CHAPTER 27: THE LIST
The List is the all-important, quintessential, unforgiving, must be done, all things considered, 10 of 10, or 50 out of 50 items that must dare I say, absolutely essential to your life, day by day, minute by minute, season to season, your God given challenge today to be done before you go to sleep, all items, no exceptions thank you, Jesus. That is the song of a winner.
Sometimes preparing for anything we need to do takes time. A lot of thinking time. Einstein used to sit in a chair and think for days. Sometimes he didn’t do anything, sometimes he’d take a walk – all for maybe the great idea of one sentence, perhaps only one single bullet point – or one idea..
The List requires thinking in addition to everything else. Without that, we don’t have the quiet time to pray, or to think about what we have studied. The bible is a wild, wild adventure. I have finished Revelation, and I am starting at the beginning of the book. At the end of the book, there are rivers that are named in the beginning of the book. Rivers there that were made by God, and then in the end those same rivers dried up and armies marched across it to fight the Lord.
Well, then in Genesis, there were wonderful rivers that fed the Garden of Eden. This wonderful, beautiful world that He made, that through sin we ruined and created a lot of challenges. Challenges we still have today and some would say, it’s getting worse.
So on my List today, I was lost in thought, working on this chapter — John called me and said “you are going to join us, aren’t you? To be that dedicated to a thought is a gift. To be able to think about such matters – it’s a gift with intensity and integrity. And I thank God for it – of course.
As I look at Chapter 27: The List – we take so much for granted and today. Here today as we approach Thanksgiving, my friends we have so much to be thankful for. And then we get lost in what’s wrong with this and that and forget about being thankful. Well, that is part of the lesson as well, learning to get back to what is important. Paying homage to each thing is truth.
Luke 16:10-13
English Standard Version
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Whatever I’m struggling with, it’s important that I pay attention to it. It’s also important that I pay attention to the gratitude that I have for it. All that is on the list for today, could be like that every day, depends on what the Lord has planned.
Perhaps the Lord has moved you or me out of the situation and it’s time to begin another. Not that it wasn’t good for a season, perhaps it wasn’t good for me anymore and what needed to be learned has been learned and it is time to use the information in the next adventure with God.
Yes, there are times for transition – food for thought. There are times to pay attention to what you have – food for thought. There are times to decide and discuss with the Lord. Is it time to change or is it time to stay the course? Things to discuss with the Lord, otherwise we will act too quickly, without partnering with God, without paying attention to the List.
Ephesians 4:28
“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him linger doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
What does that mean? All of us here – we have stolen from God. Not meaning to of course. Let me ask: How many times have we take money from the company when the company did not have it to give? Think about it. Perhaps we were not making it – rather we were taking it. Robbing from the till so to speak, as if we are deserving of it.
Everything we have is a gift. Treat it as such. Be honest in what needs to be done, if necessary stop being a thief and look at the list of what needs to be done. A lot of times we do need to cut our pay or re-arrange our company, in order to take care of what’s happening in a particular season. That’s not reactive management. No, it is tactical, planning, listening to God, making the hard changes – as God said, a new creation. We have to pay attention to what’s going on, so that we make the changes with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:17
New International Version
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
Chapter 27: the List. What’s on the List? Everything. Everything that needs to be done by you, or others who have failed to completed a particular job on your watch. Whatever needs to be done. If the kids didn’t clean the dishes – you clean the dishes. If the employees didn’t fill out the paperwork- you fill out the paperwork. Your job is completion, solutions, transitions, updates, deliveries, information, retrieval, personal business items, financials, produce, delivery, collections, money, quality control, all your life implementing your life as a peacemaker in every situation, living correctly, realizing there is an enemy standing against what will surely follow you, confound you and upset those things the Lord is doing in your life.
2 Corinthians 11:3
New International Version
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Stick to the list, kids.., it’ll keep you out of trouble. What is on the List today? Let’s first start with those things you don’t want to do, everything you don’t like to do – still needs to be done! Taxes, record keeping, negotiating bad debt, chores you don’t like, removing customers who don’t pay, removing employees who don’t work, revising work that has been done improperly, bid improperly, apologizing to your spouse, co-workers, kids – anyone who needs apologizing to. Okay, that’s just a few of the things I don’t want to do. Be grateful for the fact that we still get to do these things. We still live in America, even though we are fighting for our freedom, we are still as free as it gets on this planet.
What else is on the List? Fear that must be dealt with, brought to Jesus. Re-alignment in disturbing thinking that I may be challenged by, or upsetting situations with people in my scope of responsibility, even when it is terribly hard – take it Jesus, give thought to the Word and then obey in His grace. Re-align yourself first.
When I don’t go to Jesus, I lose my way.
What do we thank God for our primary weapon against chaos – the Word of God. Prayer, bible studies, consistent attendance to church. It is on the list every single day. Use it, follow the list, be consistent. Be grateful, you can’t keep a company in line without the Lord, I don’t care who you are, it is impossible without Him.
People quit, they give up their company, they do bad things, they lose, run out of money and then the dominoes fall don’t they. And a person finds that they have been left with only the memory of being special – without being special any more. They’re position and life, perhaps even the destiny that had been waiting for them, is gone. Cease to exist. Sounds hideous because it is.
My friends, this is the A Team, this is the Olympics. Excuses are for sissies – we give God all the glory for what we have been given. We go to God and say what do you want us to do? Excuses masquerading as good reason is for weak, lazy. Acting irresponsible is the graduate class of Stupid University, located on Dufus Drive at the corner of Dumb and Dumber Avenue.
But again as I read my notes, which are very important, all of us here – everybody is trying so incredibly hard to break the habit of being the “architect of adversity.” Fight against yourself. Revolt and evolve against “it’ll do Lou” behavior.
God says work, and to those who have been given much, much is required. We’re not going for good luck – we’re going for grace. I don’t want to make a deal with Lady Luck, I want to work with God. Luck runs out, man. God is forever.
Galatians 6:9
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap the harvest if we do not give up.”
I’ve given you so many things on the List: the Triangle, the Sliding Scale, lessons to help stay the course and monitor our daily lives in the responsibilities Christ has given us. There was a time in my life when I decided one day was four days (96 hours). I couldn’t do everything I needed to do in 24 hours, I could barely workout and go to work in a day. However in 4 days, I figured out how to do everything – I made that my “one” day. You can use that guide if you wish. God made the world in 7 days. And I also read that 1,000 years for God is a drop in the bucket in time. So maybe a day – the 7 days God talks about in Genesis – is 1,000s of years. I don’t want to miss anything. I want to get on the List and get it done. I don’t want to waste time anymore. And I know you don’t either.
You want your truth to be God’s truth. If you want to be in charge, which you all do, if you want to the boss, which you all are, if you want to reap the rewards, which you all do, …do the List. All of it, especially the stuff you don’t want to do.
Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedience, you shall eat the good of the land.
Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
I found a sermon in my notes, by a guy names Frederick Lewis Donaldson in the Westminster Abbey of London, in March 20, 1925. He called it the 7 social sins. I call it “instead of the list”.
7 good excuses against the list:
- Wealth without work
- Pleasure without conscience
- Knowledge without character
- Commerce without morality
- Science without humanity
- Worship without sacrifice
- Politics without principle
Gee, that was in 1925…does that ring true today? Oh my goodness, could we not learn that today if we sent that to the White House. Perhaps their List might change, for the better, discarding such thinking, and instead giving glory to God, as our forefathers did.
Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…”
—Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.
“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.”
—The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Use your powers for good – remember God is in charge, Jesus is our best advocate. Read in Genesi about all those beautiful rivers that surrounded the Garden of Eden. And then at the end in Revelation, God dried up them all up. Armies stomp across them to fight the Lord and He said “come get me, buddy”. And we know, those who came against God did not win.
Revelation 19:19, NASB
“And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.” 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Proverbs 16:5
Everyone who is arrogant in heart, is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured, they will not go unpunished.
We are learning to live orderly lives. The List keeps us in order. Sounds like a lot better idea than those two scriptures, right? Be a good example of learning, and deploying information efficiently to others and effectively. Be a leader, not a disrupter.
When I look back on those people that failed, went back to doing what they want, rather than abide by correctness – a disruptor. Some people call it ambition. Not true, quite the opposite. Ambition is the result of hard work, correctly done.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Without ambition, one starts nothing
Without work, one finishes nothing
The prize will not be sent to you, you have to win it.
Reminds me of scripture’s explanation of the crowns. There are 5 you should look them up. Are you all working on them – yes!
- The Crown of Life (James 1:12
- The Wreath Imperishable 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
- The Crown of Exultation (1 Thessolonians 2:19,20)
- The Crown of Righteousness (2 Timothy 4:5-8)
- The Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5:2-4)
Thomas Edison said
We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.
I used to show up at bankruptcy court riding a Harley, wearing a black tee shirt, chaps and boots. I had the information, but you can imagine the heyday the opposing counsel had with this guy who showed up with a Harley, a lot of hair, with chaps and boots. Ah, those were some stories, right?
We all know what’s on the List. Diligence is on the List. The edge of advantage is God.
I just read it in the book of Genesis just now, where the devil said that God lied to Eve. The serpent told her “it’s okay to eat this”. Don’t let the serpent lie to you.
New International Version
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Sometimes people get so caught up how to make money, how to be like God, powerful, all knowing, revered, it takes over everything. There’s so many books we read instead of the bible. Sometimes I think all of it came from the bible and is just either a shadow of the Book or an imitator.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
English Standard Version
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Even God thought there was enough in the bible as it is written, and that nothing else is needed because we wouldn’t have time. So, I’m not big on reading a billion self-help books.
John 21:24-25
American Standard Version
24 This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.
For me, I could see, there is and has been a lot of work to do with the book. By doing the work, other things begin to make sense to me, discernment becomes more apparent and God works through prayer in me.
Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
What is on the List today? Thanksgiving is on the List today. However, it is important for me to identify, clearly the list one more time.
The List is the all-important, quintessential, unforgiving, must be done, all things considered, 10 of 10, or 50 out of 50 items that must dare I say, absolutely essential to your life, day by day, minute by minute, season to season, your God given challenge today to be done before you go to sleep, all items, no exceptions thank you, Jesus. That is the song of a winner.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord, and not for men. You are serving the
I work for God. On the days I stumble, He picks me up.
Do the assignments, it is your testimony and God can use you and the assignments for Kingdom work. What God has done for you. Your assignments, placed in a hard back book becomes a great location to re-discover scripture and to be grateful for what you have been given. The adventures of you and God. Maybe many of them through the years – i.e. adventures of me & God 2021.
Remember my joke about God and the scientist. The scientist challenges God and tells Him that he can make a man. So God says okay, you start. The scientist reaches down and grabs some dirt. God says “wait a minute – use your own dirt”.
We serve a powerful God. And today we give thanks to the Lord. For all that we have: the challenges, the good days and way better days. They’re all good days – we’re alive, and we’re in the Lord, and we have things to do. We have a List. Why do anything other than complete the List that He gave us. Aren’t you curious about your destiny – that is in your List? Your destiny is in the List – isn’t that great!
Happy Thanksgiving. I am blessed to have you in my life and I look forward to hear about the adventures of what happens to you and your families over the holidays.
