November 2, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode, based on James 4, Sean asked us who is really on the throne? He discusses a couple of symptoms of a life in which we are on the throne and gives us the cure for making sure that God is really on the throne.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning everybody. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
November the second, and welcome to another brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you fake applause people, guys, this has been a
(00:30):
remarkable week. I just have to tell you and I
give all glory to God. On Tuesday, we had our
third annual ninety four X Faith at Work. Many of
you were there. I got to visit with several of
our podcast listeners and I just want to tell you
thank you for visiting with me and telling me the
(00:52):
impact that this podcast has on your life. It has
the same impact on my life. I am learning just
as you and it just means a lot to me
to hear from you. So thank you very very much
for that. The summit was off the charts. It literally
was like watching my dreams come true, watching the Lord
(01:15):
at Work. It is what is the launch of what
we know will be an international Faith at Work movement,
and I do want to encourage you guys to consider
joining us. For forty seven dollars a month, you get
all kinds of benefits as a ninety four X member.
You go to ninety four X movement dot Com and
join our online community, join our chapters, join our roundtable,
(01:38):
all types of resources. We're looking at doing executive retreats
later in the year. It is just going to be
amazing and I hope you guys will come alongside. So
go to ninety four x movement dot Com to join.
And it's a money back guarantee, so if you get
in and you're not feeling the value, will not only
(01:59):
stop your you can get out at any time, but
we'll rEFInd all of your past payments. We don't want
your money unless you're getting tremendous value. And then right
before that, on Monday night, we had a celebration dinner
with us and our partners from Florida, and on Friday
we actually close the transaction. So my bank, Regent Bank,
(02:22):
has now officially expanded into Florida and we're very excited
to partner with our friends at DLP Bank in North
central Florida. So it was just a dream. And then
course yesterday the Cowboys lost again, sooner's one and the
Dodgers won, so life is good. So with that, let's
jump into who is really on the throne. Okay, we
(02:46):
talk a good talk. You know that I'm turning this
over to God. It's all up to God. It's all
up to God. But do we really live that way?
And I want you to think about these words right here, Mom,
I am sick. Did you ever say that as a kid?
And what does every mom do? She doesn't just hand
(03:07):
you medicine. She starts asking questions, do you have a fever?
What did you eat? When did it start? Why? Because
she's looking for the cause and not just the symptom.
James does the same thing in chapter four of his book.
He looks at the early Church people who love Jesus
but are struggling, and he says, let's diagnose what's really
(03:30):
going on here, and he points out two major symptoms,
but they are not the causes. The two major symptoms
are slanderous speech and presumptuous planning, but the underlying cause
is pride and the cure is humility. So James was
(03:51):
the first pastor of the first Church in Jerusalem, and
he's not writing to new believers trying to figure out
who Jesus is. He's writing to believers trying to figure
out how to follow Jesus when it is hard. He
is where the rubber meets the road, and I know
many of us are there today. Our country is definitely
there today, he says in James four eleven through seventeen.
(04:15):
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. What is
your life? You are a miss that appears for a
little while and then vanishes as it is you boast
in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. James
isn't scolding them, He's reminding them. If you want to
live without fear in life and death, it starts with
who's on the throne of your heart? Every Christian has
(04:39):
to answer this daily. Is Jesus on the throne? Or
am I? When pride takes the throne, life says I've
got this. I know what I'm doing. I'm the pilot.
God's just the co pilot. But when humility takes the throne,
the heart says, Lord, I don't know what I'm doing,
but I remember what You've done. That's faith confidence, not
(05:01):
in my ability, but in Christ's finished work. Galatians six
fourteen says, may I never boasted anything except the cross
of Jesus Christ. The cross is the great equalizer. It
reminds us we're all sinners say, by grace, there's no
room for boasting when the Son of God had to
die for every one of us. One of my friends
(05:23):
after the ninety four X summit said, you know, Sean,
the amazing thing about you is you're exactly the same
way now that you were back when you had nothing,
your bank was about to go under, etc. And I
told him is because I know the truth. I know
that without Jesus i am nothing. I know that without
(05:46):
him the bank would have gone under. I know I
am as flawed or more flawed than the next person.
So it's very very easy for me to stay humble.
So let's talk about the two symptoms of pride that
that James talks about in chapter four. Number one is
slanderer's speech. James says, do not slander one another. The
(06:07):
Greek word literally means to speak down upon. Pride says
I'm above you. Humility says I am with you and
were both under God. Sometimes we justify slander because we think, well,
I'm just telling the truth. But truth without love is arrogance,
and love without truth is weakness. Jesus calls us to
(06:28):
speak truth in love. Before you speak about someone, ask yourself.
Am I speaking to them or about them? Are my
words helpful or hurtful? Am I trying to heal? Or
just be heard? If you're struggling, Jesus gave the prescription
in Matthew eighteen. Number one, go to the person privately.
Number two. If that doesn't work, bring others with you.
(06:51):
Number three. If that still doesn't work, go to leadership.
But always let humility lead. The higher your position of influence,
the more careful you must filter your words, because when
your words weigh more, you must weigh your words more.
We have to be very, very careful. This is a
leadership podcast. As leaders, we have to measure every word.
(07:14):
Don't talk about others behind their backs. Don't bring others down.
When you're talking to someone else, your words weigh more. Teens,
for example, don't realize that they smell bad. Their nose blind.
You and I can be pride blind. Everyone else smells
it but us. The second symptom, as we mentioned earlier,
(07:37):
is presumptuous planning. James says, you who say today or
tomorrow we will go to this or that city. You
do not even know what will happen tomorrow. The issue
isn't the planning. It's the presuming. It's when we make
plans without God then ask him to bless them later.
Pride says God, here's my plan, Come bless it. Humility
says God, where are you going? I'll go with you.
(08:01):
We say, if it is the Lord's will, we will
live and do this or that. That phrase isn't a cliche.
It's a declaration of surrender. I once heard about a
Korean CEO who left his successful company to serve homeless
people full time. He said, I stopped asking God to
bless my plans. I started asking God to let me
join his That's the shift from pride to humility. The
(08:25):
prescription is humility. If pride is the disease, humility is
the cure, the operating system of the Christian life. Pride
blinds you to foolishness. Humility opens your eyes to wisdom.
Proverbs eleven two says when pride comes, then comes disgrace,
But with humility comes wisdom. God sees the disgrace before
(08:48):
the foolishness. We see the foolishness after the disgrace. Pride
and disgrace are partners. Humility and wisdom walk hand in hand.
Pride is sneaky. It says just a little bit of me,
but humility says all of him. That's why Jesus didn't
just die to forgive our sin. He died to dethrone
(09:09):
our pride. When you surrender your words and your plans
to God, peace follows. You no longer have to control
every conversation, fix every person, manipulate every outcome. You can
rest because it's not up to you anymore. If the
Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
That's not resignation, it's liberation. It's the freedom of letting
(09:33):
God be God. Picture your heart as a chair a throne.
Only one person can sit there at a time. When
pride sets there, life is stressful, fearful, and full of striving.
When Jesus sits there, there's peace, no more fear in
life or death because you may not know what you're doing,
(09:53):
but you know what He has done. So this week,
ask yourself two questions. What do my words reveal about
who's on the throne? And what do my plans reveal
about who's in charge? If it's you, confess it, if
it's him, rejoicing it. So, as we close out today,
I just want to tell you about a conversation that
(10:16):
I had very early in my career with a leader
who was managing me. I was in really my first
senior executive role, and I had kind of this vision
for how everything was going to work, and whenever a
position would come open, I would kind of politic around
behind the scenes to make sure my person got the role.
(10:38):
I wouldn't let the process work itself out, and I
didn't realize what that was doing to the organization. I
ultimately left that company and then ended up coming back.
They asked me to come back into another key role.
And before I came back, I sat down with the
chairman and he basically laid out my challenges and flaws,
(11:03):
and he just said, listen, you have to allow the
Lord to be in control. You cannot try to manipulate everything.
It takes away the trust. It makes people think their
opinions don't matter, that you're going to run everything anyway,
and it is killing the organization. Now, you have many,
many strengths, but that is one of your tremendous flaws.
(11:26):
And so that was a great learning experience for me,
and I want to encourage you and I to do
this same thing in our lives. Let's not try to
manipulate and force things to happen. Let's let Jesus be
on the throne. Please bow with me this morning, Lord Jesus,
we surrender the throne of our hearts to you. May
(11:48):
we never boast in anything except the cross. Teach us humility,
guard our words, guide our plans, and give us peace
in knowing you are and control. We love you, and
we thank you because we know you are trustworthy, You
love us, you care about us, you are willing and
(12:11):
able to take care of us. Thank you so much,
Father in Jesus' name. Amen, and I want to thank
you all so much for joining this edition of the
ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO
Good morning everybody. This is Sean Copeland. Today is Sunday,
November the second, and welcome to another brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you fake applause people, guys, this has been a
(00:30):
remarkable week. I just have to tell you and I
give all glory to God. On Tuesday, we had our
third annual ninety four X Faith at Work. Many of
you were there. I got to visit with several of
our podcast listeners and I just want to tell you
thank you for visiting with me and telling me the
(00:52):
impact that this podcast has on your life. It has
the same impact on my life. I am learning just
as you and it just means a lot to me
to hear from you. So thank you very very much
for that. The summit was off the charts. It literally
was like watching my dreams come true, watching the Lord
(01:15):
at Work. It is what is the launch of what
we know will be an international Faith at Work movement,
and I do want to encourage you guys to consider
joining us. For forty seven dollars a month, you get
all kinds of benefits as a ninety four X member.
You go to ninety four X movement dot Com and
join our online community, join our chapters, join our roundtable,
(01:38):
all types of resources. We're looking at doing executive retreats
later in the year. It is just going to be
amazing and I hope you guys will come alongside. So
go to ninety four x movement dot Com to join.
And it's a money back guarantee, so if you get
in and you're not feeling the value, will not only
(01:59):
stop your you can get out at any time, but
we'll rEFInd all of your past payments. We don't want
your money unless you're getting tremendous value. And then right
before that, on Monday night, we had a celebration dinner
with us and our partners from Florida, and on Friday
we actually close the transaction. So my bank, Regent Bank,
(02:22):
has now officially expanded into Florida and we're very excited
to partner with our friends at DLP Bank in North
central Florida. So it was just a dream. And then
course yesterday the Cowboys lost again, sooner's one and the
Dodgers won, so life is good. So with that, let's
jump into who is really on the throne. Okay, we
(02:46):
talk a good talk. You know that I'm turning this
over to God. It's all up to God. It's all
up to God. But do we really live that way?
And I want you to think about these words right here, Mom,
I am sick. Did you ever say that as a kid?
And what does every mom do? She doesn't just hand
(03:07):
you medicine. She starts asking questions, do you have a fever?
What did you eat? When did it start? Why? Because
she's looking for the cause and not just the symptom.
James does the same thing in chapter four of his book.
He looks at the early Church people who love Jesus
but are struggling, and he says, let's diagnose what's really
(03:30):
going on here, and he points out two major symptoms,
but they are not the causes. The two major symptoms
are slanderous speech and presumptuous planning, but the underlying cause
is pride and the cure is humility. So James was
(03:51):
the first pastor of the first Church in Jerusalem, and
he's not writing to new believers trying to figure out
who Jesus is. He's writing to believers trying to figure
out how to follow Jesus when it is hard. He
is where the rubber meets the road, and I know
many of us are there today. Our country is definitely
there today, he says in James four eleven through seventeen.
(04:15):
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. What is
your life? You are a miss that appears for a
little while and then vanishes as it is you boast
in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. James
isn't scolding them, He's reminding them. If you want to
live without fear in life and death, it starts with
who's on the throne of your heart? Every Christian has
(04:39):
to answer this daily. Is Jesus on the throne? Or
am I? When pride takes the throne, life says I've
got this. I know what I'm doing. I'm the pilot.
God's just the co pilot. But when humility takes the throne,
the heart says, Lord, I don't know what I'm doing,
but I remember what You've done. That's faith confidence, not
(05:01):
in my ability, but in Christ's finished work. Galatians six
fourteen says, may I never boasted anything except the cross
of Jesus Christ. The cross is the great equalizer. It
reminds us we're all sinners say, by grace, there's no
room for boasting when the Son of God had to
die for every one of us. One of my friends
(05:23):
after the ninety four X summit said, you know, Sean,
the amazing thing about you is you're exactly the same
way now that you were back when you had nothing,
your bank was about to go under, etc. And I
told him is because I know the truth. I know
that without Jesus i am nothing. I know that without
(05:46):
him the bank would have gone under. I know I
am as flawed or more flawed than the next person.
So it's very very easy for me to stay humble.
So let's talk about the two symptoms of pride that
that James talks about in chapter four. Number one is
slanderer's speech. James says, do not slander one another. The
(06:07):
Greek word literally means to speak down upon. Pride says
I'm above you. Humility says I am with you and
were both under God. Sometimes we justify slander because we think, well,
I'm just telling the truth. But truth without love is arrogance,
and love without truth is weakness. Jesus calls us to
(06:28):
speak truth in love. Before you speak about someone, ask yourself.
Am I speaking to them or about them? Are my
words helpful or hurtful? Am I trying to heal? Or
just be heard? If you're struggling, Jesus gave the prescription
in Matthew eighteen. Number one, go to the person privately.
Number two. If that doesn't work, bring others with you.
(06:51):
Number three. If that still doesn't work, go to leadership.
But always let humility lead. The higher your position of influence,
the more careful you must filter your words, because when
your words weigh more, you must weigh your words more.
We have to be very, very careful. This is a
leadership podcast. As leaders, we have to measure every word.
(07:14):
Don't talk about others behind their backs. Don't bring others down.
When you're talking to someone else, your words weigh more. Teens,
for example, don't realize that they smell bad. Their nose blind.
You and I can be pride blind. Everyone else smells
it but us. The second symptom, as we mentioned earlier,
(07:37):
is presumptuous planning. James says, you who say today or
tomorrow we will go to this or that city. You
do not even know what will happen tomorrow. The issue
isn't the planning. It's the presuming. It's when we make
plans without God then ask him to bless them later.
Pride says God, here's my plan, Come bless it. Humility
says God, where are you going? I'll go with you.
(08:01):
We say, if it is the Lord's will, we will
live and do this or that. That phrase isn't a cliche.
It's a declaration of surrender. I once heard about a
Korean CEO who left his successful company to serve homeless
people full time. He said, I stopped asking God to
bless my plans. I started asking God to let me
join his That's the shift from pride to humility. The
(08:25):
prescription is humility. If pride is the disease, humility is
the cure, the operating system of the Christian life. Pride
blinds you to foolishness. Humility opens your eyes to wisdom.
Proverbs eleven two says when pride comes, then comes disgrace,
But with humility comes wisdom. God sees the disgrace before
(08:48):
the foolishness. We see the foolishness after the disgrace. Pride
and disgrace are partners. Humility and wisdom walk hand in hand.
Pride is sneaky. It says just a little bit of me,
but humility says all of him. That's why Jesus didn't
just die to forgive our sin. He died to dethrone
(09:09):
our pride. When you surrender your words and your plans
to God, peace follows. You no longer have to control
every conversation, fix every person, manipulate every outcome. You can
rest because it's not up to you anymore. If the
Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
That's not resignation, it's liberation. It's the freedom of letting
(09:33):
God be God. Picture your heart as a chair a throne.
Only one person can sit there at a time. When
pride sets there, life is stressful, fearful, and full of striving.
When Jesus sits there, there's peace, no more fear in
life or death because you may not know what you're doing,
(09:53):
but you know what He has done. So this week,
ask yourself two questions. What do my words reveal about
who's on the throne? And what do my plans reveal
about who's in charge? If it's you, confess it, if
it's him, rejoicing it. So, as we close out today,
I just want to tell you about a conversation that
(10:16):
I had very early in my career with a leader
who was managing me. I was in really my first
senior executive role, and I had kind of this vision
for how everything was going to work, and whenever a
position would come open, I would kind of politic around
behind the scenes to make sure my person got the role.
(10:38):
I wouldn't let the process work itself out, and I
didn't realize what that was doing to the organization. I
ultimately left that company and then ended up coming back.
They asked me to come back into another key role.
And before I came back, I sat down with the
chairman and he basically laid out my challenges and flaws,
(11:03):
and he just said, listen, you have to allow the
Lord to be in control. You cannot try to manipulate everything.
It takes away the trust. It makes people think their
opinions don't matter, that you're going to run everything anyway,
and it is killing the organization. Now, you have many,
many strengths, but that is one of your tremendous flaws.
(11:26):
And so that was a great learning experience for me,
and I want to encourage you and I to do
this same thing in our lives. Let's not try to
manipulate and force things to happen. Let's let Jesus be
on the throne. Please bow with me this morning, Lord Jesus,
we surrender the throne of our hearts to you. May
(11:48):
we never boast in anything except the cross. Teach us humility,
guard our words, guide our plans, and give us peace
in knowing you are and control. We love you, and
we thank you because we know you are trustworthy, You
love us, you care about us, you are willing and
(12:11):
able to take care of us. Thank you so much,
Father in Jesus' name. Amen, and I want to thank
you all so much for joining this edition of the
ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO
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