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Speaker 4: Hi, this is Joel and Victoria.
Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting
Speaker 5: the ministry.
Speaker 6: If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a
Speaker 6: blessing and share it with a friend.
Speaker 4: We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in
Speaker 4: your life.
Speaker 5: Will God bless you? It's always a joy to come
Speaker 5: into your homes. We love you and we know God
Speaker 5: has great things in store. If you're ever in our area,
Speaker 5: I hope you'll stop by and be a part of
Speaker 5: one of our services.
Speaker 4: We'd love to meet you one on one.
Speaker 5: But thanks so much for tuning in today and thanks
Speaker 5: again for coming out. I like to start with something funny.
Speaker 5: And I heard about this pastor. He was greeting people
Speaker 5: in the lobby after the service and he saw this
Speaker 5: man that he hadn't seen in a long long time.
Speaker 4: He pulled him.
Speaker 5: Aside and said, sir, you need to join the Army
Speaker 5: of the Lord. The man said, what do you mean,
Speaker 5: I'm in the Army of the Lord. The pastor said, well,
Speaker 5: how come I only see you on Christmas and Easter.
Speaker 5: The man whispered back, I'm in the Secret Service. All right,
Speaker 5: hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it.
Speaker 5: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am.
Speaker 4: I have what it says I have.
Speaker 5: I can do what it says I can do. Today
Speaker 5: I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess.
Speaker 5: My mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will
Speaker 5: never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you.
Speaker 5: I want to talk to you today about taking steps
Speaker 5: to grow. I have to realize that growth is not automatic.
Speaker 5: There are many successful people, but they haven't reached half
Speaker 5: of their potential because they stopped growing. There's something called
Speaker 5: destination disease. That is, when we reach a certain goal,
Speaker 5: when we get our degree, when we get a certain position,
Speaker 5: when we get the house paid off, we just kick
Speaker 5: back and put our mind in neutral and we coast.
Speaker 4: Off of what we've already learned. We may make a.
Speaker 5: Little progress here and there, but we're really not learning
Speaker 5: anything new. We're really not growing. We're not becoming better
Speaker 5: in our careers, better in our personal life. And one
Speaker 5: of the reasons is the way we were trained. As
Speaker 5: a little child. We grow automatically, we get bigger, we
Speaker 5: develop physically mentally. We have parents, teachers, coaches that challenge
Speaker 5: us to grow early on. Growth is automatic, it's just
Speaker 5: a part of our life. But the problem is at
Speaker 5: one point when we stop growing physically, when we get
Speaker 5: out of school, that growth is no longer automatic. If
Speaker 5: we're going to continue to grow, we have to take
Speaker 5: responsibility for our own growth. We have to have the
Speaker 5: attitude how can I improve? What can I do to
Speaker 5: make me better? We have to stir up that desire
Speaker 5: to learn, and we should have a goal to grow
Speaker 5: in some way every day, a goal to learn something
Speaker 5: new every single day. A man by the name of
Speaker 5: Pablo Casas was one of the greatest c cellists that
Speaker 5: ever lived. He started playing at the age of twelve,
Speaker 5: he accomplished things that no other cellist had done. He
Speaker 5: was known as the very best in his field. At
Speaker 5: the age of eighty five, he still got up early
Speaker 5: every day and practice for five hours. One time, a
Speaker 5: reporter asked him why he still put so much effort
Speaker 5: in it. He smiled and said, it's because I think
Speaker 5: I'm getting better. He understood this principle. When you stop learning,
Speaker 5: you stop growing. When you stop growing, you stop living.
Speaker 5: Life becomes very routine. We lose our enthusiasm, we lose
Speaker 5: our zeal. Well, let me ask you today, what steps
Speaker 5: are you taking to grow? Are you reading books, listening
Speaker 5: to teaching CDs? Are you taking any courses on the internet,
Speaker 5: going to any seminars? Do you have any good mentors?
Speaker 5: Are you doing anything to stretch yourself? Friends, God's given
Speaker 5: you a gift. You have a treasure on the inside.
Speaker 4: One of our.
Speaker 5: Main goals should be to develop our potential. I read
Speaker 5: where the number one magazine in America, the best selling
Speaker 5: most read.
Speaker 4: Magazine is TV Guide.
Speaker 5: Nothing against TV Guide, but we should use our time wisely.
Speaker 5: Fifty percent of people after they graduate from school, either
Speaker 5: high school or college, will never read an entire book
Speaker 5: the rest of their life. It's because we view learning
Speaker 5: as a period of life instead of as a way
Speaker 5: of life. We think, I'm out of school, I'm done learning,
Speaker 5: got my position, I'm a partner in the firm, a
Speaker 5: manager at.
Speaker 4: The office, pastor of a church.
Speaker 5: No, we're never supposed to stop learning today. There are
Speaker 5: so many opportunities to grow with modern technology.
Speaker 4: It's easy to increase and expand our thinking. Don't get
Speaker 4: stuck in a rut.
Speaker 5: You shouldn't be at the same place next year in
Speaker 5: your career, in your finances, in your relationships as you
Speaker 5: are right now.
Speaker 4: You should know more.
Speaker 5: If you work in the field of sales, you need
Speaker 5: to read books on how to communicate more effectively. People
Speaker 5: have gone where you're trying to go. Listen to what
Speaker 5: they have to say. Take courses, go to seminars. There's
Speaker 5: potential in you that has to be drawn out. A
Speaker 5: lot of times we're waiting on God to open doors. God,
Speaker 5: if you'll give me more favor, God, just give me
Speaker 5: more opportunity. But really God's waiting on us to develop
Speaker 5: what he's put on the inside. We have to tap
Speaker 5: into that potential. When I was in my early twenties.
Speaker 5: We were about to buy a significant amount of television
Speaker 5: equipment for the ministry, several hundred thousand dollars worth, and
Speaker 5: it was between two large manufactures, and the men that
Speaker 5: represented this one company was in his mid to late sixties,
Speaker 5: a very kind, friendly man.
Speaker 4: And I had gone up to Dallas.
Speaker 5: To see the equipment and spent the day with him,
Speaker 5: and I was about to fly back home to Houston,
Speaker 5: and he said, Joel, I'd like to fly back with
Speaker 5: you to just keep you company, and then I'll.
Speaker 4: Turn around fly back to Dallas. I said, no, no,
Speaker 4: you don't need to do that.
Speaker 5: I'll be fine, but he insisted, and so we got
Speaker 5: on the plane and he sat next to me. This
Speaker 5: man knew everything about me. He knew where I had
Speaker 5: grown up, he knew where I'd gone to school, he
Speaker 5: knew what my hobbies were. He knew all about the church,
Speaker 5: he knew how how it got started outside of my family.
Speaker 5: This man probably knew more about me than anybody.
Speaker 4: It was amazing. I finally said, why do you know
Speaker 4: all this? He said, Joel, It's.
Speaker 5: Something I learned from one of the greatest salespersons that's
Speaker 5: ever lived.
Speaker 4: He taught me.
Speaker 5: The more I know about my clients, the better I'll
Speaker 5: be able to relate to them. The more I understand
Speaker 5: where they're coming from and what their needs are, the
Speaker 5: better I'll be able to serve them. He said, Joel,
Speaker 5: you're in your twenties. I'm in my sixties. Think about
Speaker 5: how much better I can relate to you. Knowing what
Speaker 5: your background is, knowing what your hobbies are, Knowing how
Speaker 5: you were raised.
Speaker 4: That's why he was.
Speaker 5: The number one salesperson in this huge company. He had
Speaker 5: made a lifetime of studying sales. He told how he
Speaker 5: went to sales seminars at least twice a year.
Speaker 4: He had been doing that for forty years. He knew
Speaker 4: the emotion behind sales.
Speaker 5: He had taken courses on how to lay, how to
Speaker 5: communicate more effectively.
Speaker 4: No wonder he was blessed.
Speaker 5: He was learning, He was growing, developing what God put
Speaker 5: on the inside. No matter what fields you're in, even
Speaker 5: if you're a stay at home mom, you need to
Speaker 5: always look for ways to improve to become everything God's
Speaker 5: created you to be. That means, if you're an accountant,
Speaker 5: don't just settle there and think I've reached my goal.
Speaker 4: This is where I'm going to be the rest of
Speaker 4: my life.
Speaker 5: No, that's destination disease coming on strong, trying to limit you.
Speaker 4: Take steps to learn more.
Speaker 5: Go get your CPA license, get out of the box
Speaker 5: and learn something different.
Speaker 4: Maybe you work in the field.
Speaker 5: As an electrician, as a carpenter, as a mechanic. That's great,
Speaker 5: but what steps are you taking to improve? I read
Speaker 5: where if a person will spend an hour a day
Speaker 5: on a certain subject, after three years, that person will
Speaker 5: be an expert on that. You need to find the
Speaker 5: area of your greatest gifting, what you're good at naturally,
Speaker 5: and spend time increasing in that area. If you'll stay
Speaker 5: focused and learn a little more each day, a little
Speaker 5: more each year, before long, you'll be one of the experts.
Speaker 5: You'll be a leader in your field. You need to
Speaker 5: develop your gifts to the point where your company cannot
Speaker 5: make it without you, or at least if you're not there,
Speaker 5: things don't run nearly as smooth, because if you're out
Speaker 5: for a week and nobody misses you, and sales are
Speaker 5: just as good and all the work gets done. I
Speaker 5: need to sound the alarm right now. You got to
Speaker 5: wake up and smell the coffee if they don't miss you,
Speaker 5: they may figure you're not necessary. You need to kick
Speaker 5: it into a new gear. Produce more than you've been producing.
Speaker 5: Take courses to improve your skills. You got to step
Speaker 5: it up a notch. Eh Joel, I have a kind
Speaker 5: of a low level position. If I'm gone, nobody would
Speaker 5: ever miss me. Well, maybe so, but make up your mind.
Speaker 5: That is not where you're going to stay. Don't build
Speaker 5: a house where you should have a tent that is
Speaker 5: not a permittent address.
Speaker 4: You're not supposed to live there forever. You're just passing through.
Speaker 5: Keep growing, keep learning, do more than you have to
Speaker 5: do overproduce.
Speaker 4: Cream always rises to the top.
Speaker 5: You do your best each day, and you're going to
Speaker 5: get noticed. That's what it says in Proverbs twenty two
Speaker 5: twenty nine. Do you see a person skilled in their work,
Speaker 5: they will stand before great men, not obscure people. That's
Speaker 5: saying if you will be diligent to develop the gifts
Speaker 5: that God's given you and be your best every day,
Speaker 5: then promotion is coming your way. Well, you say, my
Speaker 5: supervisor has ten years seniority on me, They're not going anywhere.
Speaker 5: There's no room for me to increase, No if you
Speaker 5: outperform them, if you outgrow them, if you know more
Speaker 5: than them, God says you're gifts, will make room for you.
Speaker 5: It may take a year, it may take five years,
Speaker 5: but new doors are going to open. You don't have
Speaker 5: to worry about who's in front of you and who's
Speaker 5: blocking you and why it's not going to happen. God
Speaker 5: is in complete control. Don't get discouraged and think, well,
Speaker 5: this isn't for me today. There's no room for me
Speaker 5: to increase.
Speaker 4: No, kick your learning into a new gear.
Speaker 5: You're not working under people, You're working under God, and.
Speaker 4: You don't know.
Speaker 5: God may not want you to have that supervisor's position.
Speaker 5: That may be too low for you. God may want
Speaker 5: to thrust you far ahead of that and put you
Speaker 5: at a whole new level.
Speaker 4: I know people right.
Speaker 5: Now that used to be former receptionists. They used to
Speaker 5: answer the phone. Today they are running multimillion dollar corporations.
Speaker 4: What am I saying?
Speaker 5: Develop your skills, don't stop growing, don't stop learning. Well, Joel,
Speaker 5: I'm doing as good as my coworkers. I'm doing as
Speaker 5: good as everybody else in my department. No, you're not
Speaker 5: supposed to be like everybody else. That thinking will limit you,
Speaker 5: that'll convince you to just settle where you are. We're
Speaker 5: supposed to be a cut above. We should be so excellent,
Speaker 5: so productive, so filled with wisdom and insight that when
Speaker 5: you're not at work, people say, man, I can't wait
Speaker 5: till they get back.
Speaker 4: This office is practically falling apart.
Speaker 5: Let me tell you a way that you can always
Speaker 5: be missed, and that is if you will learn to
Speaker 5: be a problem solver. Don't go to your boss or
Speaker 5: your supervisor and say, well, we got a problem over here,
Speaker 5: and this person is about to quit, and this manager's mad,
Speaker 5: this department is in disarray. Bob cursed out, Larry yesterday,
Speaker 5: Bill's never on time, nobody paid the taxes last month.
Speaker 4: What would you like.
Speaker 5: Me to do? No, don't present problems, present solutions. I
Speaker 5: know as an employer one of the main things we
Speaker 5: are looking for is people that can solve problems. Anybody
Speaker 5: can present problems. My nine year old daughter can come
Speaker 5: tell me Daddy.
Speaker 4: The house is on fire. That's easy.
Speaker 5: But I want somebody that will not only tell me
Speaker 5: the house is on fire, but the fire department's on
Speaker 5: the way and we got everybody out safely.
Speaker 4: And I call the insurance company.
Speaker 5: They'll be here tomorrow, and here's a hotel to stay in,
Speaker 5: here's a car to drive.
Speaker 4: What's my point?
Speaker 5: If you want to be invaluable to your organization, be
Speaker 5: a problem solver, present solutions or at least several different options.
Speaker 4: I have four or five main managers that help me here.
Speaker 5: Over the last nine years, I cannot remember one time
Speaker 5: that they've ever come to me and said, Joel, we've
Speaker 5: got a problem and we don't know what to do. No,
Speaker 5: even if they don't know what to do, they're not
Speaker 5: going to tell me. They're going to act like they do.
Speaker 5: This is an area that we can all improve in.
Speaker 5: Become more solution oriented and not problem oriented. Even in
Speaker 5: your personal life. Don't go to your spouse and say,
Speaker 5: here's a problem.
Speaker 4: What are you going to do now?
Speaker 5: If you ever present a problem, follow it up by
Speaker 5: presenting a solution. I mean, we've had employees in the
Speaker 5: past when they went on vacation, we had a big celebration.
Speaker 5: Thank god, they're gone for a week. We can finally
Speaker 5: quit hearing about what's wrong, what's not. Don't let that
Speaker 5: be You present solutions.
Speaker 4: Hope they're not here today.
Speaker 5: What are you doing to improve so you can go
Speaker 5: to the next level. Can you take a course that
Speaker 5: would give you an advantage? You got to stay on
Speaker 5: the offensive. Well, Joel, I got my degree, I got
Speaker 5: my certification, I got my license. Now do you realize
Speaker 5: how many degrees are outdated in as little.
Speaker 4: As five years? The world is changing so fast.
Speaker 5: If you don't have this attitude to continue to learn,
Speaker 5: to take steps to grow, then you can be left behind.
Speaker 5: Some of you today need to be set free from
Speaker 5: destination disease. You've reached a certain level, but you've stopped growing.
Speaker 5: You need to break out of that box and learn
Speaker 5: something new. Will Rogers said, even if you're on the
Speaker 5: right track, if you sit down, eventually you'll get run over.
Speaker 5: And if you're not taking steps to grow, don't be
Speaker 5: surprised if somebody comes along and takes a promotion that
Speaker 5: belongs to you. Well, bless God, nobody's going to get
Speaker 5: my promotion. J You'll know if you're not prepared, if
Speaker 5: you're not developing what God's put on the inside, you
Speaker 5: can miss out on what rightfully.
Speaker 4: Belongs to you. And the good news is it's not
Speaker 4: too late to start.
Speaker 5: You can become everything God's created you to be. Now,
Speaker 5: I want to challenge you to develop a personal growth
Speaker 5: plan for your life.
Speaker 4: You need a specific plan that shows how you're going
Speaker 4: to grow.
Speaker 5: In other words, these are the steps I'm going to
Speaker 5: take each day to improve to get better.
Speaker 4: Not something vague.
Speaker 5: Well, maybe I'll read a book every once in a while. No,
Speaker 5: it needs to be a definite plan. It's not going
Speaker 5: to happen automatically. You've got to put it into place.
Speaker 5: Let me give you some ideas.
Speaker 4: Driving to work, instead of listening.
Speaker 5: To the radio, listen to good teaching CDs, listen to
Speaker 5: training materials, things that are going to improve you in
Speaker 5: your field, things.
Speaker 4: That are going to give you more knowledge.
Speaker 5: The average American spends three hundred hours a year in
Speaker 5: their car. You can turn your car into a university.
Speaker 5: That's valuable time. Take advantage of it. Or how about
Speaker 5: at the gym when you're working out. Make sure you
Speaker 5: have good information going into you have. People tell me
Speaker 5: all the time, I listen to you while I run,
Speaker 5: listen to you taking my walk each day, listen to
Speaker 5: you while I work out. An elderly lady told me
Speaker 5: the other day, Jeel, I listen to you before I
Speaker 5: go to bed at night, you always put me right
Speaker 5: to sleep. She meant it as a compliment, but thanks anyway, mother.
Speaker 5: These are simple things. I'm not talking about spending an
Speaker 5: extra three hours a day studying. I'm talking about taking
Speaker 5: advantage of the time that you're not using right now now,
Speaker 5: I love the new technology with these podcasts.
Speaker 4: You can have messages.
Speaker 5: Downloaded to your iPod to where you can listen to
Speaker 5: them any time you want. This year, we will give
Speaker 5: away sixty million messages free of charge.
Speaker 4: All you've got to do is.
Speaker 5: Sign up and it'll come to you directly to you,
Speaker 5: and you can listen to those messages again and again.
Speaker 4: That's a growth plan.
Speaker 5: When God sees you putting forth effort, when he sees
Speaker 5: you stretching and doing your part to improve, that's when
Speaker 5: you're going to see supernatural doors open. That's when you're
Speaker 5: going to see favor and promotion like you've never seen
Speaker 5: it before. Including your plan, go into a seminar at
Speaker 5: least once a year. You need to get around other
Speaker 5: people in your same field, listen to their ideas, expand
Speaker 5: your thinking. I'm constantly talking to other ministers of the
Speaker 5: leaders twice a year. We have a round table here
Speaker 5: with a couple hundred pastors. All we do is share ideas.
Speaker 5: Every person gets two minutes to share the most effective
Speaker 5: thing that's working in their ministry.
Speaker 4: I've learned so much and gotten so many good ideas.
Speaker 4: Want to continue to.
Speaker 5: Grow and be your best, you need to get around
Speaker 5: other people in your field and be open to learn.
Speaker 5: Another important part of any growth plan should be to
Speaker 5: have good mentors. Find people that have been where you're
Speaker 5: trying to go, people that know more than you, and
Speaker 5: let them mentor you. You need good people speaking into
Speaker 5: your life.
Speaker 4: When you're around them, ask questions, pick.
Speaker 5: Their brain, find out how they got to where they
Speaker 5: are and how they think. He you say, Joel, I
Speaker 5: don't need a mentor. I'm very successful. I'm doing really well.
Speaker 5: Now think about this. Tiger Woods is probably the greatest
Speaker 5: golfer that's ever played. But do you know Tiger Woods
Speaker 5: has a coach. He has a trainer, people to help
Speaker 5: him with his swing, people to help him with his
Speaker 5: exercise routine, people to help him with his mental focus.
Speaker 5: If Tiger Woods needs a coach, being as great as
Speaker 5: he is in his field, surely we need a coach.
Speaker 5: We need mentors and people speaking faith into us. I
Speaker 5: read about this group of self associates. There were several
Speaker 5: hundred of them in the room from the same company.
Speaker 5: The speaker asked them how many knew who the top
Speaker 5: three salespeople in the room were.
Speaker 4: Every person raised their hand.
Speaker 5: He then asked, how many of you have taken time
Speaker 5: to take those people to lunch and find out how
Speaker 5: they got to where they are?
Speaker 4: Not one hand went up. The point we're making is
Speaker 4: all around us.
Speaker 5: God has put people in our path to gain wisdom, insight, experience,
Speaker 5: but we have to be open. Look around you today
Speaker 5: and see who's in your life that you could be
Speaker 5: learning from. And I say this respectfully, but don't waste
Speaker 5: your valuable time with people that are not adding anything
Speaker 5: to your growth. Life is too short to hang around
Speaker 5: people with little dreams, little goals, people that are not
Speaker 5: going anywhere. Let me tell you, destination disease is extremely contagious.
Speaker 5: If you hang around them long enough, it's going to
Speaker 5: rub off on you.
Speaker 4: And this is especially important for young people. If you're
Speaker 4: still in school.
Speaker 5: High school, junior high, even college, you need to associate
Speaker 5: with people that inspire you, people that build you up,
Speaker 5: people that challenge you to go higher, not people that
Speaker 5: tear you down and convince you to stay where you are.
Speaker 4: Your time is too valuable for that.
Speaker 5: You may not be the most popular person in school,
Speaker 5: but twenty years from now, nobody remembers who the most
Speaker 5: popular one was. And those people that may be getting
Speaker 5: all the tension because they're a little wilder because they're
Speaker 5: wearing so much bling, twenty years from now, the bleing
Speaker 5: is not going to matter.
Speaker 4: What's going to matter is did you get a good education?
Speaker 4: Did you get a good foundation to build your life on.
Speaker 5: It's funny the science fair is never the most popular
Speaker 5: event in school.
Speaker 4: Being in the math club is.
Speaker 5: Never as popular as being on the football team. My friends,
Speaker 5: some of them, they made fun of people that were
Speaker 5: on the debate team when I was growing up, But
Speaker 5: it's funny now they work for people that were.
Speaker 4: On the debate team. Make the most of what you have.
Speaker 5: High school, junior high those are critical formative years.
Speaker 4: There's so much emphasis on sports these days, and I
Speaker 4: love sports.
Speaker 5: I've played sports all growing up, and I know they
Speaker 5: teach us discipline and perseverance and teamwork.
Speaker 4: But we need to keep it all in perspective.
Speaker 5: Most likely we are not going to play sports for
Speaker 5: a living.
Speaker 4: I read where.
Speaker 5: One in five million young men will play professional basketball. Now,
Speaker 5: I don't mean to depress you, but if you're white,
Speaker 5: it's one in fifteen million. If you're my size, it's
Speaker 5: one in two billion. The average professional football career is
Speaker 5: three and a half years. And even if you do
Speaker 5: make it, and we have a lot of professional athletes
Speaker 5: here today, and that's great, we're all for you, but
Speaker 5: you still need a good foundation to build on. And
Speaker 5: when you take learn and growing seriously, you get in
Speaker 5: school and you're serious about your education.
Speaker 4: People may call you.
Speaker 5: A bookworm, a geek, a nerd, but don't let any
Speaker 5: of that bother you, because in a few years they'll
Speaker 5: call you boss. They'll call you CEO, doctor, senator, superintendent, pastor.
Speaker 5: I heard somebody say popularity is people liking you.
Speaker 4: Happiness is you liking you.
Speaker 5: Don't worry about who doesn't like you. Just make sure
Speaker 5: that you like you, that you're being the best that
Speaker 5: you can be. It's good to set growth goals.
Speaker 4: Where do you want to be in a year.
Speaker 5: If you don't set goals, you're probably not going to
Speaker 5: end up there. I read about this young man. In
Speaker 5: high school, he was a star swimmer. His dream was
Speaker 5: to compete in the Olympics. In nineteen seventy two, he
Speaker 5: was watching the Olympics on television, and when he saw
Speaker 5: the time from the gold medal swimmer, he noticed that
Speaker 5: he only had to lower his time by four seconds.
Speaker 4: And he would be able to compete. So he came
Speaker 4: up with a plan.
Speaker 5: He had four years to prepare, and he figured if
Speaker 5: he would train ten months a year for four years,
Speaker 5: all he had to do was lower his time by
Speaker 5: one tenth.
Speaker 4: Of a second each month.
Speaker 5: He broke it down into small increments, and he knew
Speaker 5: if he'd get a little bit better each day, he
Speaker 5: could reach his goal.
Speaker 4: He's stuck with it. Sure enough.
Speaker 5: In nineteen seventy six, John Nabor came home with four
Speaker 5: Olympic gold medals. The point I'm making is if you
Speaker 5: will develop a plan to get a little bit better
Speaker 5: each day, you'll be amazed at where you'll be in
Speaker 5: a year, five years, twenty years. Right now that goal
Speaker 5: may look way way off, but all it really takes
Speaker 5: is a little growth, a little of improvement each day.
Speaker 5: I have a friend that grew up in a very
Speaker 5: poor environment. His father left the family at an early age,
Speaker 5: and he was being raised by a single parent mom
Speaker 5: in the projects. He was very insecure and he had
Speaker 5: a terrible problem with stuttering. And through a series of
Speaker 5: good breaks and really God's favor, he got accepted into college.
Speaker 4: His dream was to become a journalist.
Speaker 5: But the first few days in college, a professor said
Speaker 5: to him, you're wasting your time.
Speaker 4: You stutter too much. You will never be a journalist.
Speaker 5: He was sitting on the front lawn of the college
Speaker 5: about to go home, so depressed, and this lady came
Speaker 5: along and said, son, what's wrong. He explained what the
Speaker 5: teacher had told him and how he was about to
Speaker 5: drop out. She looked at him very sternly and said,
Speaker 5: how dare he tell you that you're not going to
Speaker 5: drop out?
Speaker 4: You're come in with me. She was the dean of
Speaker 4: the college.
Speaker 5: She put him in a different class and she got
Speaker 5: rid of that other professor. This young man, this young
Speaker 5: man had never met his roommate. They came from two
Speaker 5: totally different backgrounds. His roommate was raised in a wealthy environment,
Speaker 5: from a well to do home.
Speaker 4: Here came from the projects.
Speaker 5: But God always knows what he's doing. When you have
Speaker 5: a desire to improve, to get better, God will make
Speaker 5: sure the right people come across your path. And that roommate,
Speaker 5: when he found out what his friend wanted to become,
Speaker 5: he said, you'll never be a journalist with your vocabulary
Speaker 5: like that.
Speaker 4: You need to learn some new words.
Speaker 5: He took him under his wing, and every day that
Speaker 5: roommate taught him a new word, day after day, month
Speaker 5: after month, without fail. He'd get the dictionary out, taught
Speaker 5: him a word, taught him how to say it, taught
Speaker 5: him how to pronounce it. He would make his friend
Speaker 5: use it back to him in a sentence. Four years,
Speaker 5: every day learning a new word. Today, that young man
Speaker 5: is an award winning journalist. He works for the major network.
Speaker 5: He continues to excel. I see him on the news.
Speaker 4: All the time. But it all started by learning one
Speaker 4: new word a day. Well, what is your plan for
Speaker 4: personal growth?
Speaker 5: Are you doing anything intentionally and strategically to better yourself?
Speaker 4: If not, you can start today. Come up with the plan.
Speaker 5: It can be something simple like I'm gonna get up
Speaker 5: every morning and spend the first twenty minutes meditating on
Speaker 5: God's word.
Speaker 4: Thanking God for what He's done.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna listen to a teaching CD on the way
Speaker 5: to work at night. I'm gonna turn the TV off
Speaker 5: a little bit earlier and read a book for twenty minutes.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna hook up with my mentor twice a month
Speaker 5: and go out to lunch. I'm gonna be at church
Speaker 5: every weekend. That's a growth plan. And as you take
Speaker 5: your growth responsibly, God will honor your efforts.
Speaker 4: I believe in the.
Speaker 5: Coming days you're going to see new opportunities come across
Speaker 5: your path. You're gonna have opportunities to stretch, to take
Speaker 5: on new challenges, to go to a new level. But
Speaker 5: you've got to be prepared. Don't let destination disease set in.
Speaker 5: You have seeds of greatness on the inside just waiting
Speaker 5: to take root and flourish. Make a decision. You're gonna
Speaker 5: learn something new every single day. If you will get
Speaker 5: in a growth plan for your life and stick with
Speaker 5: it and really focus on developing your gifts, then God
Speaker 5: promises your gifts will make room for you. That means
Speaker 5: he'll do for you what he did for that young man.
Speaker 5: He'll bring the right people into your life. He'll give
Speaker 5: you the right breaks He'll give you the right opportunities.
Speaker 5: You'll rise higher and higher. And I believe and declare
Speaker 5: you'll see every dream, every desire God's put in your heart.
Speaker 4: You'll see that come to fulfillment.
Speaker 5: Amen, do you receive it today? We never like to
Speaker 5: close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make
Speaker 5: Jesus the lord of your life. Would you pray with me?
Speaker 5: Just say, Lord, Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come
Speaker 5: into my heart. I make you my Lord and savior. Friends,
Speaker 5: if you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you.
Speaker 4: Got born again.
Speaker 5: Get in a good Bible based church. Keep God first place.
Speaker 4: He's going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.
Speaker 5: Thanks so much for listening to today's I hope you'll
Speaker 5: subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep
Speaker 5: you encouraged and inspired all through the week.
Speaker 6: Help us to continue to share the message of hope
Speaker 6: with those all around the world. Visit Joelosting dot com
Speaker 6: or click the link in the description to partner with
Speaker 6: us today.
Speaker 4: We hope you'll share this message with a friend and
Speaker 4: be sure to follow us on social media. We're praying
Speaker 4: for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll
Speaker 4: see you next time.
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