Do you ever feel like you're knocking persistently but the door just won't open? What if we told you there's a divine four-step plan that could lead you to more success in building anything - be it a business or a strong family? Drawing from the teachings of Jesus in Luke 11:5-13, we delve into this powerful blueprint for persistent asking, seeking, and knocking. We'll show you how to translate these age-old teachings into practical applications, transforming work into worship.
Join us for an insightful discussion on the significance of bringing God into your business and how taking four key steps can help you invite greater success into your life and business.
Do you ever feel like you're knocking persistently but the door just won't open? What if we told you there's a divine four-step plan that could lead you to more success in building anything - be it a business or a strong family? Drawing from the teachings of Jesus in Luke 11:5-13, we delve into this powerful blueprint for persistent asking, seeking, and knocking. We'll show you how to translate these age-old teachings into practical applications, transforming work into worship.
Join us for an insightful discussion on the significance of bringing God into your business and how taking four key steps can help you invite greater success into your life and business.
Hey, welcome back. Expert ownership podcast. David and I are actually in a hotel room in Newark, new Jersey, hence the reason why our sound is quite a bit different. But we're like man, we got to knock this podcast out. We're sitting here talking together and you know, typically when we travel, we get up early in the morning and we pray together. We pray for our businesses, we pray for our families and all those things.
Speaker 1:And I'm thinking this morning. You know what? I learned something out of Luke 11 a year or two ago Actually I think it was a few years ago and I was like, let's do a podcast on this. And so David's like, yeah, let's, let's do this. So we're going to talk today about a four step plan to build a business. Okay, four step plan that I pulled out of Luke 11 that I feel like the Holy spirit gave to me at a time in my life and this is Jason, by the way, I got David sitting right here. You already said the word, david, so just, I already did. Yeah, well, I just want to make sure that you know who the heck is talking.
Speaker 1:David and I did a podcast with our wives and maybe you heard that one, maybe you didn't. But we had a buddy of ours that came up and said here's the only issue I couldn't tell which one of you was talking and which wife was talking. Oh, that's all good, that's just fine. Okay, luke 11. So let's talk about plan to build a business. Okay Now, but it's a plan that you can build anything. You can apply these four steps and it's very, very simple. But I'm just telling you it's so good because all through the Bible we see patterns and processes.
Speaker 1:Let me define the two real quick before we jump into this. A pattern is a model. It's an example to follow. Okay. A process is a series of steps to complete a task. A pattern shows the order of something. A process is the mechanism that creates and maintains that order. So we see patterns. It's like examples. Jesus gives us this in Luke 11. He gives us a story which shows us a pattern. Okay, in that pattern emerges a four step process that we can use to build anything. It's do you want to build a strong family? Do you want to build a business? Whatever it is that you want to build. We see this in Luke 11. And I'm going to have my trusty assistant, david.
Speaker 1:I want you to go ahead and read Luke 11, five through 13, because, um, I was at actually before you read that, let me. Let me just say this I was at the beach this was several years ago. I was feeling a gutache about all that I had to do for a new business that David and I had started, and there was a lot to get done. I mean, how many of you have felt that way? Literal overwhelm, but all the stuff that needs to be done in building this new business. And then I was up early in the morning.
Speaker 1:I was reading one of my journals that I read Actually. I can say which one it is it's Oswald chambers. There's two things I read Actually, three things I read every single morning. I read the Bible. I've got my Bible reading plan. I read Oswald chambers and then I read a theologian that has a little newsletter on a specific word in the scripture and it shows me the Hebrew origin. So I read those.
Speaker 1:I was reading Oswald chambers and he said that God will give us the Holy spirit when we ask. And I thought that was interesting because when we get saved, we get saved. It's like a balloon. When you blow up a balloon, the first breath of air. It's like, okay, the balloon is full of air, but it can get bigger, it can have more air, and you can blow up the balloon until it gets full, full grown. And so I think that that's a good example and an analogy on what the Holy spirit is like with us. We can get more of the Holy spirit. We've got to ask. But there's a proper reason for that. And so I was reading that Oswald chambers. He said, hey, god will give you the Holy spirit when we ask. And that reminded me of the story in Luke 11, where the man asks for the Holy spirit. So I jumped into my Bible, I read that story and then that's where the pattern emerged. I saw the four step process that I could apply to build this business, but I also could apply to my family or anything else that I wanted to build. So back to the Bible. I was reading the Bible, I was reading the Bible, I was going to apply to my family or anything else that I wanted to build.
Speaker 1:So backstory is one of Christ's disciples asked if Jesus could teach him how to pray. Jesus obviously loved that request, so he gave him what they asked for. But what he did was he showed the pattern first, then he gives the process. So, david, rude, luke 11, five through 13. And he said to them which of you has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him friend, lend me these three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a bed and I have nothing to set before him, and he will answer from within. Do not bother me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed.
Speaker 1:I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his in it's impudence, yeah, because he won't stop. Yeah, he won't stop. Yeah, persistence, his friend will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you, for everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will, instead of a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, then, who are evil, know how to do, give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Speaker 1:So when I read that, I Stopped. I read it again, that I read it again because I was in a position to where David and I had this Overwhelming task, that we had to all these tasks in order to build this business, and I really felt like the Lord was speaking. And that's where the four steps emerged. I'm gonna get, I'm gonna give you the steps and then we're gonna go back through them. Okay, very simple steps, but so powerful. Here they are step one ask step to receive. Step three present. Step four remove Ask, receive, present, remove. All right, ask.
Speaker 1:Early on in the scripture, in this, this story, we see that the man simply went to his friend. So he had another friend who came in from out of town and this guy whose house you know that that his friend was coming to, he didn't have anything to give him. He might have had some, but he didn't have enough. How many of you know that your customers, your clients, your family, your spouse, your kids, they need things from you? How many of you know that you really don't have enough to give to them. But who does? God does. He's got what they need and he wants to give to you what they need. Okay, so what do we need to do? Number one You've got to ask.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is that you're going through in your business, in your life, start by asking God what asking does is. It puts you in the right posture. Asking admits that you don't have what you need, but the person that you're asking does, so it puts you in a right posture. There's three aspects to this. First, you're gonna ask your friend. This is the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So this, this man went and asked his friend. He didn't go to a stranger, he went to a friend's house at midnight. The Holy Spirit is your friend, saw him. 25, 14. God is the friend of those who fear him. God confides in those who fear him. So you're asking a friend. That's your Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Number two you're asking for others. This isn't about just something. This isn't about just getting something for yourself, right, but that's what an entrepreneur is. An entrepreneur is a person who goes between a Person with a problem and brings a solution. So when someone has a problem, the entrepreneur figures out how to solve that problem and bring a solution. So the definition of an entrepreneur is a go-between. It's it. An entrepreneur Can't be about himself or herself, and that's what this story shows you is that you're asking for others. So this man went at midnight and asked his friend for something to give to someone else. That's a really good posture to be in.
Speaker 1:The third aspect of asking is that you promised payback. He said, friend, lend me three loaves. He didn't ask for it just to have it, without the thought that he was actually going to take what was given to him and turn it around and give it to someone else. So he says, lend me those things, I'm going to give them back to you. Like, you're going to get something out of this. You know the man in the house could easily start a business called Bread Buddy. You know our doors are always open. So he was promising payback.
Speaker 1:So that's step one is to ask. All right. Step two receive. You'll get what you ask, not by simply asking a friend, but you'll get what you ask based on persistence. Remember the word David couldn't impute, as it said. I've never seen that before. Okay, so it was. It's persistence. You get what you ask, not simply on the basis of friendship, but on the basis of persistence. God likes audacious prayers, so we ask, but we receive, you'll receive.
Speaker 1:When you ask with an expectation to receive, the Holy Spirit knows what your customers need more than you. So when you ask, it's like okay, lord, here's what I need. I need ideas on this business that we have to, that you know on this, on this branch of our business, that we've got to scale, it's got to, we've got to serve more customers. So I ask you to give me wisdom to know exactly what to do. And I'm asking knowing that you know what our customers need more than I do. So I asked that you would give that to me. The Holy Spirit already knows what you need, and so you ask with an expectation to receive and you will receive. When I was up early in the morning for the for the next few weeks after I read this, the Lord did start to give me some downloads on certain things that we could do, and the the business actually was expert ownership when we were first starting, and so the Lord began to give me downloads and give David downloads on what we needed. So we were receiving these things. Now we were receiving these things not just for me and David, which leads us to step three present.
Speaker 1:So you ask. Then you receive from the Lord and he gives you ideas. He'll bring people into your life who will help you get where he wants you to go. He'll just open doors for you. But then the third step is to present. You don't, you do not receive it to give it. Follow me here you don't receive it to give it, you receive it to present it. That's a huge difference.
Speaker 1:Presenting something means preparation, and preparation is hard work. So let me give you an analogy. When you go to Ruth's Chris steakhouse and you order that fine filet and your whoever you're with maybe orders a ribeye, and when they bring those steaks out, how do they come out Sizzling, sizzling with butter on the plate, on a sizzling hot plate. When the person at Ruth's Chris, when the server at Ruth's Chris, comes out of the kitchen, you can hear it sizzling, somebody can hear it sizzling Like that. And that steak man, it's amazing Okay, not my favorite steakhouse, but certainly good, delicious and it comes out sizzling. What are they doing there? They're presenting that steak to you. They're not just giving it to you. That's what presentation looks like.
Speaker 1:See, cain failed in this area. He presented a subpar sacrifice. He went and just didn't do his best. He just went second best for God. And God can't handle a sacrifice like that. He doesn't want that. He wants you to take the time to take what he's given to you and make it your own. And when you make it your own, then you turn around and you present it to others. So when God gives you a download for your business, apply it to your own business, get really good at the thing and then turn around and teach other people how to do it and then figure out a way to make that business. Turn around and take that and turn it into a business where you're showing others how to do it so you present it.
Speaker 1:God doesn't give to you. God does not give to you so you can turn around and just give it to others. He gives it to you so you can present it to others, which is what I'm doing with you right now. So I prayed and asked the Lord to give me a download for our business. I didn't know exactly where to go. I saw this pattern in scripture ask, receive, present, remove. Then I did that. I walked through that process for several weeks ask, and of course I still do it, but ask receive, present, remove. The Lord started giving me downloads and I took those and we applied those to our business. We ended up with our course and that turned into a book and all sorts of stuff. And now what am I doing? I'm presenting it to you. We present these things to you guys. When you read our book expert ownership, when you take our courses, when you're on our monthly calls, we are presenting something to you. The same is true in your business. Take whatever God gives to you, that idea that he's given to you, apply it to your business and present it to your customers, whatever that looks like. And presentation is hard work. Ruth's Chris has perfected their recipe, so it takes time. So it's ask receive. Step three present.
Speaker 1:The mindset of presentation is your work has to be worship. You want your work to be worship. You make your work worship by. Your effort is to make God smile with the work that you do. That's the mindset of presentation. Like I'm not gonna cut corners, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna give more value than I take and pay. I'm gonna be faithful in the little things. When it comes to a gray area, I'm gonna air to the benefit of another person, not to my own benefit. That's what making your work worship looks like. That's what presentation looks like. It's always giving more in value than you take and pay.
Speaker 1:Zappos does this. You know Zappos. If you order a pair of shoes from Zappos, they don't tell you they're gonna give you overnight delivery. They usually, I think, it'll say like two to five days or whatever, but a lot of times the shoes will show up next day and it's a nice little surprise. It's called a landy app. It's just a little bit extra right. That's what presentation looks like. They don't just give you the shoes, they present the shoes to you. The same thing with Apple.
Speaker 1:When you open up your iPhone, the packaging itself is a presentation. It's not just the phone and some crappy packaging. The packaging is presentation. So you ask, you receive, and then you take what you receive and you prepare it in such a way that you could turn around and present it. You present it and then step four, which is so important then you remove. When you ask, receive and present, people are gonna like what you gave them. Why? Because it came from the Holy Spirit. It came from the Holy Spirit and we think, well, the Holy Spirit only gives spiritual things? No, he doesn't. He gives tangible things. Look, if you're a farmer and you need to, you need to figure out a way to make your crop better, so that I don't know your vegetables taste better. The Holy Spirit can give you ideas on how to do that. I mean the Holy Spirit. We know Antean Byler.
Speaker 1:At Antean's pretzels, she asked God, her and her husband to give them an ingredient that would help their pretzel taste better, because they were about to take it off the menu. Well, they were at a flea market and they literally said okay, that's it, we're done, we're pulling pretzels off. And Jonas, her husband, said wait, you know, he had been praying about this for a while. He goes, I think I have an idea. And he ran to Walmart, grabbed some specific ingredients, went back and created this pretzel and Antean said they just gave it a shot. They served it to a guy that came up at the flea market, bought a pretzel. They said they watched him walk off as he was eating it and he stopped, turned around and came right back and said I want another one. I've never tasted anything this good. And they said at that point they knew that the Holy Spirit had given them the recipe.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, our first thing was what's the recipe? They didn't tell us so, but just look at that example. Though she asked, they received, then they presented it. So the period between receiving and presenting is where you do the work. They had to go put that, they had to go buy that ingredient. Then they had to put it into their recipe and then they had to try to figure out ways to make it really good. And then they presented it to their customer. And when that customer liked it, that's when they then removed themselves from the transaction. So they removed themselves from the equation, so the transaction could be between God and the customer. What I mean by that is give God the glory. So the man comes back says wow, that's the most amazing thing in the whole world. How did you do that? Now, I don't know how the story went with Ann at this point, but we know that Ann gives God all the credit for these pretzels and why they're so good. And that is Ann removing herself from the equation. So the transaction can be between God and the customer.
Speaker 1:So when people really like what you do, when people begin to brag on your business and you begin to experience success, what you need to do is reflect that success back to God. And it's also the same way, though financially, is that when you're removing, you're removing your total control as the lead partner in the business. You're removing yourself from that and allowing God to be the lead partner, the manager. You're just simply the managing partner, and what that means is your business was meant to be a vehicle to advance the kingdom and you're advancing it through your people, your processes and your profit. What happens a lot of time is your business becomes your own identity and the success of your company becomes an identity, and then the profit that you make becomes your own to go and just do whatever you want with it. Well, god wants you to provide for your family and future generations, but he wants you to promote his kingdom agenda.
Speaker 1:So you gotta use your business, remove your own selfish ambitions or remove yourself from being the one that's the recipient of all the good of the business and make sure that you put in God's agenda for your business through your people, your processes and your profit. That's the four step process. Listen, it's so incredibly simple. But you know what If you apply this every single morning to your business, to your family, whatever ask, receive, present. Remove the period of time between receiving and presenting sometimes takes time. Sometimes you have to keep praying. Like Lord, I need this idea. Like Lord, I'm still feeling anxious about my business. Lord, what are we gonna do? I need to help this customer better and I can't figure out exactly how to do it. Whatever it is, take time and be audacious. God will give to you, and when he does, you then turn around and present that, and when it's good and people really love it, you remove yourself. You let them know that God is the one who gave you the idea, god is the one who gets the credit, and then the Lord will continue to give you what you ask. That's what it looks like to incorporate these four steps into your business.
Speaker 1:All right, jason, that was half decent, I liked it. Okay, we're in New York, we're in Newark, is it? No wait, newark is New Jersey. Yeah, new York, new Jersey, newark, newark, we can see New York. No, they don't call it Newark. Okay, we can see New York. Okay. So last night we rolled in we're a Hilton Gold member, honors, whatever and they said okay, well, thank you guys for coming back. Here's your waters and you get 30 bucks from the whatever that little market station is downstairs. They didn't really have much healthy stuff there, but they didn't have beef jerky.
Speaker 1:Own it or loan it. Beef jerky, of course, own it with every ounce of your being, so long as it's not too salty. But what about the sugar Gee? You got a loan Because I was looking at the back, there's beef jerky. You owe it to Teriyaki Chomps that brand Chomps. Okay, yeah, that's my favorite. Well, anyway, I say, loan it. Now I'm a. I love beef jerky, but it's loaded with sugar and too much sodium and I've started to see, now that I'm 48, it starts to affect me a little bit. So I think you gotta own natural beef jerky, but loan the processed beef jerky. Okay, okay, there it is done. There, there's your land. Yet for today. Hey, god bless you guys. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this bad boy. Send it out to friends. Hopefully, this can be a tremendous blessing to all of us as we advance the kingdom.