December 13, 2024 • 35 mins
What if aligning your life and business with a divine blueprint could transform everything? Tune in to discover how the "Be, Do, Have" principle can guide you to genuine success. We promise that you'll learn how to set meaningful goals by reverse-engineering God's plan without the need for shortcuts, embracing the wisdom of Proverbs 21:5.
This profound connection between faith, identity, and purpose as a Christian entrepreneur is not just about achieving goals—it's about seeing your work as worship and engaging in a cultivation process where patience and perseverance bear fruit.
Expect to hear heartfelt experiences about the blessings that come with obedience to God, and why prioritizing faith over material success can lead to true fulfillment. Learn about striking a balance between humility and gratitude, acknowledging that talents and successes are gifts from above. We explore the dynamic of expecting great things from God while trusting His timing, encouraging you to steward your gifts well and remain faithful to His plan. Through it all, we emphasize that material success should never overshadow gratitude and recognition of God's role in our lives.
If you want to join our Christian Entrepreneur Club, learn more here: https://christianentrepreneurclub.com/info
Want to work directly with my wife and me on your business? Check out Cottle Consulting here: https://cottleconsulting.co/
Want to scale your business with an all-in-one solution software? Get access to our software and training here: https://leadflowprocrm.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, I got a treat for you today.
Every single week inside of ourChristian Entrepreneur Club, we
run a weekly Bible study andoftentimes I give a message
inside of that and sometimes Godspeaks to me so profoundly and
gives me a download.
Man, I should really post thison the Christian Entrepreneur
Podcast For all my ChristianEntrepreneur Club members.
(00:33):
You guys have heard thismessage, but many of you have
requested to hear it again andwe recorded the actual video
recording inside of theChristian Entrepreneur Club
course area but to everyone elsethat's tuning into this podcast
.
I really felt like I needed toget this message to you guys.
So today I'm actually followingthis part of this little intro
(00:55):
I'm recording.
I'm just going to upload theaudio from the training that I
ran and I encourage you guys topress in and take notes if you
can on this, because it's apowerful message about if we be
who God has called us to be andwe do what God has called us to
do, we will have what God hascalled us to have.
But there's some special treatsfor you inside of this message.
(01:15):
I hope you enjoy it as much asI did, taking time to create and
prepare it and let me know whatyou guys get from it and if you
get value from it, share itfrom another person.
And if you want to get involvedwith our Christian Entrepreneur
Club, there's also links in thepodcast where you can join a
call with me I run every week orjust watch a recorded version
(01:35):
and learn more about ourorganization and really this
movement we're creating of doingbusiness God's way and creating
and multiplying wealth for thekingdom, but not being alone in
the process.
And that's why we created thiscommunity to serve you.
It's why I do this podcast,it's why we post on YouTube,
it's why we pour out content onsocial media, because we want to
(01:58):
equip the body of Christ to behighly successful and who God
has called you to be.
Enjoy, guys, and the messagethat I have for you guys today
is be do have In order to livein the blessings of God.
It's important that weunderstand his order for it to
(02:21):
happen In business.
His order for it to happen Inbusiness.
If we want to hit a goal, it'sbest to set a target right.
So in our businesses all of youguys are business owners we
have goals for our revenue.
We have goals for our clientacquisitions.
We have different targets thatwe set in our business and often
(02:41):
people that really understandbusiness, you guys understand we
usually have to reverseengineer that target or that
goal right.
They say you know, set a goaland then work your way backwards
, set a 10-year vision for yourlife and reverse engineer it
(03:09):
back so you know what you needto do every day, every week,
every month, every year to be oncourse to hit the target or hit
the goal.
So let's reverse engineer God'sdesign for our lives and that's
what I want to bring to youguys today, because all of us
want to have incredible lives.
We want to have successfulbusinesses right.
Every single one of you on thiscall.
You want to be successful inyour business.
We heard many stories of God,stories opening this up around
that and believing God andhaving faith.
But wanting to be successful inthe world, we want to have
(03:31):
financial prosperity.
All of us want to make moremoney.
We want to be more successful.
We want to have loving andhealthy families, good
relationships with our spouses,with our children, with our
families and our loved ones.
We want to have longevity withour health, with our children,
with our families and our lovedones.
We want to have longevity withour health right.
We want to live a long time andhave an incredible and healthy
life where we get to experienceas much of it as we can.
(03:53):
We want a legacy that livesbeyond us.
These are just a few things thatI thought of as I was diving
into this.
But here's the thing thesecular world wants to sell us
get-rich-quick schemes, wants tosell us tricks, hacks or
shortcuts to have these thingsin our life.
(04:14):
In fact, there are billions andbillions of dollars generated
every single year selling peoplethe idea that they can shortcut
their way to these things.
But that's not God's design atall.
As believers, we know that itdoesn't work that way.
Proverbs 21.5 says the plans ofthe diligent lead to profit as
(04:40):
surely as haste leads to poverty.
Guys, there's no shortcuts toGod's blessing.
There's no way that you get toshortcut your way to build a
successful business.
There's strategy, there'swisdom, there's tactics.
There's things that we need toimplement in our lives and our
businesses to have results.
(05:00):
But I'm telling you right nowthere's no shortcut to achieving
these things in our life.
We have to actually do what Godhas called us to do as
excellent as we can, and trustGod with the outcomes that we
have.
In a few weeks, I'm going toactually be running a goal
setting workshop inside of theChristian Entrepreneur Club on
(05:22):
December 19th, and I reallyencourage you guys to be on that
call if you can, because I'mgoing to share a framework with
you that has leading and laggingmeasures.
If you've ever heard of this,we actually can't control
results or outcomes in our lifeat all.
It's actually a fallacy.
I don't know if you guys knewthat, but you can't actually
control the results that you getin your life.
(05:43):
The only thing that you cancontrol is the inputs, the
leading measures that go intosomething, that create the
lagging outcomes from it.
Every action Newton's law hasan equal and opposite reaction.
Now let me show you where I'mgoing with this and why I set it
up this way, because the sameprinciples apply to every area
of our life.
(06:03):
We can't have until we do, andwe can't do until we know what
to do, and we don't know what todo until we know who we are.
So if we be who God has calledus to be, we can do what God has
called us to do and we can havewhat God has called us to have
right.
You know Nicholas sharedearlier.
You know I can keep goingmaking money this way in sales,
(06:26):
but I feel that God is callingme a different identity and out
of that different identity, hisactions, his business, the
things he does in the world willshift because they'll come into
alignment with who God hascalled him to be.
You guys catching this.
And then, once we operate outof that place of who God created
us to be, we can do what Godhas called him to be.
You guys catching this, andthen, once we operate out of
(06:47):
that place of who God created usto be, we can do what God has
called us to do and therefore wecan reap and have what God
wants us to have.
So, by being who God created usto be and living out of the
calling he has on our life, wecan be, do and have.
God's design for your lifeinvolves becoming who he created
(07:08):
you to be, doing what he'scalled you to do and receiving
the blessings that flow out ofobedience in our lives.
This is why Jesus shares inMatthew 6, 33 with us.
In the Sermon on the Mount itgave us a formula, guys.
It says but seek first thekingdom of God and his
(07:28):
righteousness and all thesethings will be added unto you.
Why did Jesus tell us that?
Why did he leave us a formula?
Because he knows when we, ashuman beings, go to the Father
and we seek him first, we'regoing to be in our relationship
with him, who he's called us tobe, and out of that place we're
going to do what he relationshipwith him, who he's called us to
be, and out of that place we'regoing to do what he's called us
to do, because we have intimacywith him, we hear from him, we
(07:51):
talk to him daily and thereforewe'll have what we're supposed
to have.
So, number one, the first pointI want to hit on, is B.
Who God created you to be isunique to you.
There will never be another youin the world.
I see Jason right now.
He's got his camera on andmaybe you guys have heard me
share this before.
(08:11):
It's something God's put on myheart for over a decade now.
But I talk a lot about howthere will never be another you
in the world and how God createdyou perfect, just the way you
are.
And I see Jason right now.
And, jason, your responsibilityand your job is to go to God
and understand who he createdyou to be Not Cody Cottle like
me, or I see James Becker,madison or Arnold on here.
(08:35):
Our job is to identify God.
Who am I and why am I here?
If you want a great practice tohelp with this, if you're
struggling in your life knowingyour identity and I'm going to
share some great things inidentity in just a moment but I
want to give you, guys, apractice that shifted everything
for me.
I got invited to go on thismen's hike in North Carolina
(08:57):
with 12 guys and I didn't knowwhat to expect.
It was a faith-based thing andwe were going on an insane hike,
like a 20-mile hike.
It was like the hardest hikeI've ever done.
But before we did it, we had aleader who led us in an exercise
and he helped me understandthat, until I identified who God
has called me to be, I willalways feel confused in my life
(09:20):
because I won't have clarity onwho I am, and everyone teaches
on the identity in Christ, whichI'll touch on.
But there's a point beyondidentity in Christ of our own
uniqueness as human beings andwho God created us to be, and
the practice he gave mechallenged me and I want to give
it to you.
He took our phones away.
I hadn't had that done in along time a grown man.
(09:42):
He took our phones away from us, locked them up, gave us a
small piece of paper, a pencil,and said you're not allowed to
talk for the next hour.
Go find a quiet place in thecabin or out in the woods.
And I want you to go to Godwith two questions God, who am I
?
And God, why am I here?
And we weren't allowed to talkand I prayed and I meditated and
(10:04):
I stared at these two questionsfor probably what felt like 30,
40 minutes of the 60 minutes,just not like I don't know.
And then God started to speakto me.
And you know what, at the endof that hour I didn't have full
clarity on who I was in God andwhat I was called to do.
But what I did have was anunderstanding that I'm only
going to receive it from him andI had to continue to press into
(10:28):
my quiet time with God, askingGod to reveal to me God, who is
Cody Cottle?
God, why am I here?
Why did you put me on thisearth?
2 Corinthians 5.17 says and nowI'm going to go into identity in
Christ, because if you don'tget this right, you're not going
to be able to get what I justtalked about right.
It says, therefore if anyone inChrist is in Christ, the new
(10:50):
creation has come, the old hasgone and the new is here.
This is a word for someone onthis call.
You're still holding onto yourpast.
You're still holding onto yourold identity in your BC days
before you gave your life toJesus.
You're still holding onto thethings that you did years ago
(11:11):
that you have regret about.
You're still holding ontodecisions that you've made and
they're shackling you from thenew identity that you have in
Jesus Christ.
I did this because I was a bigtime drug dealer when I was a
kid, and what I mean by that isI built a mini weed empire at a
young age.
I moved over a million dollarsin cannabis every single year.
(11:32):
By the time I was 19 years old,in my mind I built a little
empire and see, my identity wasin the wrong things and and God
shifted my entire life.
I was actually coming out ofthat in those last few years
because I was being discipled ata church but still
participating in thoseactivities, and I ended up
shifting my entire liferadically through an encounter
(11:54):
with Jesus and walking with him.
But I made a mistake.
For about five years after thatmaybe four For four years after
I gave my life not just likeget saved, but walked with Jesus
and made him Lord of my life, Istill held on to my old
identity.
I still talked about the thingsI did in the past and different
(12:16):
things, and I had this crazyencounter with God at 24 years
old on March 23, at three 33 inthe morning.
I'll never forget.
I have a sticky note and I wroteit down, because I had a dream
and God visited me in the dreamand he showed me and to paint a
picture for you of what I wasseeing in my dream, I was on
this hill and it had like tall,flowing grass and there was a
(12:38):
giant willow tree at the top ofthe hill and I was walking up
through the grass and God wasspeaking to me.
I couldn't see a physical formof God, he was just talking with
me and he said Cody, you willnever become the man that I
created you to be until you letgo of the old identity that you
(12:59):
keep holding onto.
Let go and release.
That man's no longer alive.
You killed him.
I've brought you back to lifethrough my son, jesus, and you
are a new man, born again, andyou have permission to be that
man.
I woke up crying, covered insweat, and I just knew that I
(13:19):
didn't need to hold on toanything from my past anymore,
that God was creating a newcreation in me.
And, guys, someone on this callneeds to hear that You're still
holding on to the old identity,but you're a new creation in
Jesus Christ.
Our identity is in Christ.
When we believe in him, webecome new creations, shedding
(13:44):
our old ways and stepping intoGod's design for our lives.
Some of you are still holdingonto the financial blueprint you
had in your old identity.
Some of you are still holdingonto the habits you had in your
old identity and expectingdifferent outcomes in your life.
You're expecting to have morefinancial wealth.
(14:05):
You're expecting to live a moreincredible life.
You're expecting to have a morefruitful marriage, a better,
stronger, bigger business.
But you're still operating froman identity of who you were
before, not in the identity thatyou're called to live in now.
I hope you guys are catchingthis.
Ephesians 1, 4 through 5 saysNow.
I hope you guys are catchingthis.
(14:25):
Ephesians 1, 4 through 5 saysFor he chose us in him, before
the creation of the world, to beholy and blameless in sight.
Guys, before God ever createdus, he knew what he was doing.
He chose you, he chose me.
He chose us to be blameless insight and love.
He predestined us for adoptionto sonship through Jesus Christ.
(14:49):
Guys, God predestined youbefore he ever created you.
He knew you would be aliveright now.
He knew you'd be on this callright now.
He knew exactly who you weregoing to be and he's always
predestined you to have adoptionto sonship with him through his
(15:09):
son, who he sacrificed for us.
God has chosen us as his own,chosen us as his own.
You know, I think I struggledwith this because my earthly
father was incarcerated for 29years and I never felt real love
(15:29):
like a father's embrace andlove in the way that I should
have as a young boy.
So when I came to know God islike a father, the image and the
conception I had of what afather is wasn't who my heavenly
father really is, because myearthly father had made some
(15:51):
mistakes and those mistakes hadhurt me, they had traumatized me
, they had distorted the imageof the way that I see a
father-like figure in my life.
But I read a book calledExperiencing the Father's
Embrace by an author named JackFrost and I went through a
little Bible study with somegreat godly men and they showed
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me that God is a loving fatherwho has always loved me, and
guys that shifted so much for meFor the first time in my life.
I remember breaking down withthese guys in a Bible study,
weeping and tears, because thefirst time in my life I realized
that God is a father who'salways loved me and that I've
actually always had a dad, thatI never was fatherless, that I
(16:35):
never was an orphan, because Godwas always with me, even when
my earthly father wasn't able tobe.
Recognizing this truth in ourlife helps us be confident in
who God made us to be.
You know, when I went throughthat process I actually became
more confident in myself as aman, in myself as a business
owner, in these different areasof my life, because I knew I had
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a dad who's always got my back.
Identity matters who you are inChrist is chosen, loved and
redeemed.
You know.
I just want to say that if wedon't get be right, we can't get
do right.
There's an order for this toflow.
If we don't understand ouridentity in Christ and as a son
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of God and operate out of thatplace, you will always be
searching for something in yourlife and wondering why you can't
find it.
Because it only flows out ofidentity.
Identity creates belief systems,belief systems create thought
patterns, thought patternscreate our habits, habits create
our actions and actions createour results.
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So if we reverse, engineer thisbackwards and you want better
results in your life, then yougot to change your habits, and
the only way you change yourhabits is if you change your
thought life.
The only way you change yourthought life is if you change
your belief systems.
The only way you change yourbelief systems is if you
understand your identity life,and the only way you change your
thought life is if you changeyour belief systems.
The only way you change yourbelief systems is if you
understand your identity andchange that.
And there's only one place weget true identity.
If we find it on this earth,it's always going to be the
(18:06):
wrong thing, something's alwaysgoing to be off, something's
always going to be missing.
You can go make a milliondollars this year, guys.
You can go make 10 million, youcan go make a hundred million,
but if the identity isn't rightin the flow of doing that,
you're still going to bedepressed, you're still going to
be anxious, you're still goingto be stressed.
Something's still going to bemissing.
God's design is trust increating that.
(18:28):
He created us with purpose andintention.
He made you for a reason andthere's nothing wrong with you
If you're struggling financiallyright now.
There's nothing wrong with you.
God created you and he doesn'tmake mistakes.
We have to reject lies, counterany negative self-image or
self-talk from Satan about whowe are.
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Satan is a trickster and he's adeceiver.
When things don't go well inyour life, he'll come into your
life.
He'll whisper in your earyou're not enough or you'll
never be enough, or you're afailure.
You let this person down or allthese things that are just lies
.
But we have to remember ourauthority and our identity and
our sonship in Jesus Christ thatwe can actually speak to those
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spirits and say get out of mylife.
Doubt, you're not welcome.
Get out of my life.
Fear, you're not welcome.
Get out of my life anxiety,stress, overwhelm, poverty.
I rebuke you in the name ofJesus and if there's anyone on
this call that is strugglingwith any of those things that I
mentioned.
I stand in agreement and Irebuke that in your life in the
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name of Jesus, and I call for aspirit of a sound mind, of
courage, of boldness, ofcourageousness, of sonship, of
being loved by your father andknowing who you are through your
father and through his son, whohe sent for you, because that's
how much he loves you.
Point number two is do Now thatwe got identity.
Now we need to do what God hascalled us to do.
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Y'all are my favorite people inthe world.
You want to know why?
Because you're Christianentrepreneurs and I love
business owners.
Because we are doers.
We are not just people that sitaround and pray and hope.
We are people that go, takemassive action in our life and
do something with the gifts thatGod has given us.
We're stewards, we're faithful,we're multipliers, we're
(20:15):
increasers of who God created usto be.
Because, out of who he createdus to be, we're going to do what
he's called us to do.
That's why you have a business.
It's an assignment on your life.
So, after understanding ouridentity, we live it out by
doing what God has called us todo.
Remember God?
Who am I God?
Why am I here?
Why am I here?
Assignment mandate calling onyour life.
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We have to work with excellenceand diligence in our God-given
purpose.
You cannot do what God hascalled you to do and have what
God has called you to have ifyou are not excellent and
diligent with what theassignment he has on your life
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is.
It's hard work for a reason.
God designed it that way.
The land has to be worked.
If the land is not worked,there will not be a harvest.
We have to be diligent with ourwork.
Colossians 3, 23 through 24 saysWhatever you do, work at it
with all your heart.
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As for working for the Lord,not for human masters, since you
know that you have received aninheritance from the Lord as a
reward.
You know I had a crazy momenton this scripture the other day.
I've said the scripture a lot.
I do it in the discovery call.
I love this verse, but Godshowed me like we get salvation,
(21:42):
we get saved and we have aninheritance of eternity in
heaven.
And now we have a time periodbetween salvation and going to
heaven, where we've beenentrusted with a life and in
that life we're working for ourfather.
We're actually pleasing him.
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Work is worship.
The way we work our business isa way that we worship God.
Guys, as you go into yourbusiness today and you get
frustrated, I want to remind youin the middle of that work,
you're actually worshiping yourfather, saying God, I'm so
grateful you gave me the lifeyou've given me to live.
God, I'm so grateful I have aninheritance in heaven.
(22:23):
God, I'm so grateful I havegifts you entrusted me with and
I have a business that you'veshown me how to build.
So today, god, I'm going togive you my best.
Today, god, I'm going to beexcellent.
Today, god, I'm going to bediligent with the thing that
you've put in my hands, becauseI want to worship you and honor
you.
Honor is something that we holdin high regard.
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With what you've given me, knowthat you let me skip my line.
When we work with excellence ina servant's heart, we dedicate
all of our efforts to God,rather than seeking human
approval.
Guys, we're playing for anaudience of one.
The only person you have toplease today is God.
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It does not matter what otherpeople are doing.
It doesn't matter what thatperson you follow on Instagram
has is doing or whatever.
None of that matters.
It doesn't matter how muchmoney is in your bank account.
None of that matters.
The only thing that matters isyou're honoring God with what
he's given you.
That's it, proverbs 21.5,.
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I said this earlier.
But the plans of the diligencelead to profit as sure as haste
leads to poverty.
And I just want to hit it onemore time, because if you're
trying to shortcut your way tosuccess, you have to understand
that's not how God designed it.
There's a process thatsomething has to go through in
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order for it to be fruitful.
You know, if we want a harvest,if we look at crops, there's a
seed that has to be buriedunderground and covered.
That seed has to be watered,there has to be sunshine, it has
to sprout and grow roots, ithas to grow, it has to survive
that period of growth, it has tohave rain and sunshine and
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nutrients to produce a harvest,fruit, and then it has to be
picked and stored and all thethings the right way.
There's a process that we haveto go through in our businesses
in order to yield a harvest.
I think I was the guy that triedto figure all the shortcuts out
.
And I'm not saying we shouldn'thave wisdom, we shouldn't have
tactics, we shouldn't mastermind, we shouldn't get in
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communities like this.
That's necessary.
But the moment I stopped tryingto get rich quick, the moment I
stopped trying to buyeverything, every guru was
saying that they weren'tactually doing to get rich.
And I just started saying, god,how do I take what you've given
me it's pretty small right nowand just be faithful with it?
Show me the process you'd haveme go through, god, to steward
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what you've given me.
God blesses hard work anddiligence.
Shortcuts often lead to failure, while steady, faithful effort
yields success.
Faithful stewardship is I wrotea few points on this one because
this point is so important.
Faithful stewardship looks likeI wrote a few points on this
one because this point is soimportant.
Faithful stewardship looks likeusing the talents and gifts
(25:24):
that God gave each of you tohonor him.
Now I have a gift that I'verecognized, that God has given
me, of communication, and Iwrestled with this gift because
early on in my career I didsales.
Like my friend Nicholas sharedearlier.
I can go get a sales job anyday of the week and sell for a
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company that has an expensiveproduct and make a lot of money
because I'm very good atcommunication and I've mastered
my gift and I've sharpened it.
But I had a wrestling in myspirit with the gift God gave me
and how I was using it.
I felt like something was offin my life.
I felt like I wasn't using thething that God had entrusted me
(26:06):
with in the way that he'd haveme use it.
And that's when I made theshift into becoming the man that
you guys see today, because Iknew in my identity and I
understood the gifts that Godgave me.
So I began to go to God and sayshow me how you would have me
use these gifts.
And one of the ways I'm usingit is right now.
I'm using the gift God gave meof communication to steward with
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excellence and diligence thismessage to you guys this morning
.
I want you to think about theunique gifts that you have.
How do you steward those giftsand give them away to the world
and express them through yourguys' companies and businesses
and lives?
Trust God and His timing.
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This is the hardest point,because everyone likes to talk
about sowing seed and everyonelikes to talk about harvest, but
no one likes to talk about whathappens in between the two time
periods when you sow a seedinto the ground to the time that
you harvest it.
There's quite a long timeperiod of that thing having to
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grow and develop to becomeharvestable.
And I just want to remind someof you even some of you shared
on this call it was so perfect,the God stories.
You've been sowing seed andyou're frustrated because you
haven't seen the harvest yet inyour life or your business or
your finances or whatever it isyou've been sowing into.
And I just want to remind youthat the farmer never doubts
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that the crop will grow.
The farmer always knows thatthere's a recipe that God has
given him to plant a seed in theground, to water it, to take
care of it, and that it willgrow.
Sure, there are conditionsoutside of the farmer's control
diseases, insects, things likethat, weather that can affect
the crop and things like thatcan affect our business, right
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Economy.
We want to do a recession.
It's going to affect yourbusiness.
It's outside of your control.
But God reminded me, cody, yourjob's not to worry about that.
Your job's to plant the seedand take care of the field, and
that's it.
I will provide the harvest.
Point number three now thatwe're being who God's called us
to be, we're doing what God'scalled us to do.
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We are going to have what Godwants us to bless us, what God
wants to bless you with.
I know we're a little over time, but let me finish on this
point.
God desires to bless us, butblessing often comes as a result
of being faithful in who we areand how we honor him with our
(28:48):
businesses, with our life.
Obedience always precedesblessing.
Guys, if you want more from God, seek him more.
Spend time with him more.
We didn't know this extrabottle of handsome come from.
We had someone who was unmuted.
When we prioritize God'skingdom and righteousness, he
(29:12):
provides for all of our needs,including material and spiritual
blessings.
Guys, psalms 84 11 says for theLord, god is a sun and shield.
The Lord bestows favor andhonor.
(29:35):
Guys, god's never going towithhold your blessing.
God's never going to withholdprovision for heaven on your
life.
If you're walking with him,you're spending time with him,
you're seeking him diligently,you're asking him God, who am I,
god, why am I here?
And you're doing the things Godhas called you to do.
Never in my experience as aChristian have I ever truly seen
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God withhold true blessing frommy life when my walk is
blameless.
He's never like I'm not goingto give you this just because he
always.
There might be a pathway to thatthing that I couldn't see with
my human eyes or understand ordiscern.
That took a little longer toget to the destination than I,
(30:19):
quite frankly, would have liked.
I would have liked it a lotsooner.
I would have liked to bewealthy sooner in life, but God
had a path he had to take me onto get to that place that he
knew I needed to go on.
God's blessing followsobedience.
Blessings are a byproduct ofliving in alignment with God and
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his will for your life.
Seek him first.
Prioritize God's kingdom overyour worldly pursuits.
This was a hard one for me.
I'm almost done.
I think goals are good.
We're going to do agoal-setting workshop in a few
weeks.
Obviously I believe in them, butI think sometimes we will
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over-prioritize our worldlypursuits over our intimacy and
our relationship to hear fromGod.
The order can't get flipped.
We have to prioritize seekingHim first and His will for our
life.
Secondary has to be the desiresof our hearts and our pursuits
(31:22):
and our goals and our targetsand our KPIs for our businesses
and our life.
In fact, so much so when I wentthrough a season of actually
doing this, not just saying it.
God uprooted a lot of things inmy life.
So just so you all know, ifyou're going to live in
obedience, be prepared for Godto shake your life up.
I closed a business down.
I gave up a ton of money.
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I chose not to move forwardwith partnerships that looked
really good on paper.
I went through a season ofdoing less, where I felt like I
was being lazy because I'm soused to working 100 plus hour
weeks because God wanted moretime with me.
But out of that came theidentity of the man you see
today came the ChristianEntrepreneur Club, came the
(32:10):
nonprofit Seven Peaks, came thethings that my wife and I are
doing today, and I've never feltmore fulfilled than I feel
right now in my life.
But I actually had to prioritizemy relationship with God over
my worldly pursuits and as anentrepreneur who's been wired by
the secular world, that wasreally hard for me to do because
I was so used to outworkingeveryone.
And now I don't believe in that.
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I actually don't believe youneed to work every weekend of
your life.
I don't think you guys need togo work $100 weeks to be
successful.
I think it's all a lie.
I think it's a tactic from theenemy.
I think he knows if he can'tget you to sin, he'll keep you
so busy.
You won't have a relationshipwith God.
I think less is more.
I think more time with God isthe best strategy you could ever
have in your business.
(32:51):
I prioritize spending more timewith God than I do reading
personal development books.
I spend more time prioritizingmy time with God than I do
masterminding.
I spend more time in myintimacy with the Lord than I do
doing all these worldly things,because I know that's the
number one source that's goingto show me exactly where I need
to go and what I need to do, andit hasn't let me down yet and
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I'm going to keep doing it and Iencourage you to do it.
So receive.
The last thing is we do receiveblessing from God.
God will bless you financially.
God will give you things.
God will allow you to have yourworldly pursuits.
Never lose sight of where theycome from.
Always have gratitude, alwayshave thanks in God's blessing
(33:36):
when pride and ego come outbecause they do I battle it too,
y'all.
I did this.
I built this company.
I made these millions ofdollars?
No, I didn't.
God allowed me to have anassignment and I was faithful
with the assignment and Godblessed me.
On the other side of myobedience, the moment my pride
comes in and Cody did this andCody did that, and I'm talented
(33:59):
and I'm gifted is the moment westep back out of alignment with
our identity in Christ.
And I don't know about y'all,but I've had been had to be
slapped on the head, the wrist,wherever you want to say,
slapped all over by God too manytimes in that place that now I
ain't taking credit for any ofit.
God will use me.
Yes, I'm diligent, I'mexcellent, but my identity is
(34:22):
not in those outcomes.
My identity is just being a sonand being faithful as a son and
stewarding what God's put in myhands.
If God God might take it awaytomorrow, he'll have a reason
for it.
God might double what we havetomorrow.
He'll have a reason for it.
I trust him in that.
So be thankful for what God hasalready provided in your life.
Be thankful for what he'salready given you and, at the
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same time, trust him for more.
At the same time, believe Godcan do more in your life.
Be thankful for what he'salready given you and, at the
same time, trust him for more.
At the same time, believe Godcan do more in your life.
At the same time, expect more.
There is nothing wrong withexpecting great things from God.
The only thing is theexpectation has to know it's in
his time, not your time.
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So that's my message for youguys today.
I hope it hit, I hope it landedand I hope some of you guys got
some stuff from it.
Hey guys, I got a treat for you today.
Every single week inside of ourChristian Entrepreneur Club, we
run a weekly Bible study andoftentimes I give a message
inside of that and sometimes Godspeaks to me so profoundly and
gives me a download.
Man, I should really post thison the Christian Entrepreneur
Podcast For all my ChristianEntrepreneur Club members.
(00:33):
You guys have heard thismessage, but many of you have
requested to hear it again andwe recorded the actual video
recording inside of theChristian Entrepreneur Club
course area but to everyone elsethat's tuning into this podcast
.
I really felt like I needed toget this message to you guys.
So today I'm actually followingthis part of this little intro
(00:55):
I'm recording.
I'm just going to upload theaudio from the training that I
ran and I encourage you guys topress in and take notes if you
can on this, because it's apowerful message about if we be
who God has called us to be andwe do what God has called us to
do, we will have what God hascalled us to have.
But there's some special treatsfor you inside of this message.
(01:15):
I hope you enjoy it as much asI did, taking time to create and
prepare it and let me know whatyou guys get from it and if you
get value from it, share itfrom another person.
And if you want to get involvedwith our Christian Entrepreneur
Club, there's also links in thepodcast where you can join a
call with me I run every week orjust watch a recorded version
(01:35):
and learn more about ourorganization and really this
movement we're creating of doingbusiness God's way and creating
and multiplying wealth for thekingdom, but not being alone in
the process.
And that's why we created thiscommunity to serve you.
It's why I do this podcast,it's why we post on YouTube,
it's why we pour out content onsocial media, because we want to
(01:58):
equip the body of Christ to behighly successful and who God
has called you to be.
Enjoy, guys, and the messagethat I have for you guys today
is be do have In order to livein the blessings of God.
It's important that weunderstand his order for it to
(02:21):
happen In business.
His order for it to happen Inbusiness.
If we want to hit a goal, it'sbest to set a target right.
So in our businesses all of youguys are business owners we
have goals for our revenue.
We have goals for our clientacquisitions.
We have different targets thatwe set in our business and often
(02:41):
people that really understandbusiness, you guys understand we
usually have to reverseengineer that target or that
goal right.
They say you know, set a goaland then work your way backwards
, set a 10-year vision for yourlife and reverse engineer it
(03:09):
back so you know what you needto do every day, every week,
every month, every year to be oncourse to hit the target or hit
the goal.
So let's reverse engineer God'sdesign for our lives and that's
what I want to bring to youguys today, because all of us
want to have incredible lives.
We want to have successfulbusinesses right.
Every single one of you on thiscall.
You want to be successful inyour business.
We heard many stories of God,stories opening this up around
that and believing God andhaving faith.
But wanting to be successful inthe world, we want to have
(03:31):
financial prosperity.
All of us want to make moremoney.
We want to be more successful.
We want to have loving andhealthy families, good
relationships with our spouses,with our children, with our
families and our loved ones.
We want to have longevity withour health, with our children,
with our families and our lovedones.
We want to have longevity withour health right.
We want to live a long time andhave an incredible and healthy
life where we get to experienceas much of it as we can.
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We want a legacy that livesbeyond us.
These are just a few things thatI thought of as I was diving
into this.
But here's the thing thesecular world wants to sell us
get-rich-quick schemes, wants tosell us tricks, hacks or
shortcuts to have these thingsin our life.
(04:14):
In fact, there are billions andbillions of dollars generated
every single year selling peoplethe idea that they can shortcut
their way to these things.
But that's not God's design atall.
As believers, we know that itdoesn't work that way.
Proverbs 21.5 says the plans ofthe diligent lead to profit as
(04:40):
surely as haste leads to poverty.
Guys, there's no shortcuts toGod's blessing.
There's no way that you get toshortcut your way to build a
successful business.
There's strategy, there'swisdom, there's tactics.
There's things that we need toimplement in our lives and our
businesses to have results.
(05:00):
But I'm telling you right nowthere's no shortcut to achieving
these things in our life.
We have to actually do what Godhas called us to do as
excellent as we can, and trustGod with the outcomes that we
have.
In a few weeks, I'm going toactually be running a goal
setting workshop inside of theChristian Entrepreneur Club on
(05:22):
December 19th, and I reallyencourage you guys to be on that
call if you can, because I'mgoing to share a framework with
you that has leading and laggingmeasures.
If you've ever heard of this,we actually can't control
results or outcomes in our lifeat all.
It's actually a fallacy.
I don't know if you guys knewthat, but you can't actually
control the results that you getin your life.
(05:43):
The only thing that you cancontrol is the inputs, the
leading measures that go intosomething, that create the
lagging outcomes from it.
Every action Newton's law hasan equal and opposite reaction.
Now let me show you where I'mgoing with this and why I set it
up this way, because the sameprinciples apply to every area
of our life.
(06:03):
We can't have until we do, andwe can't do until we know what
to do, and we don't know what todo until we know who we are.
So if we be who God has calledus to be, we can do what God has
called us to do and we can havewhat God has called us to have
right.
You know Nicholas sharedearlier.
You know I can keep goingmaking money this way in sales,
(06:26):
but I feel that God is callingme a different identity and out
of that different identity, hisactions, his business, the
things he does in the world willshift because they'll come into
alignment with who God hascalled him to be.
You guys catching this.
And then, once we operate outof that place of who God created
us to be, we can do what Godhas called him to be.
You guys catching this, andthen, once we operate out of
(06:47):
that place of who God created usto be, we can do what God has
called us to do and therefore wecan reap and have what God
wants us to have.
So, by being who God created usto be and living out of the
calling he has on our life, wecan be, do and have.
God's design for your lifeinvolves becoming who he created
(07:08):
you to be, doing what he'scalled you to do and receiving
the blessings that flow out ofobedience in our lives.
This is why Jesus shares inMatthew 6, 33 with us.
In the Sermon on the Mount itgave us a formula, guys.
It says but seek first thekingdom of God and his
(07:28):
righteousness and all thesethings will be added unto you.
Why did Jesus tell us that?
Why did he leave us a formula?
Because he knows when we, ashuman beings, go to the Father
and we seek him first, we'regoing to be in our relationship
with him, who he's called us tobe, and out of that place we're
going to do what he relationshipwith him, who he's called us to
be, and out of that place we'regoing to do what he's called us
to do, because we have intimacywith him, we hear from him, we
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talk to him daily and thereforewe'll have what we're supposed
to have.
So, number one, the first pointI want to hit on, is B.
Who God created you to be isunique to you.
There will never be another youin the world.
I see Jason right now.
He's got his camera on andmaybe you guys have heard me
share this before.
(08:11):
It's something God's put on myheart for over a decade now.
But I talk a lot about howthere will never be another you
in the world and how God createdyou perfect, just the way you
are.
And I see Jason right now.
And, jason, your responsibilityand your job is to go to God
and understand who he createdyou to be Not Cody Cottle like
me, or I see James Becker,madison or Arnold on here.
(08:35):
Our job is to identify God.
Who am I and why am I here?
If you want a great practice tohelp with this, if you're
struggling in your life knowingyour identity and I'm going to
share some great things inidentity in just a moment but I
want to give you, guys, apractice that shifted everything
for me.
I got invited to go on thismen's hike in North Carolina
(08:57):
with 12 guys and I didn't knowwhat to expect.
It was a faith-based thing andwe were going on an insane hike,
like a 20-mile hike.
It was like the hardest hikeI've ever done.
But before we did it, we had aleader who led us in an exercise
and he helped me understandthat, until I identified who God
has called me to be, I willalways feel confused in my life
(09:20):
because I won't have clarity onwho I am, and everyone teaches
on the identity in Christ, whichI'll touch on.
But there's a point beyondidentity in Christ of our own
uniqueness as human beings andwho God created us to be, and
the practice he gave mechallenged me and I want to give
it to you.
He took our phones away.
I hadn't had that done in along time a grown man.
(09:42):
He took our phones away from us, locked them up, gave us a
small piece of paper, a pencil,and said you're not allowed to
talk for the next hour.
Go find a quiet place in thecabin or out in the woods.
And I want you to go to Godwith two questions God, who am I
?
And God, why am I here?
And we weren't allowed to talkand I prayed and I meditated and
(10:04):
I stared at these two questionsfor probably what felt like 30,
40 minutes of the 60 minutes,just not like I don't know.
And then God started to speakto me.
And you know what, at the endof that hour I didn't have full
clarity on who I was in God andwhat I was called to do.
But what I did have was anunderstanding that I'm only
going to receive it from him andI had to continue to press into
(10:28):
my quiet time with God, askingGod to reveal to me God, who is
Cody Cottle?
God, why am I here?
Why did you put me on thisearth?
2 Corinthians 5.17 says and nowI'm going to go into identity in
Christ, because if you don'tget this right, you're not going
to be able to get what I justtalked about right.
It says, therefore if anyone inChrist is in Christ, the new
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creation has come, the old hasgone and the new is here.
This is a word for someone onthis call.
You're still holding onto yourpast.
You're still holding onto yourold identity in your BC days
before you gave your life toJesus.
You're still holding onto thethings that you did years ago
(11:11):
that you have regret about.
You're still holding ontodecisions that you've made and
they're shackling you from thenew identity that you have in
Jesus Christ.
I did this because I was a bigtime drug dealer when I was a
kid, and what I mean by that isI built a mini weed empire at a
young age.
I moved over a million dollarsin cannabis every single year.
(11:32):
By the time I was 19 years old,in my mind I built a little
empire and see, my identity wasin the wrong things and and God
shifted my entire life.
I was actually coming out ofthat in those last few years
because I was being discipled ata church but still
participating in thoseactivities, and I ended up
shifting my entire liferadically through an encounter
(11:54):
with Jesus and walking with him.
But I made a mistake.
For about five years after thatmaybe four For four years after
I gave my life not just likeget saved, but walked with Jesus
and made him Lord of my life, Istill held on to my old
identity.
I still talked about the thingsI did in the past and different
(12:16):
things, and I had this crazyencounter with God at 24 years
old on March 23, at three 33 inthe morning.
I'll never forget.
I have a sticky note and I wroteit down, because I had a dream
and God visited me in the dreamand he showed me and to paint a
picture for you of what I wasseeing in my dream, I was on
this hill and it had like tall,flowing grass and there was a
(12:38):
giant willow tree at the top ofthe hill and I was walking up
through the grass and God wasspeaking to me.
I couldn't see a physical formof God, he was just talking with
me and he said Cody, you willnever become the man that I
created you to be until you letgo of the old identity that you
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keep holding onto.
Let go and release.
That man's no longer alive.
You killed him.
I've brought you back to lifethrough my son, jesus, and you
are a new man, born again, andyou have permission to be that
man.
I woke up crying, covered insweat, and I just knew that I
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didn't need to hold on toanything from my past anymore,
that God was creating a newcreation in me.
And, guys, someone on this callneeds to hear that You're still
holding on to the old identity,but you're a new creation in
Jesus Christ.
Our identity is in Christ.
When we believe in him, webecome new creations, shedding
(13:44):
our old ways and stepping intoGod's design for our lives.
Some of you are still holdingonto the financial blueprint you
had in your old identity.
Some of you are still holdingonto the habits you had in your
old identity and expectingdifferent outcomes in your life.
You're expecting to have morefinancial wealth.
(14:05):
You're expecting to live a moreincredible life.
You're expecting to have a morefruitful marriage, a better,
stronger, bigger business.
But you're still operating froman identity of who you were
before, not in the identity thatyou're called to live in now.
I hope you guys are catchingthis.
Ephesians 1, 4 through 5 saysNow.
I hope you guys are catchingthis.
(14:25):
Ephesians 1, 4 through 5 saysFor he chose us in him, before
the creation of the world, to beholy and blameless in sight.
Guys, before God ever createdus, he knew what he was doing.
He chose you, he chose me.
He chose us to be blameless insight and love.
He predestined us for adoptionto sonship through Jesus Christ.
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Guys, God predestined youbefore he ever created you.
He knew you would be aliveright now.
He knew you'd be on this callright now.
He knew exactly who you weregoing to be and he's always
predestined you to have adoptionto sonship with him through his
(15:09):
son, who he sacrificed for us.
God has chosen us as his own,chosen us as his own.
You know, I think I struggledwith this because my earthly
father was incarcerated for 29years and I never felt real love
(15:29):
like a father's embrace andlove in the way that I should
have as a young boy.
So when I came to know God islike a father, the image and the
conception I had of what afather is wasn't who my heavenly
father really is, because myearthly father had made some
(15:51):
mistakes and those mistakes hadhurt me, they had traumatized me
, they had distorted the imageof the way that I see a
father-like figure in my life.
But I read a book calledExperiencing the Father's
Embrace by an author named JackFrost and I went through a
little Bible study with somegreat godly men and they showed
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me that God is a loving fatherwho has always loved me, and
guys that shifted so much for meFor the first time in my life.
I remember breaking down withthese guys in a Bible study,
weeping and tears, because thefirst time in my life I realized
that God is a father who'salways loved me and that I've
actually always had a dad, thatI never was fatherless, that I
(16:35):
never was an orphan, because Godwas always with me, even when
my earthly father wasn't able tobe.
Recognizing this truth in ourlife helps us be confident in
who God made us to be.
You know, when I went throughthat process I actually became
more confident in myself as aman, in myself as a business
owner, in these different areasof my life, because I knew I had
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a dad who's always got my back.
Identity matters who you are inChrist is chosen, loved and
redeemed.
You know.
I just want to say that if wedon't get be right, we can't get
do right.
There's an order for this toflow.
If we don't understand ouridentity in Christ and as a son
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of God and operate out of thatplace, you will always be
searching for something in yourlife and wondering why you can't
find it.
Because it only flows out ofidentity.
Identity creates belief systems,belief systems create thought
patterns, thought patternscreate our habits, habits create
our actions and actions createour results.
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So if we reverse, engineer thisbackwards and you want better
results in your life, then yougot to change your habits, and
the only way you change yourhabits is if you change your
thought life.
The only way you change yourthought life is if you change
your belief systems.
The only way you change yourbelief systems is if you
understand your identity life,and the only way you change your
thought life is if you changeyour belief systems.
The only way you change yourbelief systems is if you
understand your identity andchange that.
And there's only one place weget true identity.
If we find it on this earth,it's always going to be the
(18:06):
wrong thing, something's alwaysgoing to be off, something's
always going to be missing.
You can go make a milliondollars this year, guys.
You can go make 10 million, youcan go make a hundred million,
but if the identity isn't rightin the flow of doing that,
you're still going to bedepressed, you're still going to
be anxious, you're still goingto be stressed.
Something's still going to bemissing.
God's design is trust increating that.
(18:28):
He created us with purpose andintention.
He made you for a reason andthere's nothing wrong with you
If you're struggling financiallyright now.
There's nothing wrong with you.
God created you and he doesn'tmake mistakes.
We have to reject lies, counterany negative self-image or
self-talk from Satan about whowe are.
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Satan is a trickster and he's adeceiver.
When things don't go well inyour life, he'll come into your
life.
He'll whisper in your earyou're not enough or you'll
never be enough, or you're afailure.
You let this person down or allthese things that are just lies
.
But we have to remember ourauthority and our identity and
our sonship in Jesus Christ thatwe can actually speak to those
(19:10):
spirits and say get out of mylife.
Doubt, you're not welcome.
Get out of my life.
Fear, you're not welcome.
Get out of my life anxiety,stress, overwhelm, poverty.
I rebuke you in the name ofJesus and if there's anyone on
this call that is strugglingwith any of those things that I
mentioned.
I stand in agreement and Irebuke that in your life in the
(19:30):
name of Jesus, and I call for aspirit of a sound mind, of
courage, of boldness, ofcourageousness, of sonship, of
being loved by your father andknowing who you are through your
father and through his son, whohe sent for you, because that's
how much he loves you.
Point number two is do Now thatwe got identity.
Now we need to do what God hascalled us to do.
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Y'all are my favorite people inthe world.
You want to know why?
Because you're Christianentrepreneurs and I love
business owners.
Because we are doers.
We are not just people that sitaround and pray and hope.
We are people that go, takemassive action in our life and
do something with the gifts thatGod has given us.
We're stewards, we're faithful,we're multipliers, we're
(20:15):
increasers of who God created usto be.
Because, out of who he createdus to be, we're going to do what
he's called us to do.
That's why you have a business.
It's an assignment on your life.
So, after understanding ouridentity, we live it out by
doing what God has called us todo.
Remember God?
Who am I God?
Why am I here?
Why am I here?
Assignment mandate calling onyour life.
(20:37):
We have to work with excellenceand diligence in our God-given
purpose.
You cannot do what God hascalled you to do and have what
God has called you to have ifyou are not excellent and
diligent with what theassignment he has on your life
(21:00):
is.
It's hard work for a reason.
God designed it that way.
The land has to be worked.
If the land is not worked,there will not be a harvest.
We have to be diligent with ourwork.
Colossians 3, 23 through 24 saysWhatever you do, work at it
with all your heart.
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As for working for the Lord,not for human masters, since you
know that you have received aninheritance from the Lord as a
reward.
You know I had a crazy momenton this scripture the other day.
I've said the scripture a lot.
I do it in the discovery call.
I love this verse, but Godshowed me like we get salvation,
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we get saved and we have aninheritance of eternity in
heaven.
And now we have a time periodbetween salvation and going to
heaven, where we've beenentrusted with a life and in
that life we're working for ourfather.
We're actually pleasing him.
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Work is worship.
The way we work our business isa way that we worship God.
Guys, as you go into yourbusiness today and you get
frustrated, I want to remind youin the middle of that work,
you're actually worshiping yourfather, saying God, I'm so
grateful you gave me the lifeyou've given me to live.
God, I'm so grateful I have aninheritance in heaven.
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God, I'm so grateful I havegifts you entrusted me with and
I have a business that you'veshown me how to build.
So today, god, I'm going togive you my best.
Today, god, I'm going to beexcellent.
Today, god, I'm going to bediligent with the thing that
you've put in my hands, becauseI want to worship you and honor
you.
Honor is something that we holdin high regard.
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With what you've given me, knowthat you let me skip my line.
When we work with excellence ina servant's heart, we dedicate
all of our efforts to God,rather than seeking human
approval.
Guys, we're playing for anaudience of one.
The only person you have toplease today is God.
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It does not matter what otherpeople are doing.
It doesn't matter what thatperson you follow on Instagram
has is doing or whatever.
None of that matters.
It doesn't matter how muchmoney is in your bank account.
None of that matters.
The only thing that matters isyou're honoring God with what
he's given you.
That's it, proverbs 21.5,.
(23:30):
I said this earlier.
But the plans of the diligencelead to profit as sure as haste
leads to poverty.
And I just want to hit it onemore time, because if you're
trying to shortcut your way tosuccess, you have to understand
that's not how God designed it.
There's a process thatsomething has to go through in
(23:51):
order for it to be fruitful.
You know, if we want a harvest,if we look at crops, there's a
seed that has to be buriedunderground and covered.
That seed has to be watered,there has to be sunshine, it has
to sprout and grow roots, ithas to grow, it has to survive
that period of growth, it has tohave rain and sunshine and
(24:13):
nutrients to produce a harvest,fruit, and then it has to be
picked and stored and all thethings the right way.
There's a process that we haveto go through in our businesses
in order to yield a harvest.
I think I was the guy that triedto figure all the shortcuts out
.
And I'm not saying we shouldn'thave wisdom, we shouldn't have
tactics, we shouldn't mastermind, we shouldn't get in
(24:34):
communities like this.
That's necessary.
But the moment I stopped tryingto get rich quick, the moment I
stopped trying to buyeverything, every guru was
saying that they weren'tactually doing to get rich.
And I just started saying, god,how do I take what you've given
me it's pretty small right nowand just be faithful with it?
Show me the process you'd haveme go through, god, to steward
(24:59):
what you've given me.
God blesses hard work anddiligence.
Shortcuts often lead to failure, while steady, faithful effort
yields success.
Faithful stewardship is I wrotea few points on this one because
this point is so important.
Faithful stewardship looks likeI wrote a few points on this
one because this point is soimportant.
Faithful stewardship looks likeusing the talents and gifts
(25:24):
that God gave each of you tohonor him.
Now I have a gift that I'verecognized, that God has given
me, of communication, and Iwrestled with this gift because
early on in my career I didsales.
Like my friend Nicholas sharedearlier.
I can go get a sales job anyday of the week and sell for a
(25:44):
company that has an expensiveproduct and make a lot of money
because I'm very good atcommunication and I've mastered
my gift and I've sharpened it.
But I had a wrestling in myspirit with the gift God gave me
and how I was using it.
I felt like something was offin my life.
I felt like I wasn't using thething that God had entrusted me
(26:06):
with in the way that he'd haveme use it.
And that's when I made theshift into becoming the man that
you guys see today, because Iknew in my identity and I
understood the gifts that Godgave me.
So I began to go to God and sayshow me how you would have me
use these gifts.
And one of the ways I'm usingit is right now.
I'm using the gift God gave meof communication to steward with
(26:32):
excellence and diligence thismessage to you guys this morning
.
I want you to think about theunique gifts that you have.
How do you steward those giftsand give them away to the world
and express them through yourguys' companies and businesses
and lives?
Trust God and His timing.
(26:54):
This is the hardest point,because everyone likes to talk
about sowing seed and everyonelikes to talk about harvest, but
no one likes to talk about whathappens in between the two time
periods when you sow a seedinto the ground to the time that
you harvest it.
There's quite a long timeperiod of that thing having to
(27:17):
grow and develop to becomeharvestable.
And I just want to remind someof you even some of you shared
on this call it was so perfect,the God stories.
You've been sowing seed andyou're frustrated because you
haven't seen the harvest yet inyour life or your business or
your finances or whatever it isyou've been sowing into.
And I just want to remind youthat the farmer never doubts
(27:41):
that the crop will grow.
The farmer always knows thatthere's a recipe that God has
given him to plant a seed in theground, to water it, to take
care of it, and that it willgrow.
Sure, there are conditionsoutside of the farmer's control
diseases, insects, things likethat, weather that can affect
the crop and things like thatcan affect our business, right
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Economy.
We want to do a recession.
It's going to affect yourbusiness.
It's outside of your control.
But God reminded me, cody, yourjob's not to worry about that.
Your job's to plant the seedand take care of the field, and
that's it.
I will provide the harvest.
Point number three now thatwe're being who God's called us
to be, we're doing what God'scalled us to do.
(28:25):
We are going to have what Godwants us to bless us, what God
wants to bless you with.
I know we're a little over time, but let me finish on this
point.
God desires to bless us, butblessing often comes as a result
of being faithful in who we areand how we honor him with our
(28:48):
businesses, with our life.
Obedience always precedesblessing.
Guys, if you want more from God, seek him more.
Spend time with him more.
We didn't know this extrabottle of handsome come from.
We had someone who was unmuted.
When we prioritize God'skingdom and righteousness, he
(29:12):
provides for all of our needs,including material and spiritual
blessings.
Guys, psalms 84 11 says for theLord, god is a sun and shield.
The Lord bestows favor andhonor.
(29:35):
Guys, god's never going towithhold your blessing.
God's never going to withholdprovision for heaven on your
life.
If you're walking with him,you're spending time with him,
you're seeking him diligently,you're asking him God, who am I,
god, why am I here?
And you're doing the things Godhas called you to do.
Never in my experience as aChristian have I ever truly seen
(29:59):
God withhold true blessing frommy life when my walk is
blameless.
He's never like I'm not goingto give you this just because he
always.
There might be a pathway to thatthing that I couldn't see with
my human eyes or understand ordiscern.
That took a little longer toget to the destination than I,
(30:19):
quite frankly, would have liked.
I would have liked it a lotsooner.
I would have liked to bewealthy sooner in life, but God
had a path he had to take me onto get to that place that he
knew I needed to go on.
God's blessing followsobedience.
Blessings are a byproduct ofliving in alignment with God and
(30:39):
his will for your life.
Seek him first.
Prioritize God's kingdom overyour worldly pursuits.
This was a hard one for me.
I'm almost done.
I think goals are good.
We're going to do agoal-setting workshop in a few
weeks.
Obviously I believe in them, butI think sometimes we will
(31:01):
over-prioritize our worldlypursuits over our intimacy and
our relationship to hear fromGod.
The order can't get flipped.
We have to prioritize seekingHim first and His will for our
life.
Secondary has to be the desiresof our hearts and our pursuits
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and our goals and our targetsand our KPIs for our businesses
and our life.
In fact, so much so when I wentthrough a season of actually
doing this, not just saying it.
God uprooted a lot of things inmy life.
So just so you all know, ifyou're going to live in
obedience, be prepared for Godto shake your life up.
I closed a business down.
I gave up a ton of money.
(31:43):
I chose not to move forwardwith partnerships that looked
really good on paper.
I went through a season ofdoing less, where I felt like I
was being lazy because I'm soused to working 100 plus hour
weeks because God wanted moretime with me.
But out of that came theidentity of the man you see
today came the ChristianEntrepreneur Club, came the
(32:10):
nonprofit Seven Peaks, came thethings that my wife and I are
doing today, and I've never feltmore fulfilled than I feel
right now in my life.
But I actually had to prioritizemy relationship with God over
my worldly pursuits and as anentrepreneur who's been wired by
the secular world, that wasreally hard for me to do because
I was so used to outworkingeveryone.
And now I don't believe in that.
(32:31):
I actually don't believe youneed to work every weekend of
your life.
I don't think you guys need togo work $100 weeks to be
successful.
I think it's all a lie.
I think it's a tactic from theenemy.
I think he knows if he can'tget you to sin, he'll keep you
so busy.
You won't have a relationshipwith God.
I think less is more.
I think more time with God isthe best strategy you could ever
have in your business.
(32:51):
I prioritize spending more timewith God than I do reading
personal development books.
I spend more time prioritizingmy time with God than I do
masterminding.
I spend more time in myintimacy with the Lord than I do
doing all these worldly things,because I know that's the
number one source that's goingto show me exactly where I need
to go and what I need to do, andit hasn't let me down yet and
(33:13):
I'm going to keep doing it and Iencourage you to do it.
So receive.
The last thing is we do receiveblessing from God.
God will bless you financially.
God will give you things.
God will allow you to have yourworldly pursuits.
Never lose sight of where theycome from.
Always have gratitude, alwayshave thanks in God's blessing
(33:36):
when pride and ego come outbecause they do I battle it too,
y'all.
I did this.
I built this company.
I made these millions ofdollars?
No, I didn't.
God allowed me to have anassignment and I was faithful
with the assignment and Godblessed me.
On the other side of myobedience, the moment my pride
comes in and Cody did this andCody did that, and I'm talented
(33:59):
and I'm gifted is the moment westep back out of alignment with
our identity in Christ.
And I don't know about y'all,but I've had been had to be
slapped on the head, the wrist,wherever you want to say,
slapped all over by God too manytimes in that place that now I
ain't taking credit for any ofit.
God will use me.
Yes, I'm diligent, I'mexcellent, but my identity is
(34:22):
not in those outcomes.
My identity is just being a sonand being faithful as a son and
stewarding what God's put in myhands.
If God God might take it awaytomorrow, he'll have a reason
for it.
God might double what we havetomorrow.
He'll have a reason for it.
I trust him in that.
So be thankful for what God hasalready provided in your life.
Be thankful for what he'salready given you and, at the
(34:43):
same time, trust him for more.
At the same time, believe Godcan do more in your life.
Be thankful for what he'salready given you and, at the
same time, trust him for more.
At the same time, believe Godcan do more in your life.
At the same time, expect more.
There is nothing wrong withexpecting great things from God.
The only thing is theexpectation has to know it's in
his time, not your time.
(35:04):
So that's my message for youguys today.
I hope it hit, I hope it landedand I hope some of you guys got
some stuff from it.
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