Biblical Decision Making
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How to never mess up
How to never mess up
“Only 3 things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.” -Peter Drucker
1. What is your WHY for your business?
2. What is your WHY for you Family?
3. What keeps you going or motivates you?
4. How often do you think about what motivates you?
Decision Making
Obstacles in Decision Making:
Everyday we have to make decision
What you choose to do, say, where, go
Everyday you have to decisions to be made
The higher you go in Leadership, the more decision you’ll be forced to make
I used to have a boss that would say your paid from the neck down, I’m paid from the neck up
If you’re in leadership you’ll be put into decisions that are tough to make:
Decision that affect everyone around you
decision that might negatively impact you and help others
Decision that hurt one person and help another
As you go up in leadership the volume, speed and the intensity of decisions increase.
Performing at a high level requires you execute correct decisions in a timely manner
I was listening to an interview with a psychologist and he was explaining what kind of people are at he highest level of the decision making spectrum:
A lot of us might look at athletes who can perform and decide in a moments notice what to do and how to perform
Muscle memory calculation in seconds
I just ran people over, no juking for me
I’m the worst at when people are trying to get past me
I actually get into the accidentally
Interestingly enough what most athletes look up to as far as decision making is special operations soldiers
Navy seals
Geen berets
Swat team
Why they look up to them is first that the stakes are so high, it’s life or death
But they also have the ability to make split second decisions that can be for life or death
In every area of our lives we make decisions that effect our daily lives:
What we choose to eat today
What we decide to spend money on or invest in
In an average football game there is about offensive plays ran by each teach a game:
Out of 120-140 plays a game
How many do you determine the outcome of the game?
6 plays a game are usually what determine the outcome of the game
No one on the field will know which ones will make an effect until it happens
But because only 6 affect the outcome of the game it doesn’t mean they can take of the remaining 130 plays
It’s said that on average you make 70 concise decisions everyday:
what you’re going to eat
not going to eat
What you’re going to wear
Daily you make concise decision
You make way more unconscious decision that you make consciously
Some people just want to make less decision
I’ll tell you how to do that
Go to Jail! You only have about 17 to make a day
So if we do that math we have roughly about 1,788,000 decisions in a lifetime:
Out of the almost 2 million conscious decisions
12 will determine our lives
6 of those you don’t know when they’re coming
Life altering decisions: Do we choose to make Jesus the Lord of our lives, who we marry, what career we choose, where we choose to live, choosing to change the trajectory of our lives
6 decisions you hope your prepared for
12 that determine your life/define you
70 you make daily
1,788,000 in a lifetime give or take
As we get older and more mature (hopefully) we realize that decisions have Layers:
My kids can’t see past right here and right now
Their decision making is very linear
And that line leads directly to them
How does this decision affect me
How is your decision going to affect me
There’s no layers to their decisions it’s just them
So when I tell them they can’t have ice cream for breakfast they can’t see passed- mean dad
Group Lesson:
To illustrate this I would like to do an exercise
This might seem somewhat elementary but I think it’ll be fun none the less
The Great Egg Drop:
Divide into 5-6 groups
5 people in each group
I’m going to give you 15-20 minutes to do what you think will ultimately protect this egg from breaking being dropped from a certain distance
Before we see if your egg will sustain the free fall or not
I would like you to have one person give a 1 minute presentation on how you came up with you method
While coming up with your method, make a note at some of the layers of decision making that is taking place
Questions for after the drop:
To come up with your method did the group take a vote or were members swayed by a dominant individual
How did you divide up responsibilities? Was it based on expertise or experience
Did everyone participate
Who assumed the role of a leader
How did team members create and deliver the presentation and was this individual or a group effort?
What are layers in the decision making process that you noticed?
i.e listening to everyones opinions
including people in the decision making process
Making final say decisions?
How different would this have looked if you were doing this on your own?
Every decision that we make has layers:
Perspective
in each decision, perspective will set the direction for where the decision will take you
Where will this decision take you?
In the beginning of taking on more day to day responsibility around our church
I encountered a decision that would take our church in a direction that biblically I was not comfortable with
I had to make a tough decision and had to hurt some people’s feelings in the process
I felt a physical fear of God in that moment
It might have seem pretty simple to most people around me, but I could see the direction that would be taking us in
There are yeses and nos that you will say in your life that seem meaningless today but have lasting long term affects for your future
A little bit of compromise now leads to a lifetime of compromise later
Understand the direction your decisions are going to take you
2. Priority; Something that your choosing to do
Everything you say yes to, is a no to something else
Your decisions will weigh on one side of the scale or the other
Andy Reid:
Hall of fame coach
Coached great quarterbacks like Brett Farve, Michael Vick, Donavan McNab, Patrick Mahomes
When he was with the Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Vick had been in prison for dog fighting
Donavan Mcnabb was their veteran quarterback
Brought in Mike Vick to help out their team
Vick being much faster and agile but a bit rusty and Mcnabb being the veteran with experience
Andy chose to start Michael Vick
A lot of people got mad at Andy didn’t understand
Said Vick wasn’t right for the Job blah blah
Everyone was thinking they had a quarterback problem
But what they really had was an offensive line problem
He chose the priority
There priority is that they need someone who could scramble better
Their priority is they needed someone who could give them and have a second more time for a play to develop
They ended winning the NFC championship that year and lost in the superbowl
Andy Reid went on to be one of the most winningest football coaches of all time
is the only coach who has recorded the most wins for two separate franchises
When the crowd is booing your decisions but you keep the right perspective, that is when you have become a real leader
What’s the loudest might not be the biggest problem
What’s urgent might not be the biggest problem
What’s repetitive might not be the biggest problem
I often get opportunities to carry out justice that I pass on because I keep a higher priority:
People will talk bad about you or try and drag your name through the mud
Especially as Christians we error on the side of Love
Our priority is love, not justice
While the Pharisees sought to stone people, Jesus offered forgiveness when they were nailing him to a cross
8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
Amplified:
8Above all, have [c]fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others].
So examine your priority in your decision making:
It might make you look better right now!
I’m more interested in what God thinks later
3. People equation
Every decision has a people equation to it
Picking for dodgeball
You want to win but you also hate making people feel bad
Playing football
Down to the last two guys
Pick whoever I don’t care
As a business owner you realize that everything you do has an affect on your employees:
If you decide to not show up today
If you decide you don’t feel like going out and getting leads
Eventually you won’t have jobs to pay you and you won’t have money to pay your employees
Or you get so much work no one can keep up
Or stretch someone to thin or not enough
It’s wild
That’s why we have the Holy Spirit
So how do we make the right decision?
Begin it with Prayer
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
You would be surprised how many people come to me needing advice for something when they haven’t even taken the time to ask God about it first
Have you even tried to ask God about it
Have you given Him time to answer
God I need an answer today!
God I need clarity
He has your best interest in mind, I promise you
P.R.A.Y- Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
2. Frame the the Problem
What is the real issue
Most of our mistakes in decision making is answering the wrong question
This is where decrement is important
Someone might be coming at you in a way that you don’t appreciate, and they’re really crying out for help, or just want attention
Framing a problem helps you be better specific with your prayers as well
Colter in the hospital- didn’t know what to pray for, so you just pray for what’s in front of you
What is it you need now
I have lack in my life- I want to be a millionaire
Business owner - I need work - I need one job- what’s next two jobs
Line upon line precept upon precept
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”
Give us daily bread
IF it’s a moral issue that should be easy
Your answer is in the Word
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
FRAME THE PROBLEM
3. Accept what God is telling you!
When God says to do something there’s not a lot of wiggle room
Why would he waste his breath if he knows you’re not going to listen anyway?
My life is simple, If the word says it I believe it, if God speaks I’ll obey it
I used this when I talked about Abraham
He was a here I am man
God says get out of your country Here i am
God says Sacrifice your son He says here I am
And when God says Abraham and he provides for him
“If you respond with willingness to His call to sacrifice, it allows you to recognize His voice when He provides” -Sarah Johnson
If you want to make the right decisions do what God is telling you to do
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
4. Obtain council
If you get stuck ask someone around you
More people come to me with their minds already made up “asking me for advice”
You already know what you’re going to do
Or God told me we need to leave the church or that I should marry that person
Who am I to object to God
If you really need advice come with an open mind
If you have a direction, hey I have a thought about doing it this way what do you think
Don’t ask for advice if you’re not willing to hear a different opinion
Even if someones advice isn’t what you’re looking for it might open your eyes to see it, FRAME THE question differently
22 Without counsel, plans go awry,
But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
I’ve seen many a people blow through stop signs in there life and end up wrecking
Then they wonder why life is a mess
LISTEN TO THE WARNINGS ya Dingus
5. Lean on Faith
Jesus thought in terms of miracles
Think in terms of miracles
Don’t be stupid
But don’t contain yourself in small minded thinking
I just want to have enough to eat
Well scripture says he wants you abundantly supplied so that you can give into every good work
That he supplies all our needs according to HIS RICHEs and Glory
Think Bigger
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Be uncomfortable in your reliance on HIM
6. ACT on Your decision
If you have arrived at your decision with the sincere intention of pleasing the heart of God
incorporating biblical principles and wise counsel,
you can proceed with confidence knowing that God will work out his purposes through your decision
Don’t let the fear of failure mess you up
If you’ve given it to pray and given it God
We will not make the correct decision every time or we wouldn’t need God
If we come from a sincere heart
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
He’s called you according to His purpose
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”