Kingdom First Business Alliance - March 2024

Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast

from St. Augustine, FL.

Now enjoy this message. OK, Jesus said this, and and let

me give you a little back story before we do it, because Jesus

talked about living in the Kingdom, and that our our

success is related to some keys. OK, And in verse 11 this is what

he said he said unto them, Because it is given you to know

the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but unto them it is not.

Here's what the question was in the previous verse.

He said, Why do you tell everybody parables?

Why are you letting them know about parables?

And so Jesus goes on and he answers them.

In verse 11 he said, He answered and said unto them, because it

is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of

heaven. Now here's the thing we need to

know. This word mysteries basically is

the word secrets, and it's translated sometimes in other

translation as the word secrets. So he's letting us know in

advance in the Kingdom that there are secrets or there are

mysteries that he wants us to know that will help us navigate

in in into the Kingdom. All right.

So we have we have that account. But here's here's the thing that

I want to get to also is jot down Matthew, chapter 16 and

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

verse 19. He's walking with the guys and

he asked him a question. He said, Who do men say that I,

the Son of Man, AM? And they started answering.

They said, well, something, you're Elias or Jeremias or one

of the prophets. And then he stopped and looked

at them and said, who do you say that I am?

Peter answered, 1st And he said, well, we believe you know.

He said, I believe that you're the Christ, the anointed one, or

the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him and said,

you know, he said, you're blessed, Simon Barjona.

Why? Because flesh and blood did not

reveal this to you. But my Father, which is in

heaven, revealed it to you. And then in the next verse is he

says, He says this, He said, And I will give to you the keys of

the Kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth

shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever you loose on

earth will be loosed in heaven. So he's telling them that they

are giving them keys. And here's the thing.

Who's I'm. I'm kind of curious.

Who did not have the most keys on them?

Who's my guy got how many keys you got?

I got. I got these keys.

And then I got another set of keys, but I don't have them.

You got a lot of keys. That's not a lot of keys.

All right. That's a lot of keys.

OK, That's not a lot of keys. OK, You got a few keys.

That's good. All right.

When we talk about keys, see, this is one thing that I, I, I

wanted to meditate on for so long.

I said what? Jesus, what are you talking

about? Keys?

I mean, it says that you have given us the keys to the Kingdom

of heaven, the Kingdom of God, and that that we can bind and we

can unloose. But really, what keys are in the

Kingdom of God are laws and principles in the Kingdom.

He has given it to us to unlock the truce or the mysteries that

we just talked about. All right, The secrets that we

just talked about. Because you know what makes it?

You know what makes my key secrets to you.

You have no idea where they go. I could give them to you and

they'd be useless. You give me yours.

Be useless. Why?

Because I don't know what they go to.

But they they're a secret. It's a secret.

There's a secret behind this key.

Now, it has a Chevy logo on it, so you could probably narrow it

down pretty good. OK, all right.

But when we look at we, we get an understanding.

Jesus said, I'm going to give you keys, if you'll remember

When he whipped the devil. He said, I have the keys, OK.

I have the authority. I have the the, the principles

and the laws. All right.

I oversee all of that now. Now I want us to.

I want us to take a look at because we're going to talk

about in the very beginning tonight, we're going to talk

about principles and laws of the Kingdom, all right.

And how important they are to you.

And I've got I've got a few things and they're numbered to

make it easier for you, OK. Because keys are basically are

are are just like a system or a law or a principle in the

Kingdom of God. Once we find them and begin to

activate them in our lives, we will begin to see what Jesus

said we could have, but most of the time we're not.

We're not clear in our thinking on what did Jesus, what was

Jesus all about when he was talking to people?

I mean was he just telling them good stories or was he giving

them the secrets that he tells us?

He's given us to be able to unlock and get the the things

and mostly in the arena of business and finance and

provision out of the Kingdom of God.

That's what we're all looking for.

We want it. We want to do it his way.

So let me give you a few, a few things that you need to know

about principles and laws. All right, one, principles and

laws #1, they're universal. All right, now let's take a

let's let's equate this to a product.

OK, let's say any product you want to think of.

All right, Have anybody noticed in their the any of the owner's

manuals or the operation manuals?

They're in multi languages. And how have you noticed that?

OK, so the basically you don't have to be here and and and and

and to get only instructions no matter where you go in these

universal and worldwide products.

They have the ability, They're universal.

OK. They're in a in in, in.

The thing is about those manuals is if you obey the rules or the

the, the laws of that product and not do something weird about

it, all right. It's kind of like you can't put

orange juice in the car and expect anything to go, 'cause

there's a universal law in automobiles, you know, internal

combustion engines. Anyway, it takes gas or some

type of flammable fuel in there to be able to go.

So you can't violate that law. All right, When the Kingdom of

God, there's laws in the Kingdom of God that we can't violate

either. All right.

And so let me give you the second one.

The second one is that principles, laws, they're

they're permanent. They don't change.

God said I change. Not so when God speaks his word

and he tells us this is a principle, this is a secret,

This is something that you're going to need to do all right

when he does. And he tells us that these these

are permanent things. I mean, you know, you might get

an upgrade on a product. You know, if they're adding

something to it or taken away or whatever the case may be.

But the main thing, most of those internal laws on how this

thing operates, they're permanent, all right?

I mean, I've never seen a car converted to orange juice, OK?

I mean, as far as you take a look, we bought one of those not

too long ago. Bought a.

Anybody know what an Opal is? It's an ice maker.

Little chunk, little chunk ice maker.

My wife's always wanted one. We finally got one right, And

it's got a manual. And you know what I decided to

do this time? Read the manual in advance, I

mean, before we start plugging stuff in.

And it has a way to clean it. And it says don't do this and

don't do that. Guess what, You better not do

whatever they say don't do if you wanted to keep working.

And so you know, following those.

So when we look at it, you know principles and laws, they're

permanent. Another thing that is is common

about principles and laws. OK, they work everywhere and

anywhere. I mean the laws in the Kingdom

of God especially. You don't have to change

nations. The same laws will work for us

here as it does over in Africa. The principles of God, the

Kingdom of God, they'll work anywhere, All right.

It said Laws and principles, they're not partial, OK?

They don't work for one race of people and then don't work for

another race of people. They're not partial.

God tells us he's not partial, all right?

That once he sets up a law or he sets up a principle in the

Kingdom of God, it is for everyone that will come to him.

That's that's the thing about principles and laws.

All right, the next one and think about this, that

principles of laws guarantee success in In other words, your

future is predictable if you'll stick with the laws and the

principles of God. He lets you know how it's going

to turn out. Just like the products that we

talked about. You know, as if I follow all the

rules, it's predictable. This thing's going to make ice

for me. It's predictable.

I mean, if I do everything they say to do, now, something goes

weird. All right?

I got a call the manufacturer and they're going to tell me

what I did in violation or they had a defective part or whatever

the case may be. But you know, the the main thing

is that when we take a look at the, the, the principles and the

laws of God, he gave them to us to guarantee our success.

All right, Let me give you the next one.

All right? He said principles or laws can

never be broken. You can't break a law.

Now you may think that you can break a law and and and get away

with it, but sooner or later that law is going to catch up

with you. OK, they said they and here's

the deal. Laws can't be broken, but they

can break you. Me and Melanie were sitting 312

and US1, right. We're sitting there.

It's we're next. I I don't know how fast them

lights go. I I can't even get over it.

But I'm sitting there and we're parked.

All of a sudden we see coming toward us the other direction a

a police officer lights going and flashing and sound.

We could hear him. Well, somebody didn't hear him

and hit him right in the side, right in front of us, knocked

him out of the way. They were swerving and coming

towards us and then all of a sudden they just kind of peeled

off and went off into the other lane.

Well, I got out of the car and started running over to the

police officer, you know, because I was going to make sure

if anybody's OK, he's going to be OK.

And he and the first question he asked me, he goes, hey, he said,

did you all hear me coming? And I said, yeah, man, we heard

you come and all of the rest of us stopped.

And we saw your lights. It's black.

It's pitch black, dark. It's in the night.

And he said, OK, you know, I'm just making sure.

Are you OK? Yeah, He said kind of hit my

elbow pretty good. But I'm, I'm, I'm OK, you know.

And so we waited until, and I tell you what it's like a a call

for help. I mean four or five cops showed

up. Pam, you did the deputies, you

know, showed up checking on him and and yanking him people out

of the car. And it was, it was quite thing.

But you know, you can you think you might get away with

something if you just continually do it.

But sooner or later it's going to break you because there's

certain laws and certain things that you can't be a violator of.

All right, Let me give you the next one.

All right. Principles and laws are

inherent, and the judgment is in there, OK?

The judgment is built inside, such as, how about the law of

gravity? See, you don't have to worry

about you jump off this building here.

You don't have to worry about God killing you.

The law is automatic. It'll do that for you.

Certain laws that you cannot violate or they will take your

life. And God doesn't have to do it.

It's just built into the law. Don't do that.

Don't be jumping off the building.

You know, I think about how cool that air, air travel is, You

know, just it blows my mind when I see that big hunk of metal.

And I think you got a little engine on this thing and 1:00 on

the other side powerful enough to lift this thing up and they

don't fly by sight. I mean, how you going to see

what does it look like at 35,000, you know, feet in the

air? It's all electronic and they,

you know, they know where they're going.

It's all based. A plane listens to what's going

on and it is amazing, absolutely amazing.

But you know there's that is a law that supersedes or can

supersede the law of gravity. But as sooner or later you got

to get the gravity back in this this the equation if you want to

land. And so there's certain laws, you

can't go around breaking certain laws because they have certain

things. Now what does pastor always

said? He said, Listen you God will let

you do whatever you want to do, but you will pay the

consequences. You that you're going to have

the consequences to pay. All right, let me give you the

last one. All right.

Principles and laws protect the product.

When you obey the laws down to you know that are laid down by

the manufacturer, you don't need to worry about protection.

They protect you, those type of laws.

I mean if you follow the rules and you've read and you've gone

through and you take a look at your car and and you're, you

know, changing the oil and you're doing the different

things on that. We were talking about the lifts,

you know, and just take care of the lifts, use them.

Why? Because they sit there, the

batteries will go dead in them. Can't resurrect it, you know,

you got all kind of money and batteries.

Batteries are the most expensive thing in the world, it seems

like. But you know, taking care of,

taking care of those things. And when we understand how laws

work, how rules, the rules and laws work, we have to understand

that, OK, Now when you know, I want to read a scripture and

then I'm going to. And then and this is just to get

us an idea of understanding how important it is for us to be

people that search out. When God said seek first the

Kingdom of God, OK. It wasn't like we were going

somewhere to look for a new city.

OK, what he wants us to do because what is the word in the

word seek in the Greek language is the word to inquire, to ask

questions. So he said, I want you to seek

and ask questions about the Kingdom of God.

The questions we should be asking is, Father, what laws,

what precepts do we need to be able to navigate ourselves in

your Kingdom and receive from your hand the provision that you

said you could get us? All right, that's what we have

to find out. Now, I'm going to read a

particular scripture because this is what I found out, and I

want you to jot this down. The most important principle

Once you come into the Kingdom of God, one of the most

important. There's several most important,

OK. But one of the most important

Kingdom, law, or precept that we have to understand is in one

word. And this word is the word

management. OK?

Management has got to be the number one thing that we're

thinking if we want to navigate and we want to make sure that

we're doing everything the Lord tells us.

Listen to this verse. When I first got exposed to this

verse, blew my mind. This is we we all know Genesis

126, right? So let's go to Genesis, Chapter

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

2 and see what's in there, All right?

Because this is what this is in there.

Verse six he says. And every plant of the field

before it was in the earth and every herb in the field before

it grew. For the Lord had not caused it

to rain on the earth, but there was and there was not a man to

till the ground. Interesting.

So God created the systems. In chapter one he let us know

he's going to create man. He tells us in chapter 2 how he

did that. Chapter one he said he made man.

So to me, chapter one is basically like a a table of

contents. It just kind of lets us know day

one, he did this. Day two he did this.

Day three he did this. Day four he did this.

You know, he gets to day six. And he said, you know, and he

said he made man male and female.

He told them what he said. Let us make man in our own image

and in our likeness and he said let them have dominion over the

earth, over the, you know, birds, fish and and all the

animals. All right.

Then in the next chapter he tells us how he did that.

But notice what he said when it came down to the the, the fruit

of the ground, the herb, the trees that said the Lord did not

allow anything to grow. And then he tells us why.

Because he didn't have a man to toil or till the ground.

And I got to think about that. You know, I mean simply the word

till basic just means, you know, to work, to serve, to labor over

the ground. But God says I'm not growing

nothing. I ain't letting nothing grow,

not getting anything started until I get a manager.

He wanted a man to come, and he wasn't going to do anything

until he got that man to be able to take care of the things that

he was providing. All right.

Now here's a few things that I want you to jot down.

Well, you know, actually, I like the the fact that, you know,

what is God saying? I don't allow anything to grow

until I find a manager and he actually stops the growth where

there is no manager. I'm going to give you 3 things

about God's view of management. But I think it's interesting

that we need to find out that he.

That was probably one of the biggest motivators that we can

find. Why he wanted man.

Yes. Did he want a relationship with

us? Yes.

He wanted to create somebody that love him back.

Yes, but the motivation is found in verse six.

He needed somebody to take care of all these things.

He spent six days creating, so management was very important to

him. Now listen to this three things

that I want to show you about his thoughts.

One, God protects his resources from bad management.

He'll protect his resources from bad management, bad managers

#2HE withholds resources from bad management.

Now when I started hearing this and there's the last one, he

said God won't allow any growth where there is bad management.

And I immediately started thinking about myself, How am I

doing as a manager if I'm not seeing growth in things that I

need to? Am I managing?

Is he withholding from me because I'm not a good manager?

All right, I've come to the conclusion that the principle

and the key, that God's talking to us about management is one of

the most important, especially if you're wanting to be in

business or you're in business. OK, now everybody say the word

management after me. Say management.

Got it. Management.

Here's the thing you need to know about.

And I think religion and how many times have we talked about

a pastor has always given us comparison.

Religion really is a killer. OK.

I mean of all kinds of things. It it it's a it's a killer it

and and here's the thing about it it says it takes, it takes

away from us. The very thing we need the most

is management. Religion takes that away.

What does it do It it it sits and waits on God.

It sits and says well God's in control and he's not OK.

The fact that he and and here's one thought that I had and I

heard a man say it and boy it made sense.

He said that some people you know prefer miracles over

management. They wait until they get in a

big mess, you know. And then they're asking God here

help me, help me only to find out you know you could have been

probably managing your way through that.

Now it's interesting because Jesus let us know what he

thought of people that are seeking miracles all the time.

OK. It's found in Matthew chapter

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

16, verses one through 4. Listen to what he says.

The Pharisees, also with the Sadducees came tempting desiring

that he would show them a sign from heaven.

The word sign there is the Greek word Semion SEMEIONSEMEION, and

it basically is the sign for it is basically the sign for a

token or a miracle or a wonder. So this Pharisees and the

Sadducees came and what did they say?

They said we want to we want you to show us a sign, we want you

to show us a miracle from heaven.

Notice Jesus response in verse four.

He said a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a

miracle or a sign. And he said there will be no

sign given to it because this except for the sign of Jonas and

he said and he left them and departed.

So when you take a look at the fact of of miracles and are

miracles important? Yeah, they are.

But we shouldn't be putting our emphasis on miracles as

believers. How do I know that?

Well, Romans chapter one jot it down, Romans chapter one, verse

17. Paul tells us that the just

shall live by anybody know faith.

He didn't say by miracles. He didn't say, you know, by, you

know, listening to good stories or having a religious right or,

you know, praying three times a day.

He didn't say that. He said that just shall live by

faith. Now what does James say about

faith? Faith without works is dead,

being alone. So he's telling us, listen, he

said. He's expecting us.

He's expecting us here to be able to be somebody that can

manage even in the rough times, seeking the Lord in the rough

times, instead of always being people that need a miracle and

and he doesn't want us to do that.

I believe that he wants us to manage what he has given us and

see Kim and the Kingdom. Ask questions.

Find out what principles am I needing to get into.

What principles do I need to find out?

But I'm going to give you a very lengthy those of you taking

notes, I'm going to go really slow.

OK, this is probably the best definition on management and I

got a comment to make after it. OK, but listen to this.

Management is the effective comma efficient, comma correct

and timely use of another person's property and not just

their property put and resources.

I'm not done yet. This is a long one.

I told you I I tried to get somebody to put it up on the

board for you and I couldn't find anybody to take on that

challenge. All right, all right, so let me

read it. It says management is the

effect, effective, efficient, correct and timely use of

another person's property and resources.

Here we go. Next part, for the purpose for

which they were delegated. For the purpose for which they

were delegated, listen to this with a view to producing with a

view of producing to producing. These next 4 words are

important, The expected added value back to the person that

owns it. I'll read it again.

Management is the effective, efficient, correct, and timely

use of another person's property and resources for the purpose

for they for which they were delegated with a view to

producing the expected added value back to the person who

owns it. Here's the biggest problem we

have, OK, is that in our United States of America mind, we have

been deceived into believing that we have ownership from

little bitty kids. I got grandkids.

Their favorite words is that's mine.

You can see it in children's church.

That's mine. And if they want what's theirs,

which usually isn't really theirs, they'll go get it.

But we have, we have believed. And if you've heard any

teachings on Lordship whatsoever, you have to come to

the understanding and renew mind that Jesus is the owner.

I don't care what you have, he's the owner.

He created everything. He gave man the wisdom to create

a lot of stuff, but in it, in in its originally at where it came

from, it's his. All the metal that it took, he

created. All the different things that we

find plastic out of oil he created.

So technically by right of creatorship, he has the right of

lordship. We don't have that right.

In other words, we are what we call in the Bible.

And I'll, I'll, I'll give you scriptures on here in a minute,

stewards, OK. That's the biblical word for

management and I'm going to define it out because it is

really good. OK All right.

So when we talk about ownership, you know, in the Kingdom, we

don't any own anything. We're really just stewards.

We're we're over God's resources.

This goes cross grain, all right, when we what we've been

taught all our life. Here's a question.

Do you really own your house? Let me ask you a question.

If what happens if you don't pay your taxes on your house?

Let's say you got your house paid off.

I know a few people got their house paid off.

What if you don't pay your taxes?

They they they'll put a lien on it, but eventually they'll take

it. OK.

I even found out through the real estate industry that HO as

have the ability to go to your mortgage holder and tell them to

put a foreclosure on you because you won't obey the HOA rules.

Day gum you know I said are you kidding me And that's true.

I mean you know we we got that in a memo all right letting us

know because you know I follow the law pretty close on real

estate and every month you know we get magazines that have law

section in it. And I just want to see because

it's always somebody got a problem with the law and then

they ask an attorney an attorney gives them their you know

opinion saying and and one of them was HO as that they have

the ability to go and and file an an injunction to have you

sell your house same thing. I mean you think you own your

house. The house we built in Oklahoma

we put the key in the door after going to the bank and signing

and everything put the key in the door and get a phone call.

Hey Randy you need to come back to the bank.

We didn't check. And we found out you have

$50,000 worth of liens on your house.

Well, you know, I said I'll be back over there in a minute and,

you know, called my attorney and he said, Oh yeah, man, a lien.

They can make you sell your house to pay that lien off.

I said OK, so that just kind of ruins your thought of ownership,

you know what I mean? But when we look at it, I want

us to be people that actually, you know, the definition of

management. It implies that when you bring

something back to the Lord and and you don't own it, and you

recognize I'm not an owner, I am a steward, Lord, I am your

steward. I am your steward.

And you, you put that into your brain on whatever it is that he

gives you, You know he's always wanting you.

And when I heard that message for the first, this message for

the first time, I mean, my mind exploded with the parables that

Jesus taught about provision and how important management is.

All the parables that he told about provision, they were all

about managers, good managers. We're going to look at 1:00.

Tonight is the only one we're going to look at.

All right. But there there are principles

that there, you know that this principle of management teaches

some important things. Let me give you a couple of

them, one of them, and I want you to think about this.

God does not give you necessarily what you pray for,

but he gives you what you can manage.

You think you want. The next one is you think you

want. And you know you're praying and

asking God for $1000. And he says this.

I gave you 100 last week and you you can't even tithe on it.

That's a law, All right. You know, we have a lot of

people saying, Oh yeah, but we're delivered from the law.

I beg to differ. As far as you know, Jesus said I

came to fulfill the law. I didn't come to destroy it.

And he has given us the ability to find out what those laws and

principles are in the Kingdom of God so that we can keep them

too. But you know some people they

they they say I, you know I need $1000, you know, the the $100

they have and you know that they got yesterday they can't even

tithe. You know it says you might want

to be you know you might want a big house.

You know you're believing God all you can father, I thank you

for a big house, big house. But we go to your house and your

house is filthy. Bad management, you know, you

got, you got stuff laying around, you got dentists like

people, one of the things that I learned years ago in hiring

people, he said. When you walk them out of the

office, go go look in their car, take them to their car and look

in their car and you'll find out what kind of employee they'll

be. We got gum wrappers and we got,

you know, chip wrappers and we got all kind of stuff thrown in

the back seat and empty cups and you know, all kind of stuff.

He said bad management. You know, God's what he's

looking at us saying how are you taking care of the things that

I'm giving you and it. And if we can't, then what in

the world are we doing asking him for more?

I I can prove it to you in Scripture.

That's that's a violation. We'll look at it here in a

second. All right.

Now, one of the things you need to know and and I'm thankful

that, you know, we always have a mixed crowd.

We have some people that are in business for themselves, some

people that are working jobs for other people.

But here's the thing. God will never give you a

business first. He'll always give you a job

because he wants to see a few things.

One of them is how do you work? How do you work?

One phrase that I heard years ago, it might be worth jotting

down and says is is doing more than paid for.

OK You know, it's kind of like that old saying, he said walking

up to a wood stove and say give me some heat.

Wood soap says, well, you get me some wood, he said.

But I need the heat. Wood stove says I need the wood.

Well, you know, some people go up to their boss and say I need

a raise. The question you got to ask is

OK And I've had it done. I had a girl work for me one

time for three weeks and says when am I going to get a raise?

I said, well let's go back to our original meeting, OK?

Our interview, I said I had this position open and I told you

this is what it pays. And you said, OK, so you tell me

what you're going to do above that job that I just gave you.

What are you going to do above that wouldn't entice me to give

you a raise. She goes, I don't understand

what you're talking about. Of course you don't think about

it. You know, when when we we get

that job, we want to make sure that we're doing, you know,

something in that job and above and beyond what is expected

because that is, that is the law of sowing and reaping So many

people want to raise, but they ain't willing to sow nothing

else of their life into the job, that they're already trading

their life for money anyway, right?

So let me tell you a story. There was a company.

I was 18 years old and I had a little bit of sense, just a

little bit. And I had an opportunity I heard

and I was getting ready to go to college because all I ever

wanted to be when I was a kid and going through junior high

and all the way through high school I want to be a commercial

artist. So I was getting ready to go

college. Told you university and and I

wanted to get AI, wanted to major in commercial art.

And this is before computers, OK.

We had to use a pencil and a piece of paper and some paint

and magic markers. OK.

That's how we did commercial art back in those days.

There was no computer, All right.

And so anyway, I heard of a position open at a local

department store. The name of the store was

Luboils. OK Is before Walmart took off.

There was something before Walmart, believe it or not.

And I heard they had a position open for an art and school

supplies manager. So I go in, talk to the manager

and he said, yeah, he said we do have that position Sit down here

or you can take it with you or whatever you do.

I said, yeah, sit down. You got a break room?

Yeah. And I said OK, so I started

filling out the application the whole bit and he said OK.

He said, I don't think I see on here that you have any retail

experience. I said don't worry about that.

I told him don't worry about that, that's OK.

I got a plan And he goes, well, OK, He said you got to go take a

polygraph test though, because that's what we do.

All our employees, we they have to take a polygraph.

So I went, took a polygraph test, came back.

He said, man, I'm sorry. He said you flunked your

polygraph test. I'm thinking, what could I have

answered wrong? And I'm sitting there.

I said, well, have you ever met the guy giving it?

I said he was kind of grouchy. And I said not only was he

grouchy, but he kept asking questions like he was trying to

get me on something. And I said I was uncomfortable.

And he said, well, I'm sorry. He said, you know, if you don't

pass that polygraph test, we can't, we can't give you a job.

And I said so there's nothing we can do.

He goes just like that. He said you could take the test

again. And I thought, there you go, I

knew all the questions, no problem.

I'm going to get the answers right this time.

So I went down there and I took that polygraph test again, ran

back to the store, flunked it again, I said, so there's no way

you can give me this job. He said no, man, he said, I am

so sorry. He said, you know, and I'm

thinking I am a loser. I can't believe I couldn't pass

a polygraph test as a nice a kid as I was.

Well went home, my mom asked me. She said, well honey, how'd it

go? I said, well mom, I said, have

you ever heard of polygraph test?

I said I'd never heard of one before and I said I didn't even

have any idea what was getting ready to happen.

But they said that, you know, I had trouble answering, you know,

questions like, have you ever stole from cash register?

I said, I don't recall ever getting to stand in front of a

cash register. I said I had a job before this

that had a mop and a bucket, all right.

And and I said it's interesting. She goes, you know what I'd do

if I were you? And I said, now what would you

do? She goes, I'd go talk to the

president of the company and I go, do you know him?

She said no, but they got to have an office somewhere.

You need to find out where that office was.

I found the office. It was on a high rise in

downtown Tulsa, which I wasn't real excited about because I

just had a phobia about one way streets that when I was going to

be arrested, hauled to jail 'cause I'm going accidentally on

the wrong way down the wrong on the wrong way street right.

So I finally find his place. I park, I go up to the office,

nice office, man. Open the door, I walk in,

there's a nice desk, a nice wall, nice logo and a door to

the left. And I said good afternoon, my

name's Randy Clay And I said, could I speak to Mr. Barbary for

a minute And she goes, well, do you have an appointment?

And I said, no ma'am, but I would be willing to sit over

here all day if I need to. And she goes, OK, hold on a

minute. And so she went in that door

behind the wall, and she comes out.

And now she's looking puzzled, like Mr. Barbry will see you

right now I go, All right, well, you know what I'm thinking?

It's pony show. This is it.

This is my last opportunity. I went in there across the desk

standing there sitting Mr. Barbie, my name is Randy Clay

and I have applied for a position at your store on 21st

and I said and all of a sudden both his hands went up like

this, said Randy. I've heard all about you.

Oh Lord. There's only two things he could

have heard and make a difference in my life.

Flunked it once, flunked it twice.

Why are you in my office? He goes, he looks at me, he

goes, I'm going to take a chance on you.

Say go back to the store manager, tell him you met with

me today and that you've got that job.

So I got that job now. Guess what?

I wasn't going to be just a normal, run-of-the-mill art and

school supply manager. I actually loved the art,

paints, brushes, canvases, all the different supply.

I loved it. So when this is what I did, went

to all the schools in the area I'm back in that day, they had a

print out, OK, where it lets you know that if they're

kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, they're all

different colors of paper and it has a list of all the supplies

that they're going to need to start the new school year.

So I'm going ahead and I am collecting these papers, and

when I got the papers back to the store, I ordered everything

on them papers. And, you know, they're all

duplicates. I mean, the only thing that I

saw different was, you know, in elementary school, you going to

get blunt scissors. OK, round it.

But we hope by the time you get to junior high and high school,

we can trust you with pointed ones.

That's about the difference. OK, Big thick pencils called a

laddie. Remember the laddie pencil and

big Chief pads? OK, That's for the little people

who had no book paper and regular two number two pencils.

For everybody else. I ordered everything.

The the boxes came in, they were Gray boxes, I'll never forget,

light Gray with dark Gray lids. And you popped them open and it

had everything in there. Stacked them up in my area and

the boss comes, the manager of the store comes.

He says, what are you doing? I said I have a plan.

I told you that from the very first day I have a plan.

I said just hang on. So I took everything out of them

boxes and I put them on the shelf in the order that they

were on your paper. So my store, my my part of the

store was right by the front door.

So I am looking out the front door seeing Mama's come in and

they had them papers and I stood right there and as they came, I

greeted them, said thanks for coming in today.

Can I help you with a few things?

Like, yeah, you know, school's starting in a few weeks.

I need to get a a few things on the list.

And I said, oh come with me, took them to the end of the

aisle. I said you will find everything

on that list in the order, on your list on the shelves.

And they would get to starting and picking stuff and just look

at me like they'd never heard of anything like that in their

lives. Well, the ones I really liked.

Were the Mamas that had the you know, four and five year old

like dragging them to the ground, pulling on them and

everything, trying to get them under control?

I'd say give me your list, Let's did you highlight or mark

anything that you were going to pick up today?

Let's let's do that real quick. And I said you can go around

shopping and and and carry on. I'll gather everything up.

I'll put it in a basket and it'll be waiting for you, for

you at the front counter. Well, here comes the boss,

right? Boss says.

You wouldn't believe the way that those women are talking

about you. I said that's thrilling.

But I don't want them to talk about me here.

I want them to go tell all their girlfriends at coffee or

whatever that this is the only place in town to buy their

school supplies. Get it?

That was my first experience in management.

OK, every job after that, I treated like I owned the place.

And I'll never forget one of the greatest I had.

I I dropped out of college and ran for my life because they're

a bunch of weirdos, man. I'm telling the art people,

artsy people, They're weird. A lot of them.

OK, I got out of there. I went and got a job.

That was because I heard a voice that you need to get a job.

I thought it was the Lord bids my dad.

And so I went and got a job at a commercial screen printing firm.

Absolutely fell in love with it. Worked there, learned I I would.

I'd screen printed all through high school.

Different things. But I didn't know that this type

of screen printing was available.

We print computer panels. We'd screen screen print decals,

signage, different things like that.

Screen print, giant banners for grocery stores, just all kinds

of stuff. Absolutely fell in love with it.

Well, got married two months after I started that job.

Melanie and I no, no, I had been working there and then Melanie

and I got married and and and I met a guy that her Co worker had

a a guy that she was married to and he owned a a screen printing

shop. Well, we met at the Christmas

party and he said, hey, I hear you know how to screen print.

And I said, Oh yeah, I've been screen printing for a while.

And he said, he said you need to make some extra money.

I said, yeah, I'm getting married pretty soon.

I said I'd like to have some money to take on a trip wherever

we decide we're going. And so he said, well, hey, I got

some work you could do at night. And so I got in there that first

night, and the next night he comes in there and he says, hey,

I was talking to my partner and he said that I told him how good

you really were. And you know, the way you, you

know, you know how to print and how to fix things, that ain't

going right in the whole bit. I mean, just amazing.

He said, how much would you have to have to come here and work

full time? Well, I was making $4.11 an hour

at the other place and I just said I probably couldn't leave

for less than six an hour, you know.

And he goes, oh man, we ain't never paid nobody no 6 an hour.

I said, well, you ask, it's OK. And I got back after it.

I'm just printing them shirts like crazy.

Next night I come in, he said. Well, I talked to my partner.

My partner said if you're that good, we'll pay you 6 bucks an

hour. But you got to give your notice

tomorrow. Oh man, I hadn't thought that

through. So I went in the next morning,

talked to my boss, Mr. Sipert, asked him if I talked to him in

the lunchroom. He goes, well, what what's going

on? Randy And I said, well Sir, I

said I have another opportunity. Now believe it or not, you know,

he asked me the question. He said, well aren't you going

to give me chance to counter? Yes, I am.

If you can pay me $6 and 1 penny, I'll stay and he goes, oh

Randy, I can't pay you that. You know, he said it just, you

know, our company and different. He said you can't pay anything.

He said, well I want to let you know something.

He said, how long can you give me?

And I said, I tell you what, I'm not, I don't want to start that

until next month. I'll give you 3 weeks.

OK? Well, he didn't find anybody to

replace me till that last week. Like I'm supposed to train

somebody in one week, you know, and do all that I do.

And he looked at me and he said, Randy, I'm going to tell you

something he said and I want you to listen to me.

He said I don't care where you go from here, you won't be there

very long. He said you'll one day on your

own thing. And I said, thank you, but I

have no desire whatsoever tone my own thing.

So I went to the next place. And I treated that place like it

was mine because he hired me to manage it.

And it was easy because his name was Randy.

And across the window, Randy's silk screening.

It's my place. I was there first.

I left last. All right.

Ian had one day his partner came in found out it is Daddy.

Daddy says looks as his son says Randy.

Why don't you just leave and let Randy, Randy, handle this.

He goes, what do you mean? He says you come in here and you

mess up more stuff than he can fix in a day.

Boy, I didn't want him to ever leave.

Dad, just stay here because I know what's going to happen when

you leave. And I work for him a year and a

half. And then I started my own

company, still going today, celebrated 40 years last year.

Still got people in there managing like I'd manage.

Call me every now. And what do you think of this,

you know, and I'm able to give it to him, but, you know, it

really reflected that that's what God's been looking for all

along. He's looking for good managers

over the things that he has. All right.

So with that, you know, let's take a look at just a few more

things. I want to, I want to go, what

time is it? Somebody give me a time.

OK, We're good. All right, One of the scriptures

that Jesus told a parable is in Luke chapter 16.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

OK, we're going to wrap it up with this.

I've got a few points in here that I want to make, but I want

you to listen to this parable. Because Jesus told this parable.

And if we get the sense of what he's saying, you know, we can

reflect in ourselves and make the decision that no matter

where we are, what we're doing, that we're going to manage.

And we're going to manage it well and want to seek the Lord

and find out how do you want this done?

How am I supposed to conduct myself?

What am I supposed to be providing out of the gifts and

talents that you gave me to see? Remember the definition?

It said that you're in charge. He's giving you a chance to

oversee his resources and his things, but he wants you to add

value to it. OK, Now, they'll be in in the

months to come. I'm going to do some other

teachings on parables, and one of them is the talents.

OK, What was that story all about?

Good management, but one bad manager.

OK, that's what that was about. But in this one it says this.

He said unto those disciples, there was a certain rich man who

had a steward, and the same was accused him that he had wasted

his good. When you see the word stewards

all through scripture, it is the Greek word Oikonamas OIKO N0M 0S

oikonamas K just like it sounds. It is from 2 Greek words.

One is oikos and the word oikos is the word house.

The word nomas is the word law. So when you talk about a

steward, what is he in charge of really?

He is the law of the house. He is the master of the house.

His owner has given him authority to be the ruler of the

house. So when God gives us the

opportunity to manage, basically he's doing the same thing he did

in the garden. I am giving you dominion to

become ruler over the house, so knows what happens.

OK? He said.

He called unto him, and said, And how is this?

And I hear this of you give an account of your stewardship, for

you may no longer be steward. Then the steward said within

himself, What shall I do? For my Lord takes away from me

the stewardship, and I cannot dig and to beg.

I'm ashamed. Verse four, listen to this.

I am resolved. What to do that when I am put

out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses.

OK, so the word resolve just simply means I have got an idea.

I have an understanding of what I'm going to be doing now, he

said, So he goes in verse 5 and he said so.

He called every one of his debtors, Lord's debtors, to him

and said unto them, note this question, How much do you owe my

Lord? First guy says 100 measures of

oil. He said, sit down, take that

bill, and quickly write 50 Verse seven said to another How much

do you owe? And he said 100 measures of

wheat. He said, well, sit down and take

your bill, your bill, and write 80 And he said the Lord

commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely.

Another word for wisely is a word shrewdly for the And notice

this phrase, This phrase bothers me.

All right, he said, For the children of this world are in

their generation wiser than the children of light.

And then he goes on, and he says, in verse nine he said, You

make to yourself, Jesus said, make yourself friends of mammon

wealth of unrighteousness, that when you fail you may, they may

receive you into the habitations.

I had to figure out who is he talking to When he said, And I

say unto you, is he continuing the dialogue between the master

and the and the steward? Because that was the the deal.

Let me give you a few points. Here's the first one, OK.

The motive that the the unjust steward had was to gain favor

with his master's customers in verse 4, when he knew he's going

to be put out of the management. OK, when he knew he's going to

be put out, he said. Here's my plan.

I'm going to go make a relationship with my master's

customers. That was his motive.

That was the plan that he came up with.

All right. The second one listened to this.

He said he should have known exactly what the Masters

customers owed. He went to each one and asked

them. So that tells me real quick he

wasn't a good bookkeeper. He didn't have any idea.

I mean, when you got to ask somebody what they owe you, what

in the world, I know too. The panic, what people owe me?

And then he goes and he has them sit down and he and he starts at

in the appearance it almost looks like that he's he's he's

ripping his master off again in the final minutes.

But what was his job if he was over the household?

He was not only supposed to be loaning this stuff out and

giving it to people but he's supposed to be collecting on it.

And he wasn't doing either one really well.

All right, he said the master. And.

And here's a point that I had to think about.

It said the IT says that the fact that he didn't, he didn't

know what each of the customers owed means He probably gave at

times an inaccurate picture to the boss.

Now here's the problem with our boss.

He knows and sees everything. He knows if you're doing right

or not doing right. I wish I had that ability.

All right. Another point I thought about is

that the Master may not have known that he was discounting

the account. We don't have an accurate we

don't have an account that he knew what he was doing.

But it did say it did say that he was clapping for him.

That's what that word commending means.

He was applauding him. So I had to ask a question.

What were you applauding him about?

What were you applauding him about?

Probably the same thing the Lord does for us when we're not doing

what we're supposed to be doing. He's saying, I knew you could do

it. You had it in you all the time

to be a good steward, but you chose not to do it.

Because what's he doing now? He's bringing money to the boss.

He's saying, look here, I, I, you know, I was able to collect,

you know, 50% of that one, and I was able to collect 80% of that

one. All right, But his motive was

what? I'm not going to please my boss.

I'm going to go make friends with those people that owe the

money. Why?

Because I'm going to be going to them looking for a job.

Maybe one of them will hire me because I gave him the discount

that was his motive. But they said the more the the

master was I I believe the master was commending him for

bringing the money in that he should have been doing in the

1st place, but telling him that he was, he was able to.

That he was able to do his job. So he was saying, man, there you

are. I've, I've done that to people.

I've done that to Josh a million times.

You know, goof something up or whatever.

And then I said, hey, I need you to do this.

And then he'll finally get it done.

I'll just clap for him, man. Way to go.

When he was smaller or younger or had hair, I knew that part.

OK you know, I knew you could do it.

I knew you could do it. But then he he goes on and he

said make yourselves friends a man man, I I have to wonder if

he's still talking to this guy because you going to need them

friends because I'm putting you out.

He said you're going to need those friends to be able to help

you because he said you know when you fail he said they'll

bring you in and and the the other party in verse 9 verse 8

go back to verse 8 in there. I thought it was interesting

because he he told him, he said you've done wisely.

And he said, for the children of this world and their generation

are are wiser than the children of light.

Boy, that broke my heart. You know why all these people

are wealthy? The world, he told us.

Where's the wealth of the where? Where's the wealth at in the

world? The wicked got it.

How'd they get it? Probably because they're good

managers here, he tells us. Right here they're wiser than we

are most Christians. You know, you look at them,

we're broke. Why?

Because we're not good managers. I, I, I asked, I asked people

all the time. I said, listen, here's the first

thing that I want to know. If you'd be a good manager, do

you balance your checkbook? If you don't balance your

checkbook, you failed management step one.

I figured that out a long time ago.

You know, I ask, I ask adults all the time, you know, they're

having financial trouble. You know, I said you bounce your

checkbook. No.

OK, then how in the world are you going to know what you got?

I mean, every night before Melanie and I go to bed, we know

exactly what we have in every account, 'cause we take a little

time, you know, during the day, the end of the day, we get it

all established, all right. As far as entering everything,

we started using QuickBooks, you know, years ago.

We we'd fight like most couples. Well, you take it.

Here you have it. You take it now.

You take it now. OK, well, I'm frustrated.

So here you take it now, you take it now, you know, back and

forth, back and forth. I said and.

And so finally I was introduced to a bookkeeping system and I

just incorporated in our family and it's called Clay Family

Finance. And we do QuickBooks for our own

personal finance. And she's done them and she's

done them from years. No fights.

She can balance the checkbook in minutes.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click,

click, zero. Click another button.

We're done. All right.

But that's management 101 O 101-1101.

I mean, just little things that you've got to take a look at.

How can God trust us with more if we cannot take care or know

what we've got in our hands? He can't do it.

All right. So as we wrap it up and in the

last three verses listen to this, He that is faithful and

that which is least is also faithful and much this is the

next verse after that. He that isn't just in the least

is also unjust in much. If therefore you've not been

faithful with unrighteous mammon who will give you to your trust

the true riches, verse 12. And if you've not been faithful

in that which is another man's who will give you that which is

your own? That's a law that's a precept of

the Kingdom, that you have no right to ask for anything unless

you've proven yourself to take care of somebody else's.

All right, God owns everything. It's up to us to take care of

what he gives us, all right? To manage it well, to know what

we're doing all right. And then so if you quick review,

management should be the primary goal of mankind.

It should be especially those of us in the Kingdom.

OK. Another principle that I had was

whatever you fail to manage, you will lose.

I've done it. Been there said God's primary

measure of trust is management. Here's something interesting.

Somehow or another, management attracts resources, you know.

I know that because Jesus said take no thought for what you'll

eat, drink or wear. For your Heavenly Father knows

you have need of these things before you ask him.

Which takes you back to Deuteronomy chapter 28 when he

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

said, hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord your God that

you may observe to do according to all that is written therein.

And he said, and all these blessings will come on you and

overtake you. Remember, he said, don't be like

the heathen, go chasing after money.

Don't do it, said don't do it. All right, so then he goes on

here, I got a couple more and we're done.

Said, God will usually not give you what you ask for, only what

you can manage in the form of money, resources, people,

products, facilities, equipment, only what you can manage.

You remember the parable of talents he gave to each man

according to his ability. All right.

And here's the thing you got to understand.

Hard times will always reveal to us whether or not we're good

managers or bad managers. All right, everybody, get all

that. All right, we're done.

Hallelujah. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you and praise you.

We have a desire in all of our hearts to be good managers for

you. Just as you said that you didn't

allow growth, that you even stopped growth.

You wouldn't even let the rain come until you had created a man

that could take care of your business.

So, Father, we want to be your people, to take care of your

business. We want you to help us focus on

those things that we're weak in and the things that we need to

do and take a look at our lives and the things around the house

and our cars, our homes, our kids, those different things.

Are we managing well? Can we prove to you this year

that we're great managers and we're ready for those

promotions, Father? We want that.

We know that the the more opportunities that you give us

to show a good management that those resources that we desire

to see to come in to fulfill your Kingdom and the and the

mandate that you've given to our pastor and the vision that

you've given to our pastor father.

We know that if we'll just stay steady in the arena of

management that we'll be able to accomplish great things

together. So we thank you and praise you

for tonight. We thank you and praise you for

the word that gone forth, and we thank you that everyone else

have ears to hear and wills to obey.

And we thank you for it in Jesus name.

Amen. Thank you so much for listening

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