And Dionne, by the way, you've heard me brag about Kim.
She's our top producer.
Oh, I'm well aware of who you are, Kim.
I have a great guide and mentor, obviously.
The Holy Spirit.
He's amazing.
Yeah, we appreciate you jumping all in.
And that's been fantastic.
It's been a real encouragement to us.
For sure.
It's great to have people like you in our group.
Great to be here.
Yeah.
Hey, Lisa.
Yeah.
Hey, there.
I drove past you today.
No, you did not.
I did.
I mean, kind of.
I mean, I drove up to Clearwater.
So, you know, you're on that way.
I should have waved.
Yeah, yeah.
It was raining when I went through your area.
It was pouring.
Yeah.
We got some good rain needed.
Well needed.
Yeah, that's great.
Yeah.
Awesome.
I've got a thought we could share for a second.
Please.
Just extra for those who are on time.
Right.
So now what I was saying at the beginning, before we came on live,
was I don't know if you're familiar with Simon Sinek's whole thing about
the finite versus the infinite game and why some companies do so
extraordinarily well and other struggle.
And it's about, it comes from mathematical game theory.
And basically the idea is very simple that in the finite game,
finite game has set rules, has a start and start and an end.
And, you know, they have winners and losers like a football game.
You know, it's a finite game.
And, and so when somebody is playing the finite game,
it's very short term focused.
And so they use words like we're going to be number one and all the rest
implying someone else is going to be number two and all that stuff.
And he was explaining how companies like Apple and others play the
infinite game.
And the infinite game is you are your only other reference.
And so Apple will use language like this is the best iPhone we've ever made.
They're always referring to themselves.
And the infinite game is about staying in the game and about the long range
impact and creating a legacy that,
that transcends over a long period of time, not just the core leader.
And the problem with modern incentives in corporate America is it's all
designed around the finite game,
especially around executive bonuses and so on.
So they make a lot of short term decisions.
And one of the things I found about kingdom executives and training kingdom
CEOs is that unwittingly we've all bought into the finite game.
Unwittingly.
We've all bought into the idea that, Hey, I've got to be top.
I got to be number one.
I got to be that there's these set rules and there's this start and finish.
And, and even if you are number one, you're number one for now,
things change rapidly. Right?
And so one of the most freeing things a kingdom leader can do is step into
the infinite game, because that is a kingdom idea.
Cause in the infinite game,
you're now building something of eternal value because you're building
yourself.
And all that the business stuff is is just training fodder to get you to be
more like him.
And that's so cool. Right? So the pressure's off. It's not like God,
you don't get to heaven.
He said,
I expected $1.3 billion of total profits over your lifetime and you missed it
by a hundred thousand.
I'm sure that conversation never happens in heaven, you know,
but he will have, Oh, I love how you became like me.
And so Graham and I've been having this whole conversation around,
that's cool. You know,
how do we train leaders to live from heaven to earth?
Cause our training right now is exactly how we're going to live in heaven.
It's not going to change. And so we, we act like, well, this is all temporary.
And then this will go away and then it will be different in heaven.
But this is training.
This is how it is in heaven. And so that raises a lot of,
it has fascinating implications.
So maybe someday we'll dive into all that and talk about the complete,
it's a completely different paradigm.
Very cool. Very cool. Rebecca, you want to pray us in,
then we'll get the party started. Yeah, let's do it. Oh, heavenly father.
Thank you for this time together tonight, Lord.
Thank you for your faithfulness for your presence, Lord.
I just pray that you would prepare us with expectant hearts tonight, Lord,
help us tune in with the spiritual eyes and ears.
We need to glean everything you have for us.
I pray that you bless Dion and Ray as they minister to us tonight, Lord.
And we just pray for an increase of wisdom and discernment, Lord,
more knowledge and understanding as we lean in, as we,
as we press into trust your guidance, Lord, we love you.
We give you all the praise in Jesus name.
Amen.
Amen. Awesome. Well, Deanna, I'll let you take it away.
Well, this is such a fun setting that we can really get into this.
What I want to share tonight is a one of my most used kingdom habits that I have,
and that I learned in a very tough way. And, and I'm really happy to share it with you guys
tonight. But I'm also aware, I haven't shared this very often, but I'm also aware that it
takes a minute to catch on to what we're talking about. So it's a small group, so just jump in and,
you know, just chat away and we can make this more of a conversation than a training or a talk.
So firstly, I just wanted to say that the way I came across this, and I've called this the
acceleration effect, or the kingdom acceleration effect. And so I was, you know, I was the sort of
guy who believed, you know, the fallacy, which incidentally, you know, Elon believes too,
if you work 80 hours a week, and your competitor works 40 hours a week, you're going to go twice
as fast. And, you know, maybe that works for him. And that's great. But I was that guy who worked
like that nonstop. So it was not uncommon for me in an average week to, you know, work through the
night. And my family got very used to it. And so one time, you know, and this is up till fairly
recently, till maybe six or seven years ago. And there was one time over a 10 day period, I slept
two hours a night, at Monday, Monday through Sunday. So literally, I was working 22 hours,
sleeping two, and, and my record is 10 days, sleeping one hour a night. See, these are all
the wrong badges of honor. And, but I thought I'd just, you know, talk about how clumsy I was
in learning this, because somewhere in my assumptions, I gained the idea, and took this
concept of stewardship, instead of partnership to the next level. See, to be a stewardship is a
101 principle in the kingdom, partnership and friendship. You know, you can't get to this
level of partnership with a servant mindset. You know, that's why Jesus said, I don't call you
servants, but I call you friends. And the reason is servants don't know, and understand the Master's
business. And if you're going to be about the Father's business, you need to understand,
therefore, you need to be upgraded to friend mode, because it's only in friend mode that you
can function at that level. And then Jesus went on that beautiful promise, and I will teach you
everything the Father has taught me. Well, we've covered over these last few months, several of
those core ideas. But where this lands us in a very practical place, is that this idea of kingdom
acceleration, for me was the missing key, that really amplified my effectiveness as a leader,
so that I didn't have to work these crazy hours. And, but I also needed to know that, because I
kept feeling like, man, I'm just going to burn out for Jesus. And I almost, well, I actually did it
40, and had to take, you know, a very long period, nine months off. And so I've been down this road
of being the workaholic, super hardworking. And I would focus so intensely on what I was doing,
because I felt that was the way I showed the Lord that, you know, I was worthy. And so, you know,
sad story that, especially from a guy who was supposed to be a pastor, no better, right? So,
but I do remember these times working through, and the one night I was working through the night,
the next I was exhausted, I had this huge report that I had to deliver. And it was 80 pages, and I
was doing everything I was supposed to do. You know, and being an academic, I've written large
papers before, this didn't frighten me, the research didn't frighten me. And so I was, but
instead of just delighting what I was doing, it was, I was just, I was just done with it. Do you
ever get to that moment? Like, okay, there's got to be another way, I'm done with it. And sometimes
I think we have to come to those moments to break through into our whole new revelation.
So that night, in my frustration, I found myself praying differently. And I said, Father,
I don't want to just work harder anymore. There's, what am I missing? And the Lord said,
if you, if you'll let me, I'll teach you, right, just like he promised he would do in, you know,
Matthew 11, I will teach you and learn from me. So, you know, while I'm sitting there,
and I'm thinking about John two comes to mind, and Jesus turning water into wine.
And here is the epiphany moment.
It struck me, Jesus didn't create the wine from nothing.
He accelerated a natural process.
Now, yes, he converted the water into wine.
There's no natural process for doing that,
so there was a miracle element.
But he accelerated a natural process
that normally takes years, and he did it instantly.
So he didn't just create something from nothing,
he transformed something that was available.
What was available?
Water.
What was needed?
Wine.
How many times what we need and what we have
are two very different things.
You know, when my kids were growing up,
I never let them use the phrase, I did my best,
because that was a complete delusional nonsense.
And so, because how do you know what your best is?
You mean you tried hard, sure, I get that.
But, you know, I always say to the kids,
this was required, this is what you did.
So you didn't do what was required,
but whether you did your best or not,
this is what was required.
And often our best and what's required
are not the same thing.
And you see this again with Jesus
is teaching the disciples this.
So the loaves and fishes, which story we all know well,
but take this now into a business context.
That miracle of taking a few loaves and a few fish
and feeding 5,000 people took hours,
and it happened in the hands of the disciples.
For hours, they're taking the little they have
and producing what's needed, what's required.
They took the little they have
and delivered what was required.
And the people ate to their full, so much so,
there were 12 baskets left over.
There was an abundance.
When we go into this mode with the Lord,
because it's not up to us to deliver what's required,
but our yoke partnership,
our partnership with Him can deliver this.
And shortly after that particular story,
they get in a boat,
they have to cross the lake or whatever it was,
and it's in John 6, the story there,
and instantly they arrive at the other side.
When Jesus gets in the boat,
you have an instantaneous acceleration.
And suddenly I started to wake up
to this upstairs kingdom reality
that God is a massive accelerator.
And then I found out that sometimes
Jesus is called the quickening spirit.
And so this was my big epiphany moment
that downstairs I can use fantastic productivity tools
and being a student and a learner and my whole life,
I can refine those tools.
But upstairs, when Jesus gets involved,
when Jesus gets in the boat, acceleration happens.
And it doesn't just accelerate for acceleration's sake,
He takes whatever is, whatever's in your hand,
and He accelerates it to what's needed.
And so what was needed to feed 5,000
was many, many truckloads of food for 5,000.
And it says 5,000 men,
some theologians think it was 15,000
because they were obviously women and children there,
so maybe it was more than 5,000.
But whether it was five or 15,
at that point it doesn't matter.
And that's the point in the kingdom.
When you partner with the Lord in this way,
when your expectation lines up with Him,
so then I became fascinated with,
okay, can I do this every day?
So the next day I approach my work super differently, right?
So instead of just praying for help with my work
or praying for wisdom or praying that He'll bless it,
you know, the usual, you know, the usual prayers.
In fact, I knew those prayers so well, I gave them numbers.
You know, number three, the Lord says, you know,
Lord, help me, bless the work of my hands.
Number four, number five, it wasn't that bad,
but it felt mechanical.
So then I started to ask completely different questions
like, Lord, how would you approach this problem?
Rather than just, you know, asking Him for wisdom
or help or energy to solve it myself.
What happened next, over the next few months
was absolutely remarkable.
Solutions like I'd never seen before
just became obvious to me.
That's like I'd been staring at that same thing,
you know, for months and suddenly it was just obvious.
Or people spontaneously offered me areas and help
where I was stuck.
And sometimes I didn't even know I was stuck.
It's only as I got into it and I realized,
how would have I solved that?
God got ahead of it.
Resources appeared I didn't even know existed.
And literally I started to find
that what was taking me months started taking me weeks
or started taking weeks, started taking days.
And this phrase actually came shortly
after I started spending a lot of time with Graham.
So in 2014, Graham came to our area,
and well, he came to our conference
to speak at our leadership event.
And he was staying at my home at the time.
And we started talking about this.
And he just dropped this one phrase as he does, where he drops one phrase and you work
on it for a year, because that's what relational upstairs learning is like, you know, every
time you go back to the phrase, you've grown, you're at a higher level.
So you hear it again, like almost for the first time, because it keeps opening up more
and more territory for you.
And he used that phrase, Jesus is a quickening spirit.
And when he gets involved, what should take months takes weeks, what should have taken
weeks takes days, what should have taken days takes hours.
I mean, this has now become so entrenched in my life, that if I have to prepare something,
and I think it's going to take two hours, and I tell my wife, Bridget, you know, I'm
going to be gone for two hours.
So she just loves she says, I'll see you back in 10 minutes.
I'll get the tea ready, you know, and sure enough, 10 or 12 minutes later, I'm back and
I go, yep.
It's like, it still surprises me how powerful this actually is.
And this is accelerating, the accelerating effect is accelerating.
So let me share with you three keys I've learned from the Lord.
So talk about direct learning and a talk about direct learning.
Giving a talk about how I learned something directly is, is a fun thing to do.
So look, I think for most of us as leaders, you know, we increase our impact through three
conventional methods, right?
If we have to take on bigger loads and do more, we either work longer hours, as I was
doing, or hire more people, which I was doing.
At the time that story happened, I had 80 people staff on my staff at the time.
And most of them were professional people.
And all three, we just, you know, continue to search and hunt for the latest productivity
hacks, now AI tools and various other things.
And they're all they're all helpful stuff, but they're all downstairs stuff.
But what if we discover that Jesus actually has a completely different approach, that
he wants in on the partnership, that he wants in on the relationship, he wants to do it
with you.
He's not saying he's not saying, well, you know, that we've talked, we've joked before
that the one prayer that God doesn't like answering, Lord, give me this, I can go and
do that.
Because that just leaves him out, right?
And he's like, and I'm not doing that, you know, I don't think he ever answers that prayer,
actually.
Unless he does on a rare occasion.
But that's not his favorite prayer, for sure.
And so what happens is when we move out of this, okay, it doesn't matter what I can do,
and then it's all about being a good steward, and then stewarding myself and my time and
my resources and my talents and my treasure and blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, the
problem with that is that's really small.
And it's okay.
I mean, it's not wrong.
It's just the starter kit.
But there's a place in God we step into in business, in which we step into a true partnership,
the Matthew 11 yoke, take my yoke upon you, take my partnership.
And what's sweet about that, he says, you know, and learn from me.
And then he says, for I'm lowly of heart, that means I will speak to you at the level
you're at.
I won't speak above your head.
I won't say things you don't understand, I'll make it obvious to you.
And so these three keys, what I learned.
Key number one is what I nicknamed the Kingdom Velocity Framework.
And you notice the word velocity in there, right?
So the Kingdom Velocity Framework comes down to three things that I do all the time.
Invitation.
I start off my day or situation, and I say, I'm inviting you into this thing.
Lord, I know you want to do it with me.
And it's amazing how kind he is.
And he waits for us in that same verse, when he said, and learn from me, for I'm lowly
of heart, and I am humble.
And he says, and you will find rest for your soul.
The humble part is he just waits.
And Jesus said, you don't have because you don't ask.
And I realized how much he adores being asked.
He loves it when you ask.
He won't override your free will.
He's bound himself to that parameter.
And so he wants in, and he wants you to involve him.
Now when I invite him in, the next thing is I create some alignment.
In other words, I just position myself to, all right, Lord, however you want to go about
this.
And it's not like I get a great voice from heaven.
Sometimes he just tells me, you know, go there or do that on occasion.
Sometimes it's just as I start working, he'll say, you're wasting your time.
Just stop that.
Or I start, nope, it's not there.
And sometimes it isn't any of that.
It's just like it suddenly becomes obvious.
I don't know how to explain it, but what I couldn't see, I can now see.
And I'm now doing what's required.
I'm now doing what's needed, no longer just working hard and doing my best.
It takes it away from me trying to get to.
somewhere, and he just jumps in the boat, and we're there, and
suddenly it's obvious. And then the third thing, which took me
longer to learn, so invitation, alignment, and then
amplification. How do I make this a kingdom normal
experience, this idea of multiplication of results, this
idea of multiplication, in which he gives you back your time, in
which he gives you back your peace, and you find rest for
your soul. This is a whole beautiful way to do business in
the kingdom. Two kingdom leaders have that lightness about them,
right? And because his partnership is easy, and the
burden we carry together is light. And that's the part
that's the sign that we're getting to this place, that this
place, firstly, it exists. He loves it. He's all in on it. But
it takes us to invite him. It's not like he's not in our hearts.
Of course, he's in our hearts, he's in our lives. But he wants
in on the detail. And he wants, he wants us to draw him in. So
that that's number one is this, this kingdom velocity framework,
invite, align, amplify. Number two was, let me talk for a
minute, it's a different mindset, what I just called
simply the acceleration mindset. This, you know, when I explain
this to people, and especially when I started training, our own
team on this, there were there were there was so much pushback
around the idea of, you know, I'm not there yet, or I can't do
that. Or, you know, I don't know if I can hear the Lord so
clearly. And it's actually doesn't involve that. Remember,
you said it'd be lowly, he knows what you can hear what you
can't, and he will engage at whatever level you're at. So
it's not about what you can do or what you cannot do. It's what
he can do with you. That's the key. So this endless searching
for the next private productivity hack is fine. And
it's interesting, but we don't shouldn't have to be so
dependent on it. You know, constantly analyzing and pushing
myself and team to the brink of burnout and all that stuff. But
my biggest breakthrough came when I realized that this kind
of thing, I kept when I wrote wired, which you can see over my
shoulder, I think some of you have it, I kept using the word
supernatural, the supernatural ability to do this, the
supernatural ability to do that. And when I asked Graham to write
the foreword for the book, which he graciously did, he said, I
only have one problem with it. I loved it. I love the way you
explain the new creation. I love the way you went through it. But
I don't like that word supernatural. I said, Well, I'm
just trying to explain that it's an upstairs thing that's not
natural. It's above the natural, hence, supernatural. And so he
asked me the simple question, is it supernatural for God to do
that stuff? I said, No. So it's natural to him, then? Yes. But
as he is, so are you in the world. So it should become
natural to you, like your new natural. And so as we've
developed that theme over the years, we've come to use the
language kingdom, normal, it's normal in the kingdom to do
this. This isn't one day when you big, one day when you
advanced, when you have some degree in theology, or whatever,
there's no criteria that there's nothing that disqualifies you
from doing this. The only requirement is that you're in
this yo partnership, that you come to him, you can't come in
stress and burnout, we've covered all that before. Rest
activates this mode. So God is interested in your professional
growth and your productivity in your product development, your
customer service and your financial reports, everything as
is in your spiritual growth to him, they all want in the same
thing. It's because it's all about you. And he's, and he's
fixated on you, because he adores you. So key number three,
then we'll get into a chat is I've, I've seen that many people
disqualify themselves based on, well, this doesn't work in my
industry. So you don't understand I'm in construction,
or I'm in and they've got some field or another that's
supposedly disqualifies this from working. You know, Jesus
was in carpentry and fishing. And he worked with a bunch of
fishermen, he worked with the simplest of people. And, you
know, and it worked there. So it's really interesting, or my
team, you know, my team, not very spiritual, no, they don't
know the Lord, none of that matters. None of that matters.
That's not the criteria, just that the leader is in a yoke
partnership with the Lord, that's it. Or, you know, their
circumstances, man, I don't I don't have time to change the
way I think I don't have time to change the way my working
memories already set. I have too many urgent demands. I don't
have time for a new approach, you know, or just simply, I'm
not mature enough. So all of that comes down to what's at
under all these disqualifications. One compartmentalization, that my spiritual
life is here, my work life is here, and that they're not integrated as one in the same thing.
Two, maybe a control addiction, a sense of fear that if I don't manage every little detail,
it won't work out right. There's a trust that your yoke partner can do it. And three is scarcity
thinking, thinking that we're operating from the limitations of what's in my hand.
Well, I've got a few loaves and a few fishes, so let me see. So there's five people. Well,
if we divide that by five, we can give everyone two fifths of a fish and whatever, that stuff,
as opposed to, well, I'll give you all the fish and all the bread, and then I look up and my
hands full again, and I'll give you all the fish and all the bread, and I'll look up again.
And I can do that for hour after hour after hour. What a remarkable training lesson. I can imagine
the conversations Jesus had with the disciples about this. So I put together just a simple
little worksheet, which I know we haven't normally done, worksheets, and to give you a little,
to get you started down this road, because for me, this is probably one of the most
precious things that I do every single day, mostly all day long. And even though I know this,
and even though I've just taught it, you know, and we've just gone through this,
I can't tell you how many times I'll struggle for an hour and then think of it.
You'd think I know by now, but evidently not. So it's just, you know, whether it's complex finance
where I can't balance something, or I'm trying to crack a technical issue, or I'm trying to
think through a breakthrough idea, or whatever it is. And then I just invite the Lord, and I just
create that alignment. How do you see this? How do you look at this? And just let Him talk in whatever
way He wants. And sometimes I just keep working, and it just happens. And other times, He says,
get up, stop what you're doing. Now, one time, and it's happened not one time, it's happened a few
occasions, but not often, the Lord said, we're not working on that today. And that's usually when I
want to remind him about deadlines, because he doesn't understand, etc. You know, because you
know how he doesn't know anything. Yeah. So you know how you explain to God. So, but my favorite
story about that was, I was in partnership with somebody whose brother was running for President
of the United States at the time. And there was a very high profile client. And I had to deliver
this product, all that just to say that it was extremely serious to me. And, and I had to have
the report at 9am, Eastern Time, on their day, and they're a big law firm at, and he's the senior
partner, and I had to deliver it to him by 9am. And sorry, by 5pm, the sorry, 5pm, get my story
straight. The night before the things in a mess. And I said, I sit down with Bridget and I say,
if I work for 12 hours straight, and all the research goes perfect, and all the financial
modeling goes perfect. And all the and I go through all that has to be perfect. Maybe I'll
have it done at 10am. But then I still have to reread it, it's probably gonna be a 100 page
document, blah, blah, blah, to get it to them by five is going to be nightmarish. But I can trust
the Lord and he can be the accelerator. And I'm, you know, some of the things we're talking about
here. And so I go to the Lord, and the Lord says, you'd need to have a good night's sleep.
And we'll hit in the morning. I said, No, no, Lord, I was counting on those 12 hours.
And I was no, no, you'll be fine. So I get up really early. And so I go and sit down,
I said, I'm ready to go. And the Lord said, Oh, no, you're fine. You know, take it easy.
And, and so then the Lord said to me, Do you trust me? I said, I trust you, Lord. So he said, Okay,
here's the trust. I want you to go and read a book until I tell you when and I said,
No. So my wife comes down, she stares at me, I'm lying on the couch, on the sofa, and she says,
What are you doing? I said, I'm, I'm reading a book. You know, I think I'm half tearing the
pages out because I'm like, so wound up. And I'm trusting the Lord, you know, that was hilarious.
So anyway, so she says, Okay, so she goes off, she comes back, it's one in the one in the afternoon,
I'm still lying on the couch reading the book. He hasn't, he's just said, Trust me, enjoy your book.
I don't even know what the book was. I'm not sure I read it much. So now it's four o'clock. And I
think this is great. I got one hour to go. And the senior lawyer calls my phone rings, his name comes
up. And I pick up the I pick up the phone and I'm just dying. And he says,
Man, I am so sorry to make this call.
I said, what's wrong?
He says, you've probably been going flat out,
knowing you, you've put all this effort in.
We gave you such a short deadline on this.
We're not gonna need that report
for about two or three weeks.
Here's the coolest thing.
I said to the law, so now I'm really impressed
with the law and I'm really thrilled
that I've trusted him.
And it was like, you know, you have to pass a test
to get a testimony, you know, as Graham says, right?
You can't have a testimony without a test.
So I'm feeling very proud of myself at this moment.
And the law said, oh, one more thing.
I said, what's that, Lord?
He said, I don't want you to ever write that report.
And sure enough, two weeks later, I get another call.
You know, we're just not gonna go down that road.
Don't worry about it.
Because they were asking me to help them
make an acquisition on the company.
And I had written this whole report and justification.
So they decided not to pursue that acquisition.
That's how I learned this stuff, right in the firing zone.
So there's the story.
I'm so grateful to hear this.
I'm so grateful that others go through
this same kind of thing.
Because I've had, not the quote unquote report,
but the thing that just didn't make sense.
Lord, you don't understand.
I mean, it's been, I've had so many instances of that
of, I don't know if I can give a rough example here,
but things that seem very cataclysmic.
What do you want me, what are we doing about this?
Nothing.
And it just disappears.
I've had two different instances of massive importance
that just disappeared.
I'm like, what are we doing about this?
Nothing.
I'm like, is it gonna come back?
No.
Do I need to do anything?
No.
And it just disappeared.
And I'm like, all right.
It's just so cool to hear the same levels of stress
that he puts me through.
Yeah.
And this is a good thing you bring up there, Ray.
Because at some point it has to become joyful.
This has to, at some point, become a delight to us.
It was a test because I was a baby in the Lord
and I was a baby in this thing.
I wasn't a baby in the Lord.
But I was, as you know, I just had my spiritual birthday
two weeks ago, 48 years of walking with the Lord.
So yeah, yeah.
So with spiritual mentors and father-
Between the two of us, we're at 50.
Sorry?
Between the two of us, we're at 50.
That's right, that's right.
Just like me and Elon gave a billion dollars.
I gave a hundred dollars and he also participated.
And so, but here's what the Lord said to me.
As that started to progress, he said,
hey, hey, I don't want you to be in that mode
of always feeling you're passing a test.
What if we did it from delight?
And then when I started to become delightful,
then I discovered that I had to change my theology
to encapsulate God's sense of humor.
He is so funny, you know?
He has such a delightful sense of humor and he's a tease.
And he, you know, and he laughs at certain things.
He teases me on certain things.
There's always kindness, obviously, it's never unkind.
But I realized that sometimes the conversations
go a little more like this now
that I've been doing it for a while.
What's it now?
11 years I've been practicing this thing.
So it's not that long.
So, you know, then he'll goes more like,
so what if I just take care of this?
But there's a deal then, you have to go and take a nap.
You know, there's like, he's got some funny thing
he adds to it.
I do tell one more story, which was really a moment for me.
So I assume we're recording these,
so I'll leave out the big names
because you will know these names.
But anyway, so a very large franchise group
were looking for capital.
And at that time I was part of a group of partnership
and we provided capital
and we'd come up with a brand new product
to allow emerging.
So when somebody had 200 stores or so
and they're trying to get to a thousand stores
or trying to get to 2000,
when you get 2000, you become a national brand.
So how did they get capital for that?
Because they're not big enough to go to the bank.
Banks can't lend them money, they're too small.
So where do they get their growth capital from?
Well, that's why they create franchises.
So they use your capital to do it and so on, right?
So franchise is a great idea.
So, but we came up with a way
and help them do it in chunks of a thousand.
So we were doing these pretty big loans.
And so.
So the CEO of this group asked me if I would come and present this whole thing.
I'd been working with him for months.
So I got about 80 something slides ready to go.
And it's the board meeting and, and you go around and introduce
it, all the board members into, there's a big board there, about 15 people.
And I mean, it's like the senior partner of this massive law firm.
And the, you know, this guy's ex-Price Wodehouse Coopers auditor, and
this guy came from Goldman Sachs and they were like the who's who around the table.
And so I get up to do my presentation.
I'm very excited.
I'm not intimidated by them, but something was bothering me in this mode.
Cause I can tell when he's up to it, you know, Lord, you're up to something I can
tell, and so I get up fantastic boardroom, beautiful screen behind me first slides
up and the Lord says to me, don't say a word, but they're all looking at me.
So I'm adjusting my computer and everyone's like, yeah, we can see the
screen, you can get going and I'm just, and I can literally hear him laughing.
I mean, he's laughing so hard, but in kind laughter, like, don't worry, I got this.
I got this, but I want to just, so I said, Lord, you're just letting me
squirm for a few minutes, aren't you?
So then one of the, one of the board members turns to us and says, before he
starts, I have a question, throws this question out, they get into this rigorous
conversation for about 40 minutes.
The whole thing resolves beautifully at a much higher level than I was going to ask
for.
And so they said, Oh, sorry, what was going on with your presentation?
I said, no, that's basically what I was going to say.
And you guys landed at the same conclusion.
So the guy goes, so that's the deal then.
Well, let's vote on it.
They vote on it.
It passes.
The CEO looks at me like astonished.
And he says, can you, he gives me the sign to stay behind.
So they all leave to go off to this beautiful place where we're all going to
go and have lunch.
And, and he says to me, and he looks at me and he says, I have no idea how you
pulled that off.
You didn't say a word.
And I can literally hear the Lord laughing.
And I said, Lord, this is a double whammy because now he thinks I did something.
I did nothing.
You did it all.
And then he thinks I'm a genius.
And the Lord says, you are a genius.
You did nothing.
You did what I asked.
And that makes us such great partners.
He was having so much fun and I just learned to delight in that, you know?
That's awesome.
So anyway, that's, that's my most intense ones.
That's my most intense story.
I don't have a worse one than that, but, uh, that was pretty, pretty brutal.
That's all.
After you face that, it's like, whatever, you know, so.
And it's, and it's so, it's so cool for you guys to, you know, to hear this, you
know, these stories you've heard some of these kinds of stories from me, um, you
know, being told to raise my hand in the middle of a keynote and, you know, like
very uncomfortable, um, but there, but he, he does, God does have a sense of humor.
And I'll tell you one, you may not have heard this one.
It's very light.
Um, but we're in North Carolina and we're supposed to have dinner with a client.
And, um, Jess had wanted me to get Graham's haircut.
I think some of you may have heard this.
I don't think everyone now.
And, um, and so, you know, I Google everything's far away in North Carolina.
Like it's like, you know, 25 minutes here or 30 minutes there.
And so I, you know, I Google, I find a haircut place and, uh, And I'm looking
at, I'm looking at the time I'm looking at how far away it is.
And I'm like, I don't think this is going to work.
So, you know, I pray and like, Lord, should I take him and go get his haircut?
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
And so, you know, we get, and you know, we, we go there and on the right over
Graham's like, if I'm getting my haircut, I get a lollipop.
I'm like, all right, you'll get a lollipop.
You'll get like, and so, you know, we get there and we walk in and we, they
look at us like we're crazy.
Like, they're like, do you have an appointment?
And I'm like, uh, no.
And they're like, yeah, you, yeah, you're not getting it today.
And I'm thinking, man, Lord, you told me to come here.
And I look over and Graham's grabbing a lollipop and I'm like, Lord, did
you want Graham to have a lollipop?
Yes.
That's why he sent me there for Graham to get a lollipop.
And I'm like, all right, fine.
I think it's time to add playfulness into our theology.
Yes.
Why, if we're playful and we're in his image, don't we think he's playful?
Right.
I mean, you've got to look at a couple animals and saying, is that your day
off Lord?
Cause he looked, those, those things look weird.
Right.
Were you just having fun?
Yeah.
That's right.
Were you, you made his nose so long, called him an elephant.
What was the thing?
What was going through the mind?
Yeah.
I think, I think that's the, the, I think we cannot overstate the
delight he has in us and when we catch that, when.
You catch His sheer delight, whether it's your business
and your marriage or whatever it is, your life,
He delights in you.
And you know, old covenant teaching was,
you delight yourself in the Lord.
You meditate on the Lord day and night,
and then all these good things.
But when you take that through the cross, it all flips.
Because He delights in you,
and because He's written His law in your heart,
you now share His delight in you.
Lips.
Because in the Old Testament,
which of course we're not part of the Old Covenant
because we aren't Jewish,
but we're included in Christ in the New.
But in the Old Covenant,
everything is first you, then God.
In the New, it's first God, then you.
Freely you've received, freely you give.
Freely you've been forgiven, freely forgive others.
Everything in the New Testament you're commanded to do
is because He's already done it in you.
Every single thing.
There's not a single thing.
We can get into all the complex theology,
but basically what it comes down to
is everything that the Lord asks of you
in that context, in the New,
is because He's already done it in you.
He's already, He doesn't start it
unless He's finished it first.
I love that.
That's God's logic.
And so if He asks you to start a business,
He's already finished it.
Just saying.
So Lord, you've been here before,
so I don't know how many of you
have heard Graham's story about provision,
that using World War II's analogy.
Have you heard that story?
This may help some of you
with some of your business stuff you're going through now.
So in World War II, the advanced teams would go
and they would bury the diesel and the food
and the water in the desert,
and then they would provide a map with X marks the spot
and send it back to the commanders
so that they would know where to find the provision.
And so that's a beautiful thing.
God has already been to your tomorrow.
He's already finished this business.
He finished it before He started it.
That's a great, you know,
Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world.
That's God's sense of logic and timing.
You know, He finished it and then He started it.
So in your case, so the question is,
Lord, where's X marks the spot?
So the acceleration is also,
sometimes you just go along and say,
Lord, should I focus on this?
No, no, you don't need to focus on that.
Stay here, focus on this.
And I've had the Lord say to me,
your mind is so, you know, bouncy at the moment.
Why don't we just take a break
and come back to it in an hour?
Settle down.
Or we do it tomorrow.
Which of course, then you want to explain
that's even a shorter time to deliver it
than if you started today.
So it's like the little kid who arrived late at school
and the teacher said, Johnny, why are you late?
He said, because we left late.
She said, well, why didn't you leave earlier?
I said, it was too late to leave earlier.
So it's a bit like that, you know.
You're explaining to the Lord,
Lord, we have to do this now.
So there you go.
If I can convey one thing to you,
make this business venture of yours
and the Father's a delight.
Don't go into servant mode
and I'm trying to be a good student and all that stuff.
It's fine.
It's in the Bible, I know that.
There's a higher way though.
And the higher way is do it with your friend.
Do it with your yoke friend and your yoke partnership
and do it together.
And do that in a place of friendship and delight and laughter
because all warriors of the faith
learn to partner with God in laughter at some point.
Hmm.
Yeah, you know,
He's given me lots and lots of words
about our business together.
Lots of promises, lots of words.
And most days I'm like, Lord,
am I supposed to be doing something additional today?
No.
And like, okay, you've told me this
and you're, I'm doing this.
Do you want?
And then a few times I'll catch myself saying,
Lord, can I screw this up?
No.
Okay.
All right.
Continue to guide me.
And so it's just, you know, I love,
I heard, I think I'm pretty sure I heard it from Graham
about why did you make discipline a discipline?
You know, thank the Father for helping you
to delight in that discipline.
And I realized that's one of the things that God gave me
is I do delight in routines.
I delight in consistency.
I delight in waking up and starting all over
and doing all of it.
Like I just had that.
And I realized now.
The big difference between people that struggle with consistency and me is he gave me that delight.
He didn't give me a lot of, I wasn't like naturally really good at a whole bunch of stuff.
I actually sucked at almost everything I've ever tried, but he delighted me in progress.
And I love progress. I love routines. I love the consistency.
And so I just, I don't, I don't look at what I do as discipline or tough or whatever. I love it.
I went through a very dark time at one point and I was, I was, I woke up, I was exhausted.
I had so much stuff going on at the time and it was 2016 and so much pressure to do so many big things.
And, you know, we helped plant a church, we were running a school, I'm running two businesses, etc.
And I've got a little kid in the middle of all that, you know, my three older ones are growing up.
And I'm just feeling the pressure and the Lord said, why?
So the Lord said, I have the perfect antidote for you.
There is a talk that will just really help you.
And I said, that's great, Lord. I don't even know if I can hear, just, can you just guide me to the talk?
And after a while I found the website, but it's of our church.
And he takes me a talk of a talk I did.
The sermon I have. He said, listen to that. That's a good sermon.
So I'm listening to it and it's like this whole running commentary in the background.
Oh, that's brilliant. That guy's genius. That guy's, that guy knows what he's talking.
So you should listen to him. And he's having a completely playful, wonderful time.
At the end, I'm crying with laughter. I'm rolling on the floor. My stomach's hurting.
Only you, Lord, could do that, you know, and the joy of the Lord is your strength.
You know, so why would we ever say things like, oh, I can't wait till it's over.
No, no, you need joy now. I'll be happy when it's over. No, be happy now.
Be happy now because you need the strength now.
You don't need the strength when it's over.
So when we learn God's ways and how he is with us, it's a great question to ask the Lord.
Lord, what is it you delight in me? Just give me, give me something.
You know, and many of us were taught, well, God's pretty ticked off with you most of the time.
And you're probably way behind the time of your development anyway.
So whatever, you know, but it's not how he thinks at all.
He doesn't think like that. And that's why Jesus paid the price he did.
So you don't have to think like that. Right.
Well, that was fun. Did you want to walk them through the worksheet?
I know we mentioned it, but I haven't. We can do it.
So the worksheet was just to be very straightforward.
I tried to put on a page, but for some reason it ended up a little bit more.
But the idea was just so you didn't have to take notes.
I asked you to identify two acceleration opportunities that you might have, you know,
in areas you feel stuck or where the progress just seems stupidly slow and necessarily slow.
Pick two areas. Pick one if you like. And then what resource do you have?
So think of what's in your hand. You know, the loaves and fish example.
So, OK, Lord, I've got this, you know, but I need this much bigger thing.
And then just apply that simple thing. So invite him in.
So invite his perspective and then alignment.
Let him speak to you in the way he wants.
And, you know, whether it's just you want to just keep working, you'll help me.
Will you make it clear? Would you want to do I need to stop?
Get get get him involved and then amplify it.
In other words, start to make this your kingdom normal, that you do this with everything.
I know you do that, Ray. And I love that you do that all the time.
And, you know, you gave me you gave me a great distinction.
So I'll ask the question, hey, should I reach out to this person?
Should I do this thing? Should I? I was not asking.
How would you approach this problem? How would you approach this?
Would you reach out like that's that's a little that's a little different.
I feel like I feel like that's a that's a different. How would you approach this?
I was not asking that open of a question.
I was I was coming up with tasks that I thought would, you know, were good ideas and saying, hey, should I do this? This is this.
How would you approach this is very different.
Yeah, because the second version is partner mode.
So think of an actual part. So so we're partners now in a business together. Right.
So you wouldn't call me and say, should I do this? And I sit there going, yes, no, no, yes, yes, no.
Right. Yeah. You would say, how would you think about this? I was thinking this.
Well, I might say to you, hey, sometimes say the Lord, how how should I think about this?
And the Lord or.
What should I choose, A, B, or C?
And I'll say, what would you like?
And I say, you choose.
Because sometimes no matter what you choose,
he's going to be, well, he's going to be with you either way,
but he's going to bless whatever you do.
He blesses the work of your hand.
Sometimes it's like blank check stuff, you know?
And sometimes it's like, well, let me give you a shortcut.
And then there's sometimes you do know
you don't need to do this at all, right?
No, but so-and-so put, or I put pressure on me,
or I want to do this, or, and I'll say,
yeah, we don't need that.
You see, you used great language earlier, you said we,
not you and me.
We're not in servant mode taking notes.
We're not taking a set of instructions
to go and execute, to come back and report to the master,
see, I did all the things you said on the checklist.
We're going together.
We're partners.
And that's what he called yoke.
Such a clever word.
To hide the most beautiful, free thing in the universe
out of something that sounds like bondage.
To the world, to the worldly minded, that sounds terrible.
Oh, I haven't got a life, I'm all bound to God.
Yeah, if you're bound to him, trust me,
you're the freest person on the planet.
So it's clever, yeah, yeah.
But to finish up on the little note there,
so you can go through it.
And so I just gave a quick checklist
just to make sure you don't have
any of those acceleration blockers,
all those things that you could, you know,
cause you to disqualify yourself.
So you can take a look at that.
And then a quick seven day acceleration experiment.
If you want to try this.
So invite your yoke partner
into a specific business challenge.
Pick one, say, and then approach one activity
with this acceleration mindset.
So what is an acceleration mindset?
It means I have an expectation that because you're involved,
it's going to go really well.
It's going to be accelerated,
or it's going to get stopped or canceled or something,
but it's going to happen.
It's going to happen quick.
And then, you know, you release.
So you release the control.
I don't have to control this decision.
That was my biggest one, by the way.
I really struggled with that in the beginning
because I felt like I wasn't being a good steward.
I was being irresponsible, blah, blah, blah.
But I just remind you that responsibility
and accountability are not fruits of the spirit.
There are great downstairs words.
There are not upstairs ideas.
Jesus took full responsibility for your life
and your sin and everything about you.
And he held himself fully accountable to the Father.
And the Holy Spirit takes full responsibility
that everything Jesus paid for, he will make yours.
And the Father holds him accountable to do that.
So that's how it works in the kingdom.
Maybe religion told you that that somehow was your job.
Well, you're not the Holy Spirit.
So good news, you just got freed of that responsibility.
So this whole, I've got to be responsible, you know,
that's true downstairs.
Our team members in my team,
I want them to be responsible and accountable
to the standards and the policies
and things we run in our business, for sure.
Upstairs, however, that's not how your yoke works.
That's a different ballgame.
So if you integrate those two worlds,
what if they became one thing?
Then you start to look for the impossible outcomes.
And Ray, I think the reason the Lord's speaking
to you about high impossible outcomes
is because he just wants you to know
that that's exactly how he thinks about it.
You asked, he answered.
Yeah, yeah.
Amazing we're able to hear that, though.
Yeah.
So the question, when I hear a big answer,
and it's way above where I am,
my first question is, who do I need to become then, Lord,
for us to go there?
So a friend of mine, well, I suppose one might say
a friend of both of ours, Ray,
got this huge, huge prophetic word over his business.
And it was huge because it implied the business
would become a billion dollar business
and by simple calculation.
And he was very excited.
And then another prophet said the same thing.
And man, I flew to him.
I flew across the country to sit with him.
I was so concerned about this.
And I was involved in the business.
So I sat down with him and I said,
you cannot do this.
And he said, what?
These are great words and they came from big prophets.
I said, where's the governance in this?
There's no governance.
This thing has been flown around
all throughout your organization like it's candy.
And it's reckless.
And I said, okay, so if God is saying
there's gonna be a billion dollar,
can you lead a billion dollar business?
Do you have the skill, the leadership, the ability?
And he said, no.
So I said, well, what a beautiful compliment
from the Lord that he's offered that to you.
The question is, what are you gonna do?
Do you think this team here
is gonna run a billion dollar business?
He said, no.
I said, okay, so when you put it in their hands
and because there's no governance,
there's no management,
there's no setting of proper expectations
and saying, okay, the Lord has laid out for us.
an invitation to step into a big place.
So that means that with that came an invitation
for you, each of us personally, to step into a big place.
So that's gonna mean massive growth from you,
massive growth from your team.
Some of them, it's rare that the team that started
are the ones that finish it,
but in the kingdom it's possible.
So what does that mean?
That means we gotta go all in on that word.
Instead of throwing it around
like a bunch of children and candy,
why don't we rather take him seriously?
And so, okay, what does that mean then?
That means, so Father, let's start the program.
It's not up to me to get there,
but you're inviting me to go there
because you're asking, you're saying,
let's do that together, let me take you there.
Okay, what's the first thing you wanna do, Lord?
So that's a big thing, and I just wanna bring that up
because we have helped so many businesses
where they get a big word, it doesn't happen,
then they get a bigger word, that doesn't happen,
they get a bigger word.
This is believerism.
In fact, that's extreme believerism.
Believerism is when you believe something to be true,
but you don't grow up to the level
of what that word will bring that word in.
You just stay at your level
and expect it to happen at this level.
That's believerism.
You don't become anyone new,
you just expect that thing miraculously to happen.
And it doesn't, because your rising pulls that word in.
Does that make sense?
So think of an X, Y axis.
On the X axis is the prophetic word.
Let's put a 10-story building.
I don't know, this is black,
so I have to pick something you can actually see
over there on the black and black background.
Okay, so here's the prophetic word,
here's the axis, here's what's sitting.
When you get a word, that means the Lord's saying,
I'm going to grow you to be a 10-story person
so that you can make this word.
And so what happens is, as you rise, you pull that word in.
David pulls New Testament worship
thousands of years into his time,
because he rose in worship into a certain level.
Man after God's heart, learned to worship.
If anyone else had gone into the Holy of Holies
and done that, they would have been killed instantly,
and many were, but not David.
What happened there?
That's because David pulls in a prophetic word.
And so prophetic words are beautiful,
but they're really serious,
and they are beautiful compliments to you.
The Lord is saying, and so, you know,
when my friend got a little overwhelmed
because of my strong response,
I said to him, but it's a beautiful compliment to you.
It means you're capable.
That's why the invitation was made.
But the invitation doesn't mean
it's going to sit around passively,
and one day, miraculously, the fairy's going to come
and touch you on the head,
and then it's going to be a billion-dollar business.
How?
So, and that doesn't mean we have to implement strategies
to make it a billion-dollar business.
It means we have to rise to be a person
who can run a billion-dollar business.
Does that make sense?
God almost always is talking to who you're becoming.
So downstairs, it doesn't actually matter what you know.
It doesn't matter how many scriptures you know.
It doesn't matter how much biblical principles you know.
It only matters who you're becoming.
Have you become that scripture?
Have you become like Jesus?
So God is always kindly and playfully,
as we've pointed out earlier,
rising us up to the fullness of life that's in Jesus.
And he just happened to use business
because we all love business.
That happens to be our game, so that's what he uses.
I'm worried, so Rebecca's asking a question,
and I'm worried about the very easy worldly thought
of if it's gonna be, it's up to me kind of scenario
with the way that you labeled believerism.
So what's the difference between believerism
and if it's gonna be, it's up to me, you know?
Yeah, yeah, great question.
Thank you for asking that actually, Ray.
Yes, exactly.
So the Lord says it's up to him.
He wants to take you there.
What he's saying to you is,
okay, so we've got some work to do.
Follow my lead.
We're gonna grow you to 10 stories.
So because what most people do is
they don't engage that conversation
that the Lord just invited them to.
My point about the prophetic word
was it was an invitation to him to become someone.
Your prophetic word is an invitation
for the Lord's inviting you to become someone
which he fully intends to bring you to.
He has bound himself in that prophetic word.
He's given you his word of honor to take you to that place.
Yes, we're not saying this is now,
you better go and perform.
God's standing with his arms folded.
I'll give you a three or a seven.
Didn't do that too well.
That's not what we're saying.
We're saying don't miss the point of.
word. We get excited about the outcome. God is talking about who you're becoming.
And that's my and my response, because I haven't had a lot of that until recently,
and now I get it all the time, is my response is, thank you for helping me become the person
that can do that. Yes, that's, that's my response. Yeah. And, and get intentional on. So one of the
ways, and we can take a minute on this if you have an extra minute on this, but this is such
an important, how many of you, let me ask quickly, I know there's only a few of us, how many of you
are sitting on a prophetic word that's pretty big? Okay. All right. So if you're sitting on a big
prophetic word, that means that there's a big person, there's a giant of a person in you that
God is developing. Okay. So that means, back to Ray's point, this, you don't suddenly become the
architect of your own self-development program, because you're trying to prove to God you're
going to get to that level, which is what we're talking about. This is not up to you, it's up to
Him, because you trust Him. So how do we do that? So Graham comes up with a simple framework that's
really helpful here. And he says, there's three spaces in which we grow with God. Right? The first
space is what we might call the living space. That's the area of your life that you'll think of,
think of each space as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The living space is where you're becoming
or, you know, are like Jesus in some fashion already. And you just enjoy living in Jesus.
That's part of you that's already starting to grow into it, maybe in certain areas started
even maturing that area, and the living space is you're living like Jesus. Okay, enjoy that.
The next space is the storage space. The storage space is what the Holy Spirit's keeping in
storage. That's all the stuff the Lord wants to work to get you to that 10 story person. Right?
But it's all in storage. And it's got a big sign on the front that says no touchy. Right? You may
not touch this door, you don't get to open it and pick what we're working on. That's in storage.
Then there's the workspace. This is the space that the Father has prepared beforehand. So think
about any of you could do workbench, you know, engineered heart here, I do projects. So I just
restored some antique furniture of the weekend, because I just needed a break. So I, you know,
strip the thing down. If you look at my workbench, it starts off perfectly clean. But halfway through
the project, it's just piled up with tools and stuff. And, you know, all the things I'm doing
and working on. Now, a lot of us get into that mode with the Lord. We're trying to work on
everything, we want to fix this and fix that and work on this and work on that. Well, it's like the
Lord just sweeps it all off and says, Okay, let's put all that in storage. This stuff is already
yours, you're already living in Jesus. So that's good. Now, let's put this one thing on the middle
of the table. Let's work on one thing. You know, that's a lot easier to work on the workbench when
there's one thing on the workbench. And it's clean, right? And it's not that God only has one
thing at a time. Here's the sweet thing about this. So God takes the one thing out, he says,
Okay, we're working on this one thing. And you start to get some breakthrough and some learning,
and it's starting to, it's starting to come into your living space now. And the Lord says, Okay,
so you go up to the storage space. And guess what, half the stuff is missing.
What happened? The Lord said, Well, we while we were about it, we've cleaned up that we fix that
the reason we picked that one is because it was a keystone issue to some of the other things you
were struggling with. So instead of teaching you 10 things, we picked the keystone thing that would
fix the 10 things. So that's why they're missing now from the storage. If you were doing it, you
try to do all 10 things. Isn't that kind? So we all know about keystone habits, that there's one
habit you do that triggers off other habits. You know what I'm talking about? We have that in
business, keystone habits, or God works with us in this very beautiful, very sophisticated and kind
way in which he brings us into maturity and into himself into fullness. And so when we get a big
word, we got to, we got to realize, Okay, I need a big workbench. I can be building a big project
here. And that's fine. It sets expectation is what it does. And it sets our focus. And
one of the toughest things for fivefold ministry people like Graham is they'll go to a church.
They'll minister and lay a credible foundation. They waited on God for months. They've got his
word. They've got the tone down. They clear on the assignment. They lay a foundation as apostles
and prophets do lay a foundation into their church. They come back a year later, nothing's changed.
They come back a year later, nothing's changed. We just sold more books, sold more videos,
sold more stuff, had another conference, made some money. You go back the next year.
And so what's happening is the laborers are laying these foundations.
and they don't move.
Nobody follows through, nobody follows up,
and you might think, well, that's just a poor church.
That is actually more the norm, in my view.
And so I'm speaking a bit openly with you,
but I'm just trying to explain to you
that you might think it's the norm
that everybody gets a big word
and just sits on it and it's all okay.
That's not okay.
But then you get churches where, like the church we ran,
Graham comes in, he gives prophetic words.
The elders and deacons, we're recording them,
we're getting transcripts to all the people.
We're handing the transcripts to them,
then we're having meetings with them.
Elders and deacons are meeting with them.
What does the Lord, what does that word mean for you?
What's this thing the Lord's inviting you into?
And then we will have discussion with them
for several months.
When that five-fold person comes back in,
they need to meet a whole different version of you
because of the word you got last year.
Does that make sense?
That's the purpose.
The purpose of the prophetic
is not to make you feel just comforted.
It's to open up new charity that you step into it.
You are His workmanship, created in Christ, in yoke,
to do good works, which the Father has prepared before,
that you should walk in them.
So what do we need to walk into next, Lord?
So don't come under pressure with what I said.
Just let it be a little bit of a sober moment of,
wow, that's a big thing.
Thank you, Lord, that you would do that for me.
Okay, let's get serious, let's make this happen,
which is probably the point Jesus makes a joke about that
because He's playful.
All I'm pointing out to you is this.
I don't want to put you under pressure,
but I do want to bring some clarity around.
If we're going to take words seriously,
that's what it means.
Because I see people, they're just claiming it
and declaring it and speaking it.
That doesn't move you.
I know that's popular, but I haven't seen that.
If you're growing up in Christ,
that's the thing that matters, that you're becoming more.
So, ask the Lord.
I'm glad I asked that question.
Well, it was a little tricky.
That was expertly delivered.
Well, thank you, but no, I'm very appreciative
because we never put the bride under pressure
because Jesus gave His life for her not to be.
So, we never do that.
So, thank you, Ray.
Appreciate it.
Well, that was fun.
Yes, thank you so much.
Everyone, give Dion a hand.
That was amazing.
Thank you.
Very good.
Thank you, man, thank you.
Bye.
Okay, well, I know I have lots to pray about now.
I have different questions.
I just updated my journaling process.
I'm moving things.
Man, that was really, really good.
What questions can I help you with now?
What can I do you for?
Well, I'm gonna ask the question
because you kind of broached it,
and that is, I apologize, it came in a little bit late.
I was running, actually running some business errands.
I had to get done.
Based on, so I came in on the backside,
but based on things that we've talked about in the past,
this was a really good one for me
in the context of my understanding
of how well or not how well I feel like I hear.
But so, from your perspective,
and I know that it's unique to you,
but what is, for someone who knows,
who knows you're hearing well,
you're walking this journey with the Lord,
out of everything he just said,
like, what is something that you felt was,
not necessarily new, but really God saying,
okay, he's touching on that point, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, well, there's, you know, I,
I'll just, I'll give you my last two things here, right here
and then I'll, then I will give you a good answer.
This is kind of a, for me,
but then I will give you a good answer.
So, did I need to hear Dion's words tonight?
So that's something I'll pray on.
Now my gut says yes, but I haven't prayed on that yet.
And then my second question was,
and I'm, I think I,
I just, I always want to,
I might start crying just, just thinking about it,
but I always.
always want to honor him. And and so I believe the answer is
no, but I am I'm going to pray on this. And that is, Lord, was
was I was I abusing your prophecy? Was I not honoring
your prop, you know, your words, your promises? And, you know,
that's just some that's just, you know, does everyone need to
do that? Probably not. But I'm, I'm just I always I owe that
that's one of my questions I ask every morning, Lord, have I
honored you? And I asked that, you know, everywhere I go, did I
honor you? You know, was it was honoring to you? And for as
long as for, you know, there was a time where I was rushing
things. And when I asked that question, I got no. And so it's
probably been a good probably year, you know, since I've
gotten to know I always get yeses, but I still ask because
I feel like that's honoring. And so I just oh, I always want
to be honoring. And so I want to make sure that, you know, I
mean, literally every day, he's telling me something about my
project. And and it's really good. And, and I just want to
make sure I'm honoring and receiving it in the way he
intends. You know, like I told Deon, when when he gives me a
big word, you know, I'm like, hey, thank you for growing me
into that person, you know. And so I'm just gonna ask that
question. Now, as far as what, you know, my biggest, like,
like, rub my hands together, I'm excited about this one, is I've
never asked, Lord, how would you approach this problem? Never
asked that. That's a really good question. You know, he gave me
about why actually, I would know if I want all my notebooks over
but I know it's right here. I think this No, that's not the
right one. I guess I mean, no books. So I think it's been
probably three months. He had me every Monday, except I didn't
today. He wants me to do it tomorrow. Every Monday, I have
this journal process, where I walk through so many different
things. And in my life and business, and I pray about,
okay, Lord, you know, is there anything you want me to do here?
Is there anything here? Is there anything here? And
sometimes I'll get a promise about that thing. Sometimes I'll
get an action step. You know, so lately, I've been getting on one
particular project, I've been getting a lot of action steps.
Okay, so this is the thing for the week, go do these things.
And I, I go and do it. But I've never asked, how would you
approach this? You know?
Oh, a second, my son, I hear my son.
My son screaming. Oh.
Okay. And, and so how, Lord, how would you approach this?
How he gave me a distinction when I prayed about this.
So how he likes, for some reason, for me, he likes the
word you not not we in this particular context. So how
would you approach this? How do you think about this? And, you
know, because I first had, how should we think about this? And
he didn't like that. So you know, I don't know. So I'm
getting, you know, I'm getting, you know, I'm getting, you know,
and he didn't like that. So, you know, I don't know. So I'm
getting the question that I'm going to be asking tomorrow.
Actually, I'm asked some of this tonight. But tomorrow morning
for the journaling process, how would you approach this? And I'm
gonna go through each and every one of those things. How do you
think about these, this, so I can kind of get, okay, how's he
engaging? Because there's some, you know, there's some projects
that I have that are very profitable, I'm not doing
anything for and like, you want me to do anything over here?
You know, like, I don't know. And so yeah, so that was really
big takeaways. And just, I would, I would listen to the
beginning of his talk, because he talked about how he used to
be a very much workaholic worked all the time, you know, went
through 10 days of only sleeping two hours a night, and how
everything accelerated when he learned this kind of framework.
And, you know, just just, you know, Jesus is a quickening
spirit. And just, you know, to have this, you know, this type
of acceleration.
It's interesting about your question. Because I mean, if you
think about mentorship, what are you trying to do? You're trying
to discover, you know, how does your mentor look at it? How does
your mentor think about this? So I mean, you know, and of course,
you know, we know we have the mind of Christ, but we're, we're
constantly trying to
Identify what, you know, what, what, how are you thinking about this? Right.
Yeah. And so you're, you're really asking your mentor, you know, how, how does,
how does he think about the, the thing that he's now calling you into, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah. This is a good one for me.
This is a really good one. More questions.
And, and remember you guys never do, but you can't always hit me on Voxer.
Actually, Kim does from time to time, but hardly anyone else.
Well, cool gang. Well, I'm gonna get into some prayer. I'm like,
I'm just rubbing my hands together. I'm really excited about this. And so, uh,
if you need any help with implementation or any other questions that didn't come
up, or is there anything we can help you with, please let us know. And so,
um, I'll, uh, uh, Carrie, you want to pray this out?
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
So father God, we just thank you. God, you know,
I thank you that you are so good and you're so kind to
just draw us into your heart to,
to reveal the fact that we do have the mind of Christ and the Holy spirit.
You are so good at gently leading us and walking us into
that understanding. And, um, you know, I thank you. Um,
I thank you that each one involved in this mastermind coming together,
uh, that, that you're, you're, you're leading us all.
You're drawing us all together into your heart and into, uh,
who you have us to be in terms of who Jesus
is and, uh, and just the journey that you have us in and God right now,
you know, each one of us has a specific task,
a specific mission that you've called us to. And we want to know, uh, you know,
we want to know, how do you see this? How do you think about this?
Because we want to know that. And we want to become the,
the, the people who reflect you perfectly or reflect you as best we can in the
environment that you've given us. And Holy spirit,
just thank you for your gentleness in your leading us. And God,
I'm so grateful that when I look at yesterday,
all I can see is the testimony of your goodness and your mercy.
And as I look to and ponder tomorrow,
I just see you before us just saying gently, come, come with me.
So father, I thank you for Ray. I thank you for each one.
I was a part of this group and God, uh, we just, uh,
we want to go deeper with you. Deep calls unto deep.
And we say yes in Jesus name. Amen.
Hmm. Wow. That was good. So good. Thank you, man.
Thank you. Well, awesome guys. Well, God bless you guys.
Let me know how we can help. All right. Thank you, Rebecca. Thank you everyone.
Bye guys.