more. The bush is not consumed.

You know, there's three kinds of fire in the Bible, right? That's called the fire that don't burn.

But you got the fire that Elisha called Elijah, called down from heaven. That's called the fire that burns. But then you got the fire in Daniel, chapter three, that killed the most mighty men of Nebuchadnezzar, that threw him in the. Threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fell down, bound in the midst of the fire, Walking around in the fire with the form of the fourth who's like unto the son of God. That's called fire that burns some folk and don't burn other folk.

And that sounds funny, but here's why I say that. Because God is not bound by principles. Principles are bound by God.

How many of y' all tracking God don't have to follow the rules. The rules have to follow him.

God doesn't do things because they're right. They're right because he does them. And see what we've done is we've created a modern day churchianity that brings God down to man's level. Instead of elevating man to God level, making man aspire to be more like God, where man try aspires to make God more like man. To the point where we turn salvation into a gift that we give God. Just give your life to Jesus. People don't like when I say this. That's, that is a satanic lie. So let me, let me say that a little slower. It's not a satanic lie because giving your life to Jesus is a bad idea. But if you're doing it for salvation, it's a bad idea.

Because salvation is not a gift you give God. Salvation is a gift God gave you. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, gift of who? God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God's the one that gave the gift. I'm not giving a gift, I'm receiving a gift. I receive the gift of Christ. I don't give my life to Christ. Christ gave his life for me. And I know I make a lot of noise about that because I'm tired of hearing these preachers with this false doctrine that they made up or they heard somebody say and they like the sound of it, but because it didn't offend somebody, but it's not biblical.

Anyway, that was free. I ain't even going to charge you all extra for that.

And so.

What happens is we get all caught up in believing our press and then we start feeling good about the stuff we have.

Can I get a witness? But I was asking you, where does our identity come from? Well, who is God? Well, Moses is talking to this burning bush and the bush says, hey Moses, I want you to march into Pharaoh's army and tell him I said, let my people go. Now Moses asks a question and when Moses, I'm reading this the first time I wanted to coach Moses so bad, I'm like, bro, what kind of question is that? I didn't say that, but that's what I'm thinking. What the que? I'm telling you, this question did not make sense to me for decades.

And Moses said, who shall I say has sent me? I'm like, bro, what kind of question is that?

Who shall I say? I'm a marching to the king who can cut my head off and I'm going to walk in, hey, God said, let my people go. Who shall I say has sent me? That's all you? I would have said Moses understood more than me, but I would have said, what can I tell him? You said you going to do? And when he say no, that's what I would have said. But Moses understood something I didn't understand. Authority is always an identity issue.

Who shall I say has sent thee? Now I'm gonna tell you something. I like being transparent about the Bible because we walk around so spiritual. We act like it all makes sense, right? An invisible God made everything and everybody out of nothing. And then he had a son who was born of a virgin. And, like, we act like it just makes so much sense. It doesn't make sense. They're spirit. Spiritual things are not intellectually discerned. They're spiritually discerned. That's what the scripture says. Okay?

So when I read the answer, tell him that the I am that I am sent, that made less sense to me than Moses question. I'm just telling you, like, I'm like, I thought, what kind of answer that? What kind of answers? What kind of question that. What kind of answer is that? The I am, that I am has sent thee. What is that? Okay, Okay. Y' all looking at me like, why is he saying that? You are. You acting like you made it, made it made sense to you.

I am that I am. I mean, that almost doesn't even sound like an answer. Except it does. Why? Because God is the ultimate identity. When he said, I am that I am. I am what I am. I am that I am what I am the sun that shines. I am that I am. Who was it to put this moon in the sun in the heavens and deck them with the heavens with the stars? I am that I am. Who was it that smoothed out a chaotic earth and scooped out a place with his hand, put it in the water and tied it down with a rope of sand and called it oceans? I am that I am. Who was it that put a garment of green over the valleys and the mountains and the hills and buttoned it up with lilies and Garlands and woven laughing daffodils. I am that I am.

I'm the one that made. I'm the one that made man in my image and then formed him from the dust of the ground. And then I breathed the man that I created into the body that I had formed. I am that I am.

And so if you get your identity anywhere else than from the ultimate identity, you don't know who you are.

Like.

I know it's a pet peeve. I have a lot of pet peeves. But words matter so much that words are matter in fact. Proverbs 27:2. What does it say? It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search out a matter. Well, here's the interesting thing about that verse. You go look it up on your own. Don't take my word for it. Get yourself a Strong's concordance. Go do your own research. Don't take my word for anything I say, because I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. It would just be the first time in a long time. No, it wouldn't. I just wanted to see if y' all were paying attention. So go look it up for yourself. The word thing in Proverbs 22:7 and the Word matter are the same word. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. It's the honor of kings to search out a matter. Those words are not two different words in Hebrew. They're two different words in English, but they're the same word in Hebrew. What's the word? Debar. What is the word Debar. To speak.

It's the glory of God to conceal a thing in his word. It's the honor of kings to search out a thing in his word. In fact, what was the job of the king? Deuteronomy, chapter 17. What's the job? King's job. To get a notepad and a pen and to copy the Torah. To copy the word of God so that he could decree righteous judgment.

We talk about, we're Kingdom people. We don't even know what the Bible says. How you gonna be kingdom? Kingdom is more than a buzzword anyway.

Until you, like, you gotta get tapped into. You gotta make sure that you understand. Everything's flowing from your identity. So be becoming. So if I care more about having than I do about. Than I do about becoming, I'm eventually gonna stall out and crash. I'm just telling you, this is how it works. It doesn't matter what business. It doesn't matter if it's Kodak doesn't matter if it's Blockbuster. And I know they don't know, but they were doing something different when they were successful than they were when they went out of business. Do you ever think about this?

Which one was created first? Y' all tell me. I don't remember. Which one was created first, trains or cars?

Trains were invented before cars, weren't they? Okay, which one was invented first, trains or planes? Trains. Okay, so we had, like, Pacific Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, all these different railroad. Railroad railroads, right? Okay, here's my question.

Why are the automobile manufacturers, the automobile companies and the plane companies not owned by the railroads? Because the railroad moguls thought they were in the train business. They didn't realize they were in the transportation business.

Kodak thought they were in the camera business. They didn't realize they were in the image business.

And so like capturing memories, they're in the business of capturing memories.

Blockbuster thought they were in the DVD business. They didn't realize they were in the film business, in the movie business. And so they got knocked out by Netflix. A little startup. Why? And I'm telling you, you as a little startup, you little. You who tap yourself in the chest, say me. You, as a little startup can come by and you can knock off anything.

But you have to understand what you're. You have to understand your identity and see businesses that come along and know their identity. Jeff Bezos in Amazon lost money for. Lost money for over 10 years. Amazon lost money for more than 10 years straight. Why? The only way they could do that is because Jeff Bezos understood his identity. He knew exactly what he was doing.

See.

When you stop learning, you are in the danger zone.

The scripture says a wise man is strong, but a man of knowledge increases strength. What does that mean? It means a wise man strong, but a person who adds knowledge to their wisdom makes their strength stronger.

So it's good to be wise, but you ain't wise enough. You might be a wise guy, but you ain't wise enough. You might be a wise girl, but you ain't wise enough. If you think you know enough to live for another 10 years, let alone another hundred years, you are delusional.

The world is changing too fast. And if everything around you is adapting and you're just stuck like chucking a pickup truck, you're gonna get left behind. And so what happens is we have to focus on the being part. Be. Here's what it says. Be diligent. Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks. You know what that means you gotta put some work into it. Be diligent to know. Be the person who's diligent. What does it tell us in the New Testament? It says, and that you study to be quiet. That word study means be diligent. Be diligent to be quiet and to do your own business. I love. I love working hard.

I don't love just working hard for working hard's sake. I don't work hard for money. In fact, I just almost refuse to work for money at all. I mean, it's just like money is just not a good reason to work.

There are a whole lot better reasons to work than money. Like what? Exercising my God likeness. That's a good reason. Isn't that what Jesus said? My father works. What do you say? Hitherto, I work. Oh, because my father works, I work. That's a good reason. I'll take some of that. How about this? I work to learn a new skill.

I work to learn a new skill. I like that. And by the way, how many all know learning a new skill is work? It doesn't matter if the new skill is language, if the new skill is a musical instrument, if the new skill is a sport or an activity or you want to learn some new art discipline, or if you want to learn how to write. It doesn't matter. It's going to be work. But working to develop a skill so you can become a skillful person is a better reason to work than working for money. At least for me it is.

I work to build relationships with the people that I work with and the people that I work for. That's a better reason to work. Are y' all tracking the money's a bonus? I ain't mad at the money. Now, I'm gonna tell you right now. I mean, people, I don't care about the money. You will never hear me tell that lie.

I don't care about the money. I care about the money. I care. Did you say I care? Me, mine, Freddie Goldin. I care. Just in case you're on YouTube and you wonder, I care about the money. I just don't care the most about the money.

I care more about the people than I do about the money. But I'm not gonna justify and rationalize the fact that I have a successful business so other people can feel comfortable because they think money's evil. That is your problem. You go work it out. Go get your Bible. Go work it out. Because the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he added no sorrow with it. I have Nothing. I'm not apologizing for being rich. When I give to charity, I'm not giving back. I'm just giving. There's no back. I didn't get anything from the charity.

I don't have to justify it by calling it giving back. And I know people don't like. I know marriage is just words. Okay, well, it's just words for you, but I ain't saying them.

As I'm growing through my life and my business and my experiences, I'm not evolving. I'm developing. I don't like the word evolve. I don't like it because of who came up with it. Number one, Charles Darwin was not a scientist at all.

Anyway.

I'll say it. Charles Darwin was a racist. Like, a real racist. I mean, go Google it right now on your phone. You're watching this on YouTube. Go watch it. Google it on your phone. Google the original cover of Origin of Species. Google it. Don't take my word for it. You know what it's called? The Origin of Species. A fight for the.

Preservation of. In the fight of life for.

I forgot what he called him. In fact, now I'm going to look it up because now I'm irritated a little bit because I forgot.

What. Origin of Species. Origin of Species. Of.

Really? Okay, there it is. By Charles Darwin. Cover. Origin of Species. Cover.

There it is right there. Okay, here it is.

On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.

Well, here's why you got it wrong, Mr. Darwin, in case you're wondering. By the way, he hasn't gotten canceled yet.

Here's how you got it wrong, Mr. Darwin. There's only one race, the human race.

Race. Racism is not the offspring of race. Race is the offspring of racism. Did I say that too fast? It's one race. Human race. We all descended from Adam and Eve. Don't get it twisted. I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care what color your eyes are. We all descended from two parents, period. Adam and Eve. So quit tripping. There's one race. So I don't like the word evolved for I don't like Charles Darwin, number one. Say, Myron, you should love everybody. I'm gonna let you love everybody.

Okay?

Or pretend that you love everybody till somebody cuts you off in traffic and then we ain't going to talk to you after that, okay? This Florida, Okay? So.

But here's the main reason I don't like the word evolve because it implies progress without Intention.

It doesn't exist. It implies improvement without intention. There is no improvement without intention.

Anything that's going to get better requires a decision and intention. So I like the word develop because develop. It implies intention.

I'm not evolving. I'm just evolving as a human being. Will you do that? I'm not doing that. I'm developing as a human being. It's not happening to me. I'm happening to it.

Pay attention. Become a rapid mass learner. Like, look at what's not working in your life.

Go study it. Good place to study it is the Bible. And then find a book on the subject. And maybe if you can find somebody who knows something about, like, go learn the things you don't know. That's what's bringing you the woe that's in your life. The stuff you don't know. Go learn it. It's worth. I promise you it's worth learning. Even if it doesn't make any money, it's worth learning. Like, I'm learning to master the guitar.

I'm not. I don't have the guitar mastered, but I'm getting closer every day. And I'm not doing it so I can go become a rock star. Even though that'll probably just kind of be the natural outpouring of that.

I'm not doing it so I can be a rock star. I'm doing it because I want to have the ability to create sounds and music that reflects how I feel and the people I serve. Feel.

Myron, that's a lot of work. Well, time's gonna go by anyway. Might as well fill it with something invigorating. And see, some of us stopped growing a long time ago, which means we started dying a long time ago. We just don't have the good grace to lay down somewhere. Right? We just ain't doing. We're not just existing. Well, I'm just waiting to die. Okay, that's one way to do it. But I would recommend. Why not make your life better? Why not make your life better until your very last breath?

What if that were doable? What if we didn't get to the place where everybody's telling us how wonderful we are? Oh, you're so amazing. You're so wonderful. Oh, my goodness. You're so cool. You're so this, you're so that. And then we start believing and we start. Yeah, look at me. I'm so cool. I'm so. And then we forget to go do the stuff that got us there in the first place. I already know for where I'm headed like, I don't grow my. I don't grow my business because I need to make more money. I grow my business because if I don't, my business declines. And if my business declines, it's a sign that I'm declining because I'm the one in charge of the business.

More money. Like you need something bigger than money to move you. I mean, when you're broke, ain't a whole lot that's gonna move you a whole lot more than some money. Like when you broke because not having money will move you. Can I get a witness? It'll move you out of your house. It'll move you out of your car. They'll move your car out of your driveway, Right. Not having some money will move you. Right. Can I get a witness? But. But you need something bigger than that. What about becoming more like God? So it's interesting that the word Adam in Hebrew, they have. In fact, I'll write it on the board so you'll see what I'm talking about.

In Hebrew, they don't have. They don't have vowels. They just have consonants. So what does that mean? They don't have vowels. They only have consonants. So the word Adam is spelled Aleph, dalid mem. Right? So that's the word Adam. And so Adam, if it's spelled and spelled from right to left, right? Yeah, from right to left. So.

If you put this here, it makes this make the ad. Ah, dum Adam. Right. Okay. But if I go and I come over here and I do, then it becomes. It's the same spelling, but it's the word Adame. Well, this is Adam. Aleph dalad mem. Aleph is the letter that represents God. Daled mem is blood. So this is a God. We are man, men and women. God called their name Adam. So men and women, we are a godlike creature with flesh and blood. Are y' all tracking? Is what I'm saying making sense so far. But if you spell it with those. These two accents right here, and it becomes Adama, it means I will compare myself or I will become like. And so the objective is to take the flesh and blood part of us and make it more like the God part of us.

So you want. You want a great personal development objective. Let your personal development objective to be. Be becoming more like God.

What does that look like? Well, I'm going to say this.

And the Lord God said, and the Lord said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish. Of the sea and over the fowl and over every creeping thing that moveth upon the earth. Okay? That's what God said, right? So God said, let us make man in our image and let them have dominion. The word dominion is the word to rule over. God is the King of the universe. We are the king's kings and the king's queens. That's what he put us here for. God put us here to rule like.

That's it. So how am I gonna rule? Well, do you remember when Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew chapter six, and Luke, chapter. I think Luke chapter four, where he said, pray like this, not like that. Or he said, don't pray like this, pray like this.

He said, after this manner. Pray after this manner. Therefore, pray ye. That is not the Lord's Prayer. That is the model prayer. He wasn't saying pray. Say these words. He was saying, pray like this. After this manner. Therefore, pray. You pray like this. Our Father, which art in heaven, not my Father, which is in heaven. Our Father, which means he's not just my Father, he's the Father of all of his children.

By the way, everybody ain't his children.

So I'm not saying that. But he's the Father of all his children. Okay?

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Okay, I'm acknowledging God and adoring him and worshiping him because of who he is and because of his name. What's the first thing I'm supposed to ask for? Thy kingdom come. That's the first thing I'm supposed to ask for. God, let your kingdom come. Later in the chapter, he says, don't be like the Gentiles who worry about what they're going to eat and what they're going to drink, what they're going to put on, but seek ye first what the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. So here's my question. Jesus said the top priority is seeking the kingdom of God. So I think this is a legitimate question. What is the kingdom of God if we don't know the answer to that simple question.

When we find the kingdom, how will we know we've found it?

And if we don't know we've found it, what's to keep us from continuing to look for it?

So either we're looking for something, we don't know what it looks like, so we won't know when we found it, or we've already found something and we don't know what it looks like. So we don't know that we found it.

Is what I'm saying making sense? So what is the kingdom of God? I'm going to tell you what it is. It's when I ask God to come and be the king of my life, and I make him the king of my everything. And I yield my life to God as the sovereign king of my life. That's where it starts. When I yield my life. Notice I did not say surrender all to Jesus. I surrender all to him I freely give. That's really nice song, just not biblical.

The word surrender is not even in the Bible.

I can't believe he. Oh, my goodness. He said that's not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. Go look it up. Go look it up. I didn't. It's not in there.

I mean, you got a strong concordance. If you don't, you can get one, right? The word surrender is not in the Bible. And surrender is something you do to a foe or an enemy. But yield is something you can do to a friend or a family member. Just yield. So I yield my life to God as the sovereign king of my life. When I yield my life to God because I place myself under his authority. He places my assignment under me.

And so I rule over my assignment with sovereign authority. I don't have to wonder if my assignment's going to work. My assignment has to work. Why? Because I'm under His authority. It's under mine. That's so good.

I will fulfill the purpose for which I was created as long as I am yielded to God, so I don't have to worry about outcomes. Now I yield my life to God as a sovereign king of my life. I rule over my assignment as the sovereign king of my assignment. And then I use the assignment that I rule over to serve every human being I come across. That is the kingdom of God. Okay, let me give it to you in another way. From Romans, chapter. I think it's chapter 14.

No. Yeah, I think it is chapter 14. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Now what does it mean when it says not meat and drink? It's not physical. The kingdom of God is not physical. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Huh? What does that mean? Righteousness, peace and joy and Holy Ghost. It means righteousness means I've yielded to God my example. I'm not going to be the example the world tells me to be. I'm going to be the example God Told me to be. So I'm yielded to God in my example. What's peace? I'm yielded to God in my experience. I have peace because I ain't getting worried till he gets worried and he don't get worried. So I'm I.

Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. What's joy in the Holy Ghost? That's when God rules over my expression. So when God rules over my example and he rules over my experience and he rules over my example, I have righteousness, peace and joy. And the kingdom of God has come into my life. And now guess what I can do from a place of righteousness. Treating people good peace, not worrying about how economic climates, being joyful, not being.

Like all pruny faced.

I just made that up. I don't know where that came from.

I can rule over my assignment and serve people.

And when I live like that, it can bring a blessing that nothing else can. And guess what? I don't have to worry about. I don't have to worry about becoming obsolete.

Because my identity is not wrapped up in my property. And my identity is not wrapped up in my activity. My identity my is wrapped up in the ultimate identity. And where he leads me, I will follow.

Good, better, best success. What got you here won't get you there. Myron, what are you saying? I'm saying good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.

Be becoming more like God every day. He is infinite. We're finite. So we have a long way to go. Man, we can have so much fun on the journey. I hope this blesses you. In the meantime, in between time, stay blessed by the best and we'll see you on the next Bible study. Bye for now.