Are you finding it challenging to prioritize your responsibilities effectively? Are opportunities diverting your focus from your main objectives? Join us as we map out the importance of utilizing the "Greater" principle. Using the biblical story of Nehemiah as our backdrop, we're going to show you how this principle can bring clarity to your entrepreneurial endeavors and how you can discover what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to.
Before we're done, we'll give you five key principles that will guide you when faced with conflicting opportunities.
Enjoy
Are you finding it challenging to prioritize your responsibilities effectively? Are opportunities diverting your focus from your main objectives? Join us as we map out the importance of utilizing the "Greater" principle. Using the biblical story of Nehemiah as our backdrop, we're going to show you how this principle can bring clarity to your entrepreneurial endeavors and how you can discover what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to.
Before we're done, we'll give you five key principles that will guide you when faced with conflicting opportunities.
Enjoy
I'm excited about today's topic. We are going to cover something we call the greater principle, and that principle is very simple and we're gonna talk about it today. We're gonna jump into a book, nehemiah 6, a book in the Bible about a businessman who went and did something really awesome, nehemiah, and how he shows us what the greater principle is all about. The greater principle is this you never leave something greater to do something lesser and Disentrepreneurs. This is really important because of the number of opportunities that come our way. Success brings opportunity. An Opportunity can diffuse the clarity that helped us lead to that success. So we have to know who and what to say yes to, who and what to say no to, and that's what we're gonna dive into today. Okay, so let's just hit. That was Jason. That opened up and it was whole. That was a horrible Open nose. It was classic. Okay, well, I thought it was horrible, explained everything that we're gonna talk about. No, no, so I don't. I'm not wallity open, I'm not looking at your show notes, but Jim Collins, from good to great, chasing a hedgehog or chasing a fox versus sticking with your hedgehog, oh, yeah, yeah, the hedgehog concept. Yeah, if you're an entrepreneur and you hadn't read good to great. You need to do it.
Speaker 1:And if you want to know real quick what the hedgehog concept is, dive into it. Go to Google. You know, discover, don't, don't send them on a rabbit trail. You know quickly. It's fun, the the the hedgehog knows what it wants to eat. It wakes up in the morning. It just sticks to it. It's. It sticks with the greater principle, it. It doesn't chase around shiny things and and all the shaky things that are out there in the forest. But a fox wakes up and usually a hedgehog goes to bed full. But a fox will wake up and it will chase every little object and it just gets into mischief. And it just runs around and chases things and it usually goes to bed hungry. That's why it gets into more mischief. So, anyways, anyway, the hedgehog is stick with what you know best. Yeah, and you know, and this is so, and what you're called and this is the crazy part for entrepreneurs is that clarity brings success, right, and and if, when success comes, it can easily diffuse the clarity that you had that led to that success and its people and Opportunities that come your way, that you end up saying yes to that you should have said no to now.
Speaker 1:David and I are living proof of this. 20 years ago we started our business, by God's grace, experienced a really great success and we ended up starting several other businesses Okay, actually lots of other businesses, but I can say there's a handful of them that I look at and I'm like what the heck? Where are we thinking? Can we go ahead and just confess to our silly bands? Yeah, we did. That was like 15 years ago.
Speaker 1:You guys remember those silly bands when you would just the what? I don't even know. Was it just a bunch of little junior high kids that would put silly bands on their? Yeah, I don't know, it was ridiculous, but a guy came to us, pitched it from our church. We really liked him. We kind of felt bad for him, but at the same time we thought you know, it's a big craze, there's a huge trade show in Charlotte, let's just go for. So we dumped what? 15,000? No, I think it was like 10 or something. So we dumped. I think we guys nothing got like five grand back or something. But it was just dumb and it required our mind. And for what? Four months we would have meetings with this guy and we would just it's finally, we were like what are we? He was actually great dude, but he was in the wrong business. We were in the wrong business. So the question is actually I'm not even gonna ask the question yet, I'm just want to say this when, cod, when God has called you to a great work, don't let anything or anyone I split that into two categories people and opportunities Don't let any people or any opportunities stop you from doing what God has called you to do. Okay, now we know me, and Maya shows us exactly what this looks like. The question now becomes how do we discern what opportunities and what people to say yes to? And that's what we want to see, and we're gonna see that here in the Amaya.
Speaker 1:David and I, when we were, like I said, we started our first business 20 years ago and when we started it, it was real estate and we had young families and we knew that that moment we could only focus on one thing Building our real estate business While raising our families. That, like, right there, if you, if you're not gonna help me with one of those two things, I cannot meet with you. I cannot, like we were way too busy, right, but I'm just telling you, so many opportunities came to us during that time and David and I had to say no to a lot of them, not every one of them. We just told you one we didn't say no to, and but now here we are, 20 years later. We can say yes to a lot more people who want to meet with us, although we don't always say yes to those things because we still have another, greater work that we're doing. But we can say yes to a lot of things today that we couldn't say yes to back then. And I do want to say this just very one quick caveat that does not exclude church activity. That's part of your family stuff. So serving at the church, whether you're an elder or a dean, that's where you raise your kids Exactly. So we were very much involved and, yes, we did have positions that helped facilitate church, yes, ok.
Speaker 1:So let me give you a back story real quick on Nehemiah. So Nehemiah had come back and was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. So we know that the children of Israel, they left the Promised Land because they were pulled out by the Babylonians and this was a punishment for their sin and all of this. And now they're back in Israel, but now there's this massive wall around Jerusalem and back in those days, if you didn't have a big wall, you had no security, you had no protection. And so Nehemiah is living in Babylon Well, it was called Persia and he was not in Jerusalem. And so word got back to him that all of his family and friends were back in Jerusalem, but there was no wall around the city. And it broke his heart. And here he was, he was working in the king's court. So this dude was like you know, he was like an advisor to the president and a business guy, marketplace guy, and he instantly his heart broke. He comes up with a plan and he ends up bringing it to the king and God's favor ushered him into the king's presence. The king was like yes, okay, I want you to go and take care of this wall and I'll help pay for it. That's what God's favor does, okay.
Speaker 1:Now let me just say this about a wall A wall around Jerusalem represents security, okay. So when we're reading the book of Nehemiah and we read that he was rebuilding a wall, he was rebuilding security in people, and security is our number one human need. Right, as parents, we build security in our kids by providing, protecting and being people of our word, making their games, doing all those things. And so we need to make sure that, whatever greater work that we're doing at the moment, which is running our businesses and loving our families, that we are providing that security for them. Don't let any people or opportunities come in that could break down that security.
Speaker 1:Okay, now in Nehemiah's time he goes. He goes to Jerusalem, he starts rebuilding the wall. He pitches the vision. He's got the money, he's got the funding, and they start rebuilding the wall and some secret enemies of the Jews wanted to join them and they came in basically saying hey, let us join you, we want to help you, right? So they sent some momentum. They didn't really want to help, they wanted to sabotage. Well, nehemiah says no. And then they asked for a meeting and here's what Nehemiah responded in Nehemiah, chapter six, verse three. He said so.
Speaker 1:I sent messengers to them saying I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. See the greater principle right there. He says I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? That's the hey. Yeah, I know you've asked me to have coffee with you three straight times, but I can't do that with you right now.
Speaker 1:I got a lot of stuff going on Although I, like you, you're a good person and all that's not where I can. I mean, david and I said no to more coffee meetings than anything. Of course, we had to figure out a way to make that happen, where we could meet with people, one of the things I do want to jump in real quick and one of the things that I did. So Jason didn't take as many meetings as I did. I took a few extra. And why was that? You know why? Because I had a certain calling that I I I had to do. David had that, while I had to. I wanted run the business Exactly, and that did help.
Speaker 1:But it's so one of the things that I did during this time, and I still do, is I make sure it's still inside my rhythm, or let me just say this okay, god created the heavens and the earth, adam and Eve, and he gave them dominion, gave them the dominion mandate. He said subdue, rule the earth, and then he put them in a garden. He said subdue and rule the earth, the entire earth, but then he put them in a garden. So what garden is it that where God has placed you Now? Inside that garden, you are to do what Adam and Eve did cultivate the ground. Okay, so now you're cultivating the ground. In other words, you're doing the work that God has called you to do inside your garden. Don't get into someone else's garden. Don't go do a work that God's called someone else to do, right, okay, that's important. However, inside your garden and inside your cultivation of the work God's given you to do, you have a rhythm, you have a flow. If someone wants to meet with you, or if you know that there's maybe a meeting you need to take or something that you might should consider doing, do it in rhythm with your flow.
Speaker 1:So what I started doing was I would always, on a Saturday mornings, I would bring my family to the local abortion clinic and we would do ministry to the moms that were walking in, and what I would tell people is they'd say, yeah, man, can we go get together, can we do whatever? And I say, okay, well, why don't you meet me at the abortion clinic Saturday morning 9 am? And while we're standing there praying, my family will be on one side, I'll connect with you and we'll spend 30 minutes together and that began. I began to bring business leaders out there and pastors out there. Well, that helped actually birth a ministry called Love Life. That's actually in ministry right now, which is awesome. But what I did was I said you know what I got asked for so many golf outings but I didn't do it because it just would have pulled me out of my garden for that moment. But my garden was at the abortion clinic. So I bet I took I can't tell you how many meetings I took at the local abortion clinic because that was in my garden and that was in rhythm with my existing work. Yeah, and David and I we told people hey, if you want to meet with us, we work out 7.30 in the morning at this location, you can come and while we're stretching, you know, before and after we can talk, but other than that, that's just that's what you're going to get, and that kept us in our garden and it kept us part of our work and in our rhythm.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let me go back to this verse, because Nehemiah is the one who gives us the greater principle and, by the way, I forget who I heard first. The greater principle. This is not something that we created. I forget who it was, so I can't Craig Groshel. It might have been him. I listened to him a lot. I love him, but this is what Nehemiah said I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.
Speaker 1:Think about that. You need to internalize that when it comes to your business and your family. Yes, that opportunity looks great. Yes, I would love to be able to meet with you. Yes, I'd love to be able to do those things, but I'm carrying on a great work and right now I can't come down. How do you think it made those people feel what probably hurt their feelings? Well, we know it ticked these guys off the greater principle don't leave something greater to do something lesser.
Speaker 1:Nehemiah was carrying on a great work given to him by God and it was his responsibility to stay in his post. If he abandoned his post, that would be apostasy. A post is a post. This thank you, eric Beck, for giving us that a post. This means abandoning your post. So the question is what's the greater thing you could be and should be doing? Okay, don't come down. If anything pulls you away from being available for your wife or your husband or your kids and your business, say no to it until you get to a point where you can say yes to those things because you have built margin into your life. That's right, and if God is, we're truly changing where your post is.
Speaker 1:Generally, there's a both a push and a pull. So this always comes with a caveat that God does shift you. God does bring people into your life. He wants you to meet with right. This is why you have to spend time with the Lord. You've got to get alone with Christ. You got to get into the word of God. You got to be around people that you know are Pushing you further up and further into the kingdom and for God's purpose, for your life, and so then you'll naturally start to see when you need I do need to take that meeting, or, yeah, this is an opportunity my wife and I should consider. Yes, and what David meant by push and pull was you'll feel a push from where you are in a pool to where you need to be. If you only Feel one, don't do it. Okay. Now, that's a whole different podcast and we've actually done the push and pull before. I forget which podcast it is, so I'm sorry, but maybe we'll. We'll hit that again at some point.
Speaker 1:All right, well, for David and I, when we were about what David, probably six or seven years into business, a Really great, awesome men's ministry, a nationwide men's ministry, contacted us and assets come out and speak and David and I spoke and it was, you know, 3,000 men or whatever, and it was awesome. We really enjoyed it. It was fun. The guys were engaged, they liked our stories, you know, since we're professional baseball players and all that kind of stuff and and, which was honoring for us.
Speaker 1:He then offered us the opportunity to speak at all their events, which was like 40 events over 40 weekends. And of course we said, hey, I wish we could do that. And he said, well, then, just maybe take a handful. He said, well, I wish we could do that, but we can't take anything. Yeah, and so we ended up taking one more event two years later and I Remember having to explain it to him and he didn't quite understand it at first. Now I obviously did, but you know, you know after we explained it but just meant I can't. I'm the only guy that can go to my kids game on the weekend and they look in the stands and see their father. Yeah, you can outsource that you can't outsource that now you can get somebody else to go tell a fun story to a bunch of men and get them, you know, excited about getting into the word of God.
Speaker 1:So, and it, you know, I remember the dejection that he felt whenever we said no, and there was a part of me that's like, okay, we make it work. But it went a step further. It went the New Year called to this and we said, yes, we are, but not at this moment. That's exactly right. Yeah, and I remember him saying that he's like you guys are called to this, your prophetic voice needs to be out there. And David and I, essentially, were like we know that God will make it very clear to us as to when we should do that and, of course, now that's what we're doing, by God's grace. But so here's, here's something very important Pay attention to how someone handles the word no. So our buddy who invited us to go do those men's events, he handled it like a champ, right.
Speaker 1:Well, look what happened when the am. I said no, and this is one of the ways that you know Whether or not you should say yes to the person at some point. You're looking at there and you'll see their intentions. Yes, right, motivations. You'll see it all. Listen, listen to listen to what happened. They sent messengers to me four times in this manner and I answered them in the same way. So he kept telling them hey, I'm carrying on a great work, I can't come down, but they're like I don't care about your work, I want you to come down and meet with me. Right, I need to tell you about my work. I mean, how often does that happen? Let me tell you about all the things that I'm doing and why you should be involved with my thing. Right, david, and I have heard that so much, it's not even funny. Let me tell you about the amazing stuff. Then, sandballot sent his servant to me in the same manner in the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. Now, look, the real motive was discovered and it was written.
Speaker 1:It is reported among the nations that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. So now, all of a sudden, their true motives come out. Therefore, you are rebuilding the wall and you want to be their king, according to these reports. Because so here's the principle that when an opportunity or person comes to you and they have something and they want to meet or they. There's an opportunity for you and you actually initially think, oh well, that would be good. Here's a principle Say no, even if you may want to do it.
Speaker 1:Just say no and watch the response. If they stubbornly persist or they get upset, stay away. Don't get involved. Okay, don't do it at all. See, it didn't stop for Nehemiah. And they continued to persist. Nehemiah kept telling them no. Well, now they got even more crafty. So they went and got a prophet of God and they paid him and they told him to go tell Nehemiah that enemies were coming and they're going to kill him and Nehemiah needed to go hide into the temple from the enemies that were coming. Now, this was a false prophet because he had a price tag and Nehemiah knew that if he went and hid in the temple, that would discourage the people from their work.
Speaker 1:But look at verse 12 and this is where I want to park at the end and we want to land this plane and give you five keys on how you know if an opportunity or a person is good or bad for you at this moment. Verse number 12,. Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him. But he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sam Ballot had hired him and it says that word right there. Then I perceived. So Nehemiah knew something was up. He felt something like how can we feel something? Not that every opportunity, a person that comes to us has ulterior motives. This is this is absolutely an extreme case. But there are people out there who have great motives, but God hasn't called you to build their thing. God hasn't called you to that. God's called you to build your thing. So how can we know if an opportunity is good or bad? Based on the foundation of what we just learned in Nehemiah Number one, god's not going to tell you one thing and another person the opposite.
Speaker 1:David and I have heard that people come to us and have said hey, you guys are called to this. It's like I know the Lord told me in a dream or in a vision or when I was praying, that I'm supposed to present this opportunity to you to buy this strip center and turn it into something amazing. Right, like well, god had told me that. Yeah, did you put. God does not alter one principle to obey another. No, but that's that falls into this. Yeah, god doesn't alter one principle of the Bible to obey another right. It's God wants us to share the gospel. He does. He wants us to make disciples. But that doesn't mean as a man you're out there sharing the gospel on a road trip to a woman over dinner. You just would not. You would never do that. You know, I don't know why that even that's just kind of an extreme example, but it's.
Speaker 1:I guess I should have thought this all the way through about about, about using a business, about using opportunities, though I, you know, I literally walked into a restaurant with Tori for lunch in Charlotte and saw a buddy of mine that I work out with, who's married with kids, having lunch with a female colleague and I'm like, okay, you can't be doing that, don't alter. But anyway, in terms of the opportunities that come our way, it's the same thing. God doesn't alter one principle to obey another. So if it's ever conflicting principles, that confusion is not of the Lord.
Speaker 1:So that's principle one God won't tell you one thing until another person the opposite. When God has truly spoken, he'll confirm it with others who are close to you. Okay, and you can, you can rely on the, the. You know what your pastors told you, what your spouse, that kind of thing. When God. See, god had clearly spoken to Nehemiah about rebuilding the wall and he granted him the favor of the king. All of that was God's doing. Nehemiah needed to stay in that lane. Okay, that's principle one. The principle two you, you're never to be led by the fear of man. You see, nehemiah easily could have been intimidated because these guys that were asking him for a meeting were very influential people. They were the kind of guys that could literally turn the entire city against Nehemiah. And yet Nehemiah was like I'm not meeting with you, it doesn't matter, and he refused to be intimidated, even if it would cost him his life Right Now.
Speaker 1:Listen, here's the thing If you're afraid to say no, pause saying yes, exactly If you feel, and if you feel like you're going to let them down, that's you've got to pause, because that's not peace, that's not making a decision from a place of rest. So and we've all been there, yeah, and we teach our kids this like, if you feel like you're rushed, like somebody's like, get this opportunity right now, it's going to leave, I mean, it's not going to be here tomorrow. You need to act now. We've obviously had pushy car salesmen and that kind of stuff where people say act now you've got to hurry. The minute you feel that I better hurry, stop Pause, just give it a breath, yep, even if you know it's a good deal and you want to do it and all that, just pause if you're afraid to say no, pause saying yes, okay. Principle two you're never to be led by the fear of man.
Speaker 1:Number three Look at what others have to gain by the advice they give you. Look at what if somebody comes and says, hey, you should get involved in this opportunity, it is the best thing. Well, just look at what they have to gain. Do they have anything to gain? Yeah, me am. I realized that Shamiah, this prophet, had been paid to give his advice, so he knew that prophet had a price. Pay attention to what people have to gain who bring you the opportunities and it's okay in a business context, it's almost got something to gain. You just need to know, you need to know what's the context for their request, yep, and if it fits into what you know, to your current thing, and allows you to stay on the greater principle, you know where you can stay in this greater work that you're doing and they can gain by it and you can gain by it, then by all means do it. Okay. That's principle three look at what others have to gain by the advice they give you.
Speaker 1:Number four God would never contradict his word. He wouldn't see. The temple was not a place to run and hide for safety. That's where this prophet had told him hey, you got a run and hide in the temple. The temple wasn't a place to run and hide, it was a place of worship, and knew it. Nehemiah knew that if I run and hide in the temple that's not what it's made for, the temple is a place of worship Then I'm gonna be compromising God's word.
Speaker 1:This is why, as as kingdom-minded entrepreneurs, you need to know the scripture. You don't just rely on your pastor to give you scripture right, and don't just read scripture like, dive in and really be someone of the word who knows that when an opportunity or somebody comes and presents themselves to you, there's something you're like I know there's a verse about this somewhere. Where is it? And then at least you know you, you have, you have a lens to where you can go and you can find that verse. Yeah, study to show yourself approved, a Workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly able to divide the word of God, yeah, of truth, all right.
Speaker 1:And the most important one, the most important point, point of all, number five remember who you are. In verse 11, nehemiah said this whenever they came and said, hey, you need to run and hide. He says should a man like me flee Right there? That is so strong. Nehemiah knew that he was carrying on a greater work and he knew who he was. He knew he was the man for the job. He knew he was the person for the job. Nehemiah knew that operating according to the way this prophet was advising him Went against his very nature.
Speaker 1:Knowing who you are is so important to staying in the lane. God wants you to be Right. God has a lane for each of us. He's got to work for each of us. You need to know who you are and this is what kept David and I from saying yes to that offer From that ministry to go speak to all these men, because we knew I know who I am.
Speaker 1:I am a father to Trey, ali, jake and Lundy, and all of them play games on the weekend. I know who I am. I can maybe bail on one weekend a year, but I can't bail on 40, no matter how good the offer is. We know who we were, we knew who we were, and you should know who you are. So there you go, right there. That's the greater principle Don't leave something greater for something lesser. And now you guys have five little keys, some handles on how you can know what to say yes to and what to say no to. That was good. I like that, jason. We'll do own it and are alone it on the next. That's our hook. That's our hook. All right, we'll see you next time.