Advancing God's Word ... At Home, In Our Schools, And On The Job!
Last week a dear pastor friend called and, before he even said hello, quickly asked, "Keith, what is The Lord saying to you r-i-g-h-t n-o-w?" In a short moment, I began to say exactly what I saw in my spirit.
"Jesus is saying that we must encourage God's beloved to encourage His beloved, being ready and willing to speak courage INto the lives of His faithful ones, to bring strength to those who have become weak, to refresh their spirits by speaking over them in prayer. We are to help repair the breaches in the hedge of protection God placed around His beloved, fortifying the hedge by 'calling those things which be not as though they were (Romans 4:17)', reminding them of their Heavenly Father's infinite love for them so their faith is built up so they can trust in Him, rest in Him, and wait on Him. He wants us to teach His beloved, His fiance' to have His Joy, to smile and laugh in the face of trials. We must be helping them to store God's Word in their hearts, to meet with Him personally, and often, so they can learn to hear Him by The Holy Spirit's Voice. Jesus' greatest desire is that we each pursue Him passionately, all of us, encouraging one another to 'be ye doers of The Word (James 1:22)' executing God's Word, both written and spoken."
After relaying what our wonder-full Lord was saying, as He had been relaying to me over the past few days, by His spirit, my friend paused and said, "Yesss!" I added, "Brother, all of us must be 'becoming God's end-time executives', believing Believers in Jesus Christ, just as consumed with being 'doers of God's Word' as we are about being 'hearers of God's Word'. Our job is to take God's Word and 'execute, execute, execute' constantly."
I wonder, what comes to mind when you hear the word "executive"?
This conversation takes me back to about seven years old, skateboarding
in the driveway on a summer afternoon, when Dad pulled up in his company car as
he was just coming home from work. Dad worked
as a regional sales representative for a Fortune 500 company that manufactures medical
products and laboratory supplies and equipment for hospitals, medical clinics, colleges
for medicine, military medical groups, and other institutions. Dad got out of the car and said, "Keith,
something happened at work today that I want to tell you about. Let's go inside."
We went inside where Mom had dinner ready. We set the table, sat down together to thank
God for our food and family, and then Dad began smiling real big, almost giddy,
as he said, "Well, your ol' dad here has just been awarded 'SALES EXECUTIVE
OF THE YEAR' for our entire company."
My mom, brothers, and I clapped and made over him like he just won The
Super Bowl single-handedly. Not only was
this prestigious award a defining moment for Dad but it would mark the
beginning of my life-long venture toward becoming an "executive" in business
and more, as well! But, at that moment, my
big question was, "What is an 'executive' really?"
As a result of Dad's great news, from that night on, the image for an
"executive" began to form in my young mind. I kept seeing the daily image of my Dad heading
to work in the morning dressed in a nice suit and carrying his brief case. Then, just weeks after Dad's announcement, a big-sized
heavy package came in the mail. Seeing
it had our whole family excited for Dad to open it. Dad had hit the top of his game as a
top-level sales executive, and what he reached into the shipping box and pulled
out proved it. He received a beautiful,
18-inch-high trophy with a tall sharp-dressed businessman on top carrying a
briefcase, one foot in front of the other as if he was frozen in mid-stride,
confidently walking forward, and Dad's name and award title was printed in
large bronze letters on the front. That
was 1962 and Dad's trophy still sits on his office Credenza to this day.
So, what is an "executive" really?
People who get to be called "executives" also get known for
the nice, expensive suits they wear to work and the leather briefcase they carry
everywhere, right? Well, over my years
of searching for understanding, thanks to my late friend and mentor Myles
Munroe's teaching on finding, and defining, the root word of a subject, I looked
up the root word in the dictionary to learn the true definition of the noun
"executive" by its action/verb root word "execute". The word execute, a transitive verb, is
defined as, "1) To put into effect; to carry out. 2) To perform; to do: synonym: perform. 3) To create (a work of art, for example) in
accordance with a prescribed design."
So, an executive is one who executes, carries out, advances an
objective. An executive is a producer
who advances an agenda, through much effort, "executing" the
objective of the company he/she is working for.
Eventually, The Holy Spirit taught me, and reinforced over and over in
me, that an expensive suit wearer, carrying a leather briefcase, is not
somebody who is qualified to be an "executive". You may know the funny little adage we've
heard Christians say over the years in The Church, "Sitting in a pew at Church
on Sunday makes a person a Christian about as much as standing in a garage
makes a person a car." Seeing
through God's eyes for the definition of an "executive" took me a bit
by surprise. The Holy Spirit uploaded this
to me, "The title of executive is reserved for the fruit-full." I began to see the men and women of different
professions in a new light after this.
Employees, like Dad, are the serious movers and shakers, having a
contagious passion for the company and products they promote and
represent. I watched Dad eager to go to
work every day, excited to "execute" the company's objectives,
constantly striving to profit the company and their consumers all across the
eastern region of the U.S. His passion
for his job as an "executive" grew as he grew to know more about the
company's products and benefits, easily able to promote and demonstrate the
superior quality and benefits that await the purchasing agents that accept
"his" products, over those of his competitors. Dad always made it a point to show respect
and honor for all who he worked with, inside his company's offices and in the
offices of prospective buyers. He was always
thinking of how to better demonstrate the way he valued an individual person or
group he met to shake hands with. Never
once did Dad look away from someone he was engaged in talking with. He was disciplined to: --look a person in the eye when he was
talking with them; --use the name of the
person to show value for them as a person;
and --giving a firm handshake to a potential client, even if they may
not buy.
In corporate life, the level of excitement and passion an executive has
for their products becomes clearly evident in the way that it spills over onto clients. Those executives with the greatest excitement
and passion for their company and products can be easily recognized by the resulting
deals they finish and close upon delivery, whatever the product is that they
sell and represent for selling.
Dad modeled for me a passion to execute company objectives, to
"brag on" his products, and treat others with respect no matter what.
I learned to be a true "executive",
being squared away with a good-paying white-collar job, wearing nice suits, driving
a company car, having an expense account and plush office with my name on the
door, and, most of all, passionately pursuing oneness in God, through Jesus
Christ, by the leading of The Holy Spirit, working w-i-t-h The Holy Spirit to gain the knowledge
and wisdom for "Becoming (one
of) God's End-Time Executives".
We posted a full-length podcast along with TTM Minute excerpt messages
you can enjoy free
@
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/betweenthelinesttmshow/id/29422358
Much like it is in the corporate world, there are many people who go to
work every day dressed in expensive suits, carrying the latest in electronic
devices who are not true executives. Outwardly they look the part but inwardly
they are fruitless, much like the fig tree Jesus cursed. (see Matthew 21:19-22)
Rather than being an asset to a company and the achieving of it's goals they
are a drain on the firm. Kind of like an NFL team paying a ball carrier who
rarely shows up to practices and planning meetings that rarely if ever scores a
touch down. When dressed out on the practice field or game day these impostors
may look the part and appear to be ready for action, but their overall stats
tell a different story, they are nonproductive.
In Jesus Christ's Church there are many people who attend multiple
services weekly, they dress in expensive suits, carry bibles and own the latest
in electronic communication devices but rarely read their bible or pursue Jesus
Christ with their whole heart. These folks are sadly not true believers in
Jesus Christ or the gospel He preaches. The late prophet of God Smith
Wigglesworth referred to this sect of the Church as "unbelieving
believers." These people in many cases can have an impressive number of
scriptures memorized and can even quote them word for word but they are not
doers of what God has given us His wonder-full Holy Scriptures to achieve.
The title of executive in The Holy Trinities eyes is reserved for the
doers of God's Holy Word! "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a
doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he
beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth
[therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man
shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:22-25
The first real clue that The Holy Spirit gave to me concerning my quest
of becoming one of God's executives was when He reminded me one evening while I
was asking Him how I could become more fruitful for God's glory. I was suddenly
reminded of how passionate my Dad was about his job, about the company he was a
part of and about his obvious excitement about the products that they
manufactured and were making available to the medical industry.
What The Holy Spirit reminded me of was the reason or the why for Dad's
success. It was his excitement for his company and the products that they
manufactured. I was reminded of how,
more Dad would spend time in his office at home reading up on his
companies products and their products second to none quality and capabilities.
The more time he spent with the companies engineers who designed their products
the more passionate he would become about those products and how their products
would benefit the medical industry as a whole, the more he could not wait to
schedule meetings with hospital purchasing agents, doctors and nurses to
"brag-on' or to present the products that he was representing.
The Holy Spirit revealed to me that the same principals that promoted
Dad to executive status in his business
life are the same principals that, if followed, will result in our achieving
executive status in our Father's eyes. Dad was so proud of the products that he
had the privilege of representing. He was equally as passionate about and proud
of the company he was honored to work with, so much so that, from the moment
his feet hit the floor in the mornings till his head hit the pillow at night,
Dad was thinking of ways that he could locate and make his products available
to more medical professionals. He was always thinking of ways that he could
announce to as many physicians as he possibly could of the superior quality of
his products over his competitors, and most of all, how he could educate them
about the benefits of their using his products. Benefits that would greatly
improve their end results.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel.
As Christians we must all step back and examine ourselves, are we
believing believers or are we unbelieving believers? Do we love Jesus Christ to
the point that we are doers of His Word and not hearers only? Are we truly
executives in our Father's eyes, those who are passionately pursuing and
working with The Holy Trinity to advance Their dream in this earth or are we
empty suits, those who are deceived into thinking that reading our bibles on
occasion and attending church services one Sunday is enough?
As a ministry family and team here at Toward The Mark, our mission and
vision is to lead everyone we come in contact with into the saving knowledge of
our wonder-full King Jesus Christ! As
that great day of our Lord's return draws closer with each passing day, who do
you know that may need encouraged by this blog message you can forward on to
them this week?
LISTEN NOW:
"The LORD gave the word: great was the company of those that published it (Psalm 68:11)."
Your friends, servants, and TTM Family in Christ Jesus,
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see and hear, follow and share, more from our TTM team:
~ Keith and Brenda "Becoming God's End Time Executives" on Keith Shealy's Between The Lines Podcast Channel
~ Special "CELEBRATING FREEDOM" Video on our Rumble Channel
~ The Shealys and Toward The Mark Videos on Vimeo
~ From our 1st-ever Audio Book "LETTERS FROM THE FRONT"
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