[0:01] Welcome to Redeeming Business Today. This episode marks the one-year anniversary

[0:05] of the release of the first episode of this podcast. Super cool. I'm really excited. It's been a year, been a trip, and learned a lot. And so this episode, what I like to do is talk to you about a couple of things that I've learned that really super helped me, that I believe will also help you as well. And I want to dedicate this episode to one of my guests, Amanda Johnson, who is a story article whom God has used greatly to free me from the inferiority mind trap. A little background on myself. I was, I was, I still am the youngest of seven. And the story goes is when I was a baby, I would go around and my older brother, who's a year and a half older than me, would keep me out of trouble. And if I ever started doing things that I wasn't supposed to do, he would lightly tap my hand and say, no baby, no baby, no baby. And he wouldn't allow me to get into trouble and all that stuff. So that was a funny story, but I see that it's carried on throughout life because anytime I start to do things that I don't need to do or that other people are doing better, I just stop.

[1:22] And so the other thing is is that I love excellence I love doing things with excellence I don't like to waste time and I like to do things right the first time and so all these things play into my life because I'm searching and shooting to be the best at what I can do and I found that early on in my business coaching career when I would meet with successful business owners, after talking with them a little bit, I'd be like, hmm.

[1:50] How am I going to help this person? I can't help this person. And I would mentally crash and say, how can I do this? Because I'm here supposed to be a good business coach. And I don't think I can help this guy because they have their business in order. And so that, again, was that inferiority mind trap. Later on, I transferred and did a weekly blog for a while trying to work with busy dads who need more time because I'm a productivity guy. And that didn't go very well. That didn't go very far. And so I started this Redeeming Business Today podcast. I started this podcast in order to teach, encourage, equip business owners to run their business in a godly way, in a way that glorifies God. The question early on was how do we operate a profitable business and yet advance God's kingdom? I wanted to show people that it's not just good business principles, but it's also God's blessing, his relationship with God, those united make a profitable business.

[2:55] I thought I was doing something cool and unique. To me, it was. But as I was going, I started meeting these people. I started meeting these business owners who were Christians, operating their business to the glory of God, people coming to know Christ in the business, people being built up in Christ. They're advancing God's kingdom in their business. And I'm like, oh, I guess my thought wasn't so new after all. Look at all these people that are doing this. And then I meet people who are having businesses, and that's exactly what they do. They teach other people how to run a godly business. There's podcasts out there to many, many, over 100, 150 or more podcasts, Christian business podcasts out there trying to do the same thing. And so I used to crash because when I look at other people who are doing things so much better than I am doing it, have been doing it perhaps maybe 10, 15, 20 years, I say, why am I trying to do the same thing? Who am I? Why am I trying to reinvent the wheel and doing what they already do so well? I should go work for them. I'm not worthy. I basically am inferior. I'm a nobody. I'll just submit and take my place as a servant, as an employee, and just deal with it and live with it. That was the attitude I used to have.

[4:19] Amanda Johnson came along when I interviewed her about halfway through the year and she talked about in a story there is the narrator and there's the character and the character lives their story and they don't really have much in saying what's going on and they just the narrator writes what they do and the character lives however things go and I'll see you next time. She encouraged me and encouraged my audience to don't just be the narrator and mindlessly write your script. Don't be the character and just mindlessly take what's coming to you. But to be a co-author where you decide what's going to happen in your life or you decide how things are going to be re-scripted in your life. And when I looked at this and I looked at how this could apply to my life, I'm looking at this inferiority mindset, this mind trap, that whenever I see somebody doing something great, I immediately say, why should I do that? I'm not as good as they are. I'll just stop. And that's an inferiority mind trap.

[5:30] So that was the start. That was the start. But then I ran across two verses, not for the first time, but looked at them again. First of all, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, which says, you are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Essentially, I am God's masterpiece. I am God's craftsmanship. God made me for a special purpose to do some good work, And it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing. He made me for a specific purpose. I am God's masterpiece. I am not inferior to anyone. I am not inferior to anyone because God made me exactly the way he made me, exactly the way he wanted me to be. Even if I look completely different or the same, it doesn't matter because I am God's masterpiece. I'm not my own masterpiece. piece. I'm not trying to make myself into something incredibly good.

[6:35] The second piece of the puzzle there was 2 Timothy 2, 20 and 21, which says that in a great house there are many vessels. There are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some are to dishonor. And he says, therefore, if a man purge himself from these, he should be a vessel unto honor, sanctified meat for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. And when I looked at that, I'm like, you know what? God doesn't just have one gold vessel, one silver vessel. He has many, many vessels. He has hundreds of vessels. He probably has thousands and millions of vessels doing similar things. I looked at also my wife. My lovely wife loves coffee mugs, and she's been collecting coffee mugs for many years right now. And she has, well, getting close to about 40 of them. And she continues to collect them. And she doesn't need any more, but she continues to get them. And even what did I get her for Mother's Day last year? I got her a coffee mug, a unique one with a unique saying on there that she never had before. And she loved it.

[7:53] In the same way, God has many vessels. I am just one of them. And he has many vessels and perhaps doing the same thing. My wife can only drink coffee out of one mug at a time, but she can drink coffee out of all of them. But when I look at my life, the things that I am doing, the things I believe God wants me to do, God has many vessels and I am just one of them. And it doesn't matter if I'm trying to reach business owners for Jesus Christ and help them live their, use their business in a profitable way, in a way that glorifies God, in a way that advances God's kingdom, even if 50 or 100 other people are doing that, that's fine. I'm doing what God wants me to do. I am not inferior to them because I'm doing what God wants me to do. Great paradigm shift in my thinking, in my life. And so that was the big lesson there.

[8:52] But then the testing came. The testing came. That mindset shift happened. And then I continued to meet these great guests, these great guests who have been doing these great works for 10, 15, 20 years. And I look at what they're doing. It's like, you know what? I really want to do that someday.

[9:11] I look at myself. I'm like, you know what? I'm doing a similar thing. Not the exact same thing, but God has me and chosen me and made me as his craftsmanship for a particular purpose, and I'm going down this route, and even if it's the exact same thing, it's okay. It's okay because I'm not trying to make myself. God is making me. This is God's work, not my own, and if other people are doing the similar thing, that's great. That shouldn't be deterrent to me, and I am not to look at myself anymore and say, woe is me. I am inferior. I can't do this. I'll just stop. That is not what God wants you to do. You are God's workmanship, and God has many vessels, and he may just have a hundred or a thousand vessels doing the exact same thing because we're all heading down a similar road.

[10:11] And so it doesn't matter now. when I meet other great people who are doing great things. I don't crash and say, who am I anymore? Now I ask and say, how can I work with them? How can I seek to work with them, not as an inferior person trying to serve them, but as equals, as a mentor-mentee relationship, where sometimes in some aspects I will mentor them, and other times in certain aspects they will mentor me. I will coach them, they will coach me. We work together. That's the whole part about iron sharpens iron.

[10:47] So that's one of the major things that I've learned this past year. The major shifts, paradigm shifts from an inferiority complex, inferiority mind trap to, no, I am God's craftsmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. That's what I'm here to do.

[11:04] Now, a few lessons along the way that has really helped me in this mindset, because it's really easy to say and a little bit harder to do. One thing I've learned is that advice is not as good as counsel. You may laugh, but it's true. Advice is not as good as counsel. What's the difference between advice and counsel? The words are the same, but basically counsel, when you receive counsel, you have actually gone to somebody and asked them saying, hey, these are the situations I'm not doing. This is what I'm doing. What is your opinion? Give me some advice. Give me some counsel. Where advice is unsolicited. You never ask for it. It's the same thing, but you never ask for it. And it's kind of like when I may be talking about what I'm doing, then somebody's like, well, you should do this A, B, C, D.

[12:01] Okay. Advice is not as good as counsel because when you go to somebody for counsel, perhaps it's a mentor or a coach or a close friend, they understand your situation. They understand all that you're going through. They understand your personality, where you've come from, your dreams, your goals. And then when they make a decision and give you words of wisdom, it coincides and aligns with all that stuff. But when somebody is just giving you advice, they just hear one problem at the beginning and they try to solve it for you. And I know I'm speaking to a lot of men and it's kind of like you trying to solve a problem for your wife where your wife comes to you and talks about something going on and you immediately go into fix it mode and you give them advice on how to fix it, Well, that doesn't really turn out very well. And that's the difference between advice and counsel. Advice is not as good as counsel. And advice, if you let it.

[13:01] Can get you sidetracked from the main goal of what you're supposed to be doing. So advice is not as good as counsel. Secondly, for me, clarity, confidence, actions, and results. This is the continuous improvement cycle. And for me, I needed to gain clarity, gain clarity in my business and the podcast and what I'm doing. And as I gain clarity and write that down, that creates confidence. Clarity creates confidence. And then once I get confidence in what I'm doing, my confidence will then create actions because I have clarity on where I'm going. I have confidence in what I'm doing and who I am. And that creates actions and actions once you put actions into place that creates results.

[13:52] And then to close the loop once you start getting results you realize that either those results are what you want or what you don't necessarily want and you tweak it a little bit and you become more clear on the results you want and you become a little bit more clear have a little bit more confidence, your actions are a little bit more specific, a little bit more dynamic and impactful, and the results you get are a little bit better. And it's different. Me, I needed that clarity first. I needed clarity, and that's where I struggle with the most over the past few years is gaining precise clarity to align with what God wants me to do. I'm getting better. And so as I get clarity, I get confidence, actions, and results. And it's that continuous cycle. And for every business owner, this is the cycle they need to go through. And for everybody, every personality, you could enter into the cycle at different entry points. But that's a topic for another day, another episode. But clarity begets confidence, begets actions, begets results, begets clarity. That's the second thing. And the third thing I want to remind you guys, and this is so very, very important, is that the results belong to God.

[15:13] Results belong to God. Paul said, and this was talked about spiritually, but I also believe it's true with business. Paul said, I planted the seed.

[15:25] Paulus watered the seed. God caused the growth. And yes, that is true not just spiritually with people being saved or people growing spiritually, but that is true in a business as well. Some people are going to plant the seed. Some people are going to water. And God is the one who caused people to become your clients and buy from you

[15:47] and continue to stay with you. That is all God. We may think we do have a big part in it. You have a little part in it, but the results truly belong to God. And one example of this I truly love is Moses. When Moses was sent back to Egypt, he was a reluctant leader. He reluctantly came back to Egypt. He did not want to do this because the first time he tried to free Israel, things didn't go well. He had to flee. And this first little bit in chapter 5 and 5, first part of 6, Moses started by asking Pharaoh to let the people go. And things just went bad. Things went horrible. And the children of Israel were now angry at Moses too.

[16:38] And God then says, you know, Moses, I'm going to bring him out. I'm going to take care of this. We're going to bring him out. You go tell the children of Israel, this is what's going to happen to you. I'm going to bring you out of Egypt. And the children of Israel, it says, did not listen to Moses is because of the harshness of the bondage and cruel bondage and anguish of spirit. They didn't listen to him. And then God's like, well, they're not listening to you. Go in again to speak unto Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. In Moses in Exodus 6.12, it says, God, the children of Israel did not listen to me. They're like on my side. They didn't listen to me. How then is Pharaoh going to listen to me? I am in modern day terms I don't speak well I am not a persuasive speaker how can I persuade Pharaoh if I can't even persuade the children of Israel that something good is going to happen to them.

[17:35] See, Moses still thought that the delivering of the children of Israel relied upon his abilities. He still thought that he was just going to go talk to Pharaoh and be able to persuade him with this and with that, and that it was based upon his persuasive words, Israel was going to be set free. He had the wrong perspective. It was never about Moses. Moses was just a spokesperson. God was the one who was going to do the great powers, the great plagues, and dominate Egypt and let his people go. So Moses, just as Moses had to realize that the results of free Egypt belongs to the Lord, just as Paul realized that the results of people being saved were a result of God bringing people to himself, even so you and your business, you and your life, guess what?

[18:34] You are God's workmanship. You are God's vessel created for good works.

[18:41] He's already put them before you. You just walk in them. The results belong to God. You are God's masterpiece, my friends. Live like it. And one of the questions you may need to ask yourself, because again, it's not easy to live at first, You are God's masterpiece. You might ask the question, Lord, teach me what you want me to learn or do in this situation. Again, teach me what you want me to do or learn in this situation. It puts things in a brand new perspective and helps you be more energetic and positive and insightful and, yeah, go forward. Secondly, not only are you God's masterpiece, but find God's purpose for you and live it.

[19:30] Ephesians 2.10 says, you're created unto good works. What good work has God called you to do?

[19:37] Your job, my friends, is to find that good work and to do it. And yes, that good work is going to change throughout your life. You don't have one good work to do your whole life and you're done, but those good works are continually before you. You are here for God's glory, for his good work. And finally three, trust God to work through you trust God to work through you abide in him trust the process and have faith in God God.

[20:11] He's your creator he has made you you are his masterpiece, trust him that he will fulfill his good work in you you are not inferior I am not inferior to you. You are not inferior to me. No one here is inferior because you are God's workmanship created for good works, created for God's good pleasure. And so be inferior to no man. If you want to learn more about what God has in store for you and want to seek to live a transformed life and desire to have a biblically transformed business, I encourage you to reach out and let's talk because we're going in the same direction. Let's see how we can work together and help one another go down that road faster and further.

[21:03] My friends, that's all for now. And remember, seek God and He will be found of you if you seek Him with all your heart.