CHAPTER 27: THE LIST 2025
I get up every day, with over thirty years of experience and a boat load of competent professionals, and I tell people exactly what needs to be done to get out of trouble and provide teachers who will, step by step, teach the requirements needed to manage a successful company. Some do it, some don’t.
Those people who don’t unwittingly pay too much tax, or fail to pay enough tax, bump into cash flow problems, relationship challenges, debt, margins are too low, and so on and so forth. The list outlines what needs to be done everyday including, as we all know, things you don’t want to do.
The list is not a “feel good” program, it is a “do good” program.
Every day I give company CEO’s a financial list, a relationship list and a “how-to” operations list, collections, negotiations, prayer time, bible time and fellowship time.
Many follow the list and live in the normal struggles of life, and normal struggles are a gift. Others pick from the list what they consider to be important and leave the rest. Over time, old behavior prevails, family struggles, life distorts, marriages crack and that’s just the beginning.
Why not just agree to directions that are tried and true offered 24/7 from competent teachers? Simply? People just don’t feel like it, the reason doesn’t matter, the outcome is the same. Unfortunately, either you are going the right direction, or you are not. There is nothing in between. The list keeps me safe.
Do I believe Jesus gave me that list? I do. Remember, it’s not a feel good list, it is a do good list. Learning is a part of the list. Teaching your company what you’ve learned is a part of the list. Obedience is a part of the list.
Then why do people ask the question, “what does God want me to do?” I’ve learned it’s one of three things.
- I don’t want the list I have, I want somebody else’s list
- I want to do something I should not do
- I don’t want to do something I should do
Matthew 6:8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
James 1:22: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”
Correctness is not easy or comfortable. God’s will is not convenient. The List, is hard to carry, difficult to accept and not popular among the masses. C.S. Lewis said, and I quote.
“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
Long story short, after 30 years of turnaround I hand over a list that has saved hundreds of American companies. I also give a list of things people have done that ruined their lives. Two lists, one to survive and prosper, one that does not. People do one or the other, many times in the name of God and say they are directed by the Holy Spirit. Who am I to say, I can only tell you the yield of my experience. God gives what is needed, not what is wanted. It’s easy to be fooled by anybody, especially if I want to be fooled. What does the bible say about the List?
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Do you refer to scripture in your day, or refer to yourself. We all know the answer. We struggle with our way and the right way. Truly, if a person can’t follow the correctness of learning the rules of successful business management, how could one remember such a scripture and actually use it to study and use the bible to refer to daily responsibilities? How could one benefit from the gift of God sending competent leadership? In my hour of need, God sends the cavalry. What shall I do, argue with the Captain that He has sent? Many do. The road is narrow for winners, very narrow, the road is wide to destruction and there’s a lot of support on your way to catastrophic failure. However, when you finally arrive at catastrophic failure, there is no support, at all. It’s over, that person has been robbed of everything God had offered in a company, in a family, all of it has been spent. A second chance, lost for what? “I did it my way?” What is this thing again? The List, what is it I have to do everyday to be successful and have the normal challenges of life? I’ll give you mine, however all of you on this phone have a list designed specifically for you, borrow mine until you’re strong enough to use yours.
The List is the all-important, quintessential, non-negotiable, must be done absolutely this very day, no exceptions. Thinking time, correct planning, prayer, meditation on the bible, filter out stupid readings/self help nonsense, solve problems completely not a band-aid, transition people to knowledge rather than whatever they’d like to do, update daily the information of debt vs actual income, monitor deliveries, information regarding collection, personal business items i.e. relationships with critical professionals, taxes vs income, understand current and past financials, produce, deliver and collect on work in progress, monitor spending on each job be aware of an immediate negative per job, cash flow overall to bill paying per week, quality control in final production, peacemaker, butler, maid, bible student and prayer warrior and learning each day from competent teachers.
How do I do all that? With God. Period. Not many can accomplish such a thing and many leave it to the hands of others without oversight. All bad, in the end mistakes are made, and a CEO never knows it until it’s too late. Let God reveal this to you and help you, day by day, hour by hour. It can be done, 365 days a year, when God is on the list in the morning and during the day.
Matthew 11:25-26 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
You want to win, right? You want to succeed, right? You want to be what He meant you to be, right? Then why do you over analyze correctness? I’ll tell you why? Like I said, people don’t want to do it, so they find reasons not to. What does God want for me sometimes is the question, the answer is, the list today. When people don’t like the answer, they keep asking, the problem is ultimately they will get an answer, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t come from Heaven. Stick to the list given for success, not the list given for the opposite.
Matthew 25:21: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'”
What is on the list needs to be done. What is this list the does the opposite of success? Human nature comes to mind.
Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
How do I fight that!! Does give me much wiggle room. Let’s say you want to do the list, with all your heart and you’re struggling with it. No problem. Give it to God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Take all of this nonsense, this expensive arguing and resisting of God’s gracious knowledge and wisdom and let God have it, lay it at the feet of Jesus and get back to the list. Things that need to be done! Things that do not need to be done, run from them! Let there be truly born again in the heart.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
If the kids didn’t clean the dishes – you clean the dishes, be grateful you have dishes. If the employees didn’t fill out the paperwork- you fill out the paperwork, be grateful you have paperwork. Completion of all chores, solutions, transitions, updates, deliveries, information retrieval, personal business items, financials, produce, deliver, collect, cash flow, quality control, peacemaker, butler, maid, bible student and prayer warrior.
Believe me friends, life is not about options, it’s about obedience.
Learn how to take care of people, places and things in your life.
Quit being too smart, argumentative, cocky and willful. Just stop, get a pencil, ask questions, thank God for the information and learn what the day has in the list given to you.
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.
Isaiah 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
When I look back on those people that failed in Turnaround, they called themselves rule breakers, ragers against the machine, rebels, like it was a badge of honor! Hardly, it was a badge of no honor and at the end of the line, they stand alone with the memory of what has been lost.
Do the list entirely, not just a part of it. Doing a part of it is a half measure and you might as well have no list at all. Without taking directions failure is eminent. Failure has been held off by the grace of God and then people invite it back?
Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit,
so fools repeat their folly.
As Paul outlined for us in the new testament. Perseverance is key, dedication and commitment are vital.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[a] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
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.
We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas Edison.
The list sounds impossible. It is not impossible, it is entirely a divine gift, given by a divine God. In the list is built in fellowship, learning, grace, mercy, power, it’s all there. Don’t listen to the hauntings that tell you any different.
Believe, do it and ride a miracle.
Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
“But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” — 2 Chronicles 15:7
Chapter 27: The List 2025, it’s not a feel good list, it’s a do good list. You’ll like things much better I promise. Amen.
