I received a testimony today concerning the results of this teaching that I made three years ago. A couple heard the teaching, made adjustments to their lives by changing their thinking, today, they have increase in their businesses, paid off their homes, cars, and spend every Thursday feeding the homeless. They have the resources to do whatever God instructs them to do.

What is holding you back from accomplishing your purpose? Are you stuck in a pattern of defeat - break it by changing your thinking with the 7 Laws.

A man who is unemployed facing the barrage of emotions - self-doubt, fear, and financial insecurity can cause him to shrink into despair; however, he should approach new employment as the WILL OF GOD. God established man to be employed. Therefore, God’s favor will help the man who seeks employment.

God is so interested in man’s ability to work that he delayed the agricultural process until the time for Man to be created. That’s how important you are to cycle and system of earth!

Unfortunately, Adam was unfaithful to his employer, namely God the Creator. He embezzled from the Storehouse of the Garden, costing Adam his job.

Here are Five Principles of Management:

1. What you misuse, you lose.

A. When you mismanage the resources entrusted to you or use it for your personal gain you will lose the access to those resources.

B. Most people despise the small things - therefore, they overlook the important factors of ALL increase. All forests start with the smallest of seeds. Great companies begin with the dream seed of an entrepreneur.

1. Misappropriation disqualifies you for more management.

A. In this sense, the term misappropriation is using money for something other than its original intent. This happens constantly in start up companies.

B. Adam used the resources that were “assigned” to another purpose for his own. Doing so, he misappropriated the resources.

1. Responsibility cannot be transferred.

A. POOR leaders accept all the praise of wins, and blame all the loses on others.

B. Adam blamed Eve for his mismanagement.

C. Do not support the mismanagement or you become complicit in it. Organizations fail by undergirding and supporting the mismanagement of failed leaders.

1. Mismanagement is never a “private” matter.

A. The “Closet Principle” is what you do in private is what moves you in public.

B. Adam’s mismanagement was a person decision that had global implications.

1. Boundaries are drawn to protect the resources from mismanagement.

A. Adam was driven out of the Garden to protect the Storehouse from his mismanagement.

B. Adam went from management to laboring because of his mismanagement.

Irena Sendler died last May. She was a Polish Catholic social worker during World War II, where she worked in the Warsaw Ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist. Knowing the Nazi plans for the Jewish population, she started smuggling out infants in the bottom of her toolbox and larger children in burlap sacks. She even trained her dogs to bark when they saw Nazi soldiers - which also covered the infants crying. Somehow, she managed to smuggle out 2,500 Jewish children, and then provided them with false documents and hiding them in individual or group children’s homes outside the ghetto. In 1943, Irena was arrested by the Gestapo, severely tortured, and sentenced to death. Grateful Jews barely saved her by bribing German guards on the way to her execution. Once paid, the guards left her in the woods, unconscious and with broken arms and legs. She was listed on public bulletin boards as executed.

For the rest of the war, she lived in hiding, but continued her work for the Jewish children. Before she was arrested, she kept the children’s names carefully documented in glass jars she kept in her back yard. After the war, she dug up the jars containing the children’s identities and attempted to return them to their parents. However, almost all of their parents had been executed at the Treblinka extermination camp.

She died last May, virtually unknown, except for a play on her life called “Life in a Jar,” written after Kansas students found her story in a magazine.

In 2007, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But she lost.

Al Gore won for his slide show on global warming.

Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin

I recently conducted a walk-through at a church where this principle needed to be applied in the youth ministry. Here is the email that I received:

Thank you for all of your help recently at Orchardville Church. Our youth group attendance had bounced around between 55-60 never going over 63 in the last two years. You suggested we add more chairs. We added chairs and I’m please to let you know our attendance has been 72 the last several services. We’ve also had 9 salvations in the last month.

If you have failed to see growth for a season of time, you may need to examine how you are making room for growth.

Never underestimate the destructive power of simple minded men. - Neil Kennedy

We are faced with an opportunity. The opportunity for skilled people to arise on the stage of history to speak boldly and clearly of the ideas based upon our foundational beliefs. Much like when the Apostle Paul, frustrated and grieved by the idolatry of the Athenians stepped onto the “judgement seat” called the Areopagus and boldly proclaimed the God whom all men have breath and life and being is the god who is, and who determined the times and the exact places for all men to live.

The philosophies of our day, much like the Epicurean and Stoics of Athens, argue from the vanity of their egocentric, empty, and envious minds. They want to reengineer society based upon their vacuous ideas. Unfortunately, they have seized control and are playing silly little games when serious thinking and thoughtful dialogue must take place.

We must pray. We must seek the wisdom of God. We need men to arise to their calling of leadership.

Fairhope is now an amalgam with the roots of socialism mixed with the blessings of capitalism. The artist thrive because people with money to spare can spend it on the luxury of a painting, a sculpture, or the latest creation of those who have the time and talent to fashion their ideas. The authors tap out their books for those who prioritize their lives around the story of someone else’s experience. Now, actors speckle the area awaiting the next script that promises the opportunity for fame. All the while, the downtown streets are filled with businesses bargaining their wears through the windows. The Eastern Shore now boasts some of the wealthiest homes in Alabama.

How dare those capitalist! Wanting to profit in a time of depression.

Excuse my sarcasm. It seems that America is facing a correction. Our capitalism lost its purpose. We paraded the images of excessive wealth to the world, enticing their envy with the fantasy of abundant living, while our abundance was a Ponzi Scheme (or should we call it a “Madoff Scheme” now).

Capitalist are crying foul because the “socialist” have seized control. The socialist want to restore the “fairness” doctrine (no, I’m not referring to the radio). Their doctrine espouses that they have the “heart” of the people in mind. They want to redistribute the wealth.

It all sounds so pure. Yet, at the very core of the matter is a fundamental issue - its called “covetousness.” Covetousness is not just wanting what you have but wanting what you have at your expense. That is why it is justifiable in their delusional minds to extract wealth from those who have worked for it so that they can distribute it to those who have only dreamed of it.

The American Dream was the opportunity to pursue “happiness” not the promise to make everyone happy.

Leaders in Washington think that the general public are simpletons. Why are a fool and his money so easily parted? Because the fool doesn’t have a plan for his money. It is a time that we can’t afford to be simple-minded. You won’t be able to wing it in this economy; nor will you be able to gloss over mistakes by borrowing from Citibank any longer because their sword has turned on themselves. Recessions or Depressions take out the weak. It is time to be strong and wise toward your plans, purposes, and pursuits.

When simple minded people get money they think of what they can purchase or consume. When wise minded people get money they think of how they can invest. When you receive a $20 dollar bill, you determine its destiny - if you spend it, it is the most it will ever be in your life; if you invest it, it is the least it will ever be in your life.

I am optimistic about my future - not because a “Stimulus” is coming my way, but because within a crisis is an opportunity.

“When written in Chinese, the word for crisis is composed of two characters. The first character represents ‘danger.’ The other character represents ‘opportunity.’ John F. Kennedy

Don’t allow a financial phobia to take root in you. Build yourself in the hope of God’s Word, practice godly principles, and seize the moment.

The news is not good.

There seems to be a concerted effort to propagate a financial crisis. In fact, we do have a financial crisis; however, it doesn’t revolve around the need for CREDIT. The answer to our fiscal problems is to return to the age old promise of Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest…”

Don’t buy into the idea that the economic stimulus plan is going to fix this mess - everyone knows that you can’t borrow your way out of debt. But here is how you can fix YOUR economy. Sow seed! Sow seed generously. Sow seed now. Sow seed tomorrow. Keep sowing until your harvests are overtaking your ability to keep up with sowing.

This isn’t rocket science, this is as simple as driving out of the city lights and looking out into the field - seed works!

I wondered, “How can a man who has such an illumination of scripture also have the depravity of character?”

Ted Haggard has allowed an HBO special to be aired detailing his life after the revelation. I don’t have HBO so I won’t be watching. I did watch the interview with Oprah.

My response is the same as it was when the news broke in the first place. Sympathy. I am very compassionate toward his wife, Gayle, and their children. As far as Ted, I don’t need nor am I compelled to make a statement or a judgement toward him.

Let me say it this way, when Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Marvin Gorman, and others hypocrisies were exposed in the late eighties, my response was ineffective simplicity and judgment. Now, I hope that I have matured in my character to extend mercy without denial of God’ truth (Proverbs 3:3).

Listen to these words:

“The greatest test of character is our response to someone else’s sin. If our responses are from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which emphasizes punishment instead of restoration, judgment instead of redemption or justice instead of mercy, then our responses might sow seeds that will ultimately destroy our own lives. But if our responses are out of the tree of life, we will not only protect our own hearts from subtle deception but will give the one who is trouble maximum opportunity to find liberating life.”

These profound words are those of Ted Haggard in his book, “Life Giving Church.”

One of the greatest challenges that I’ve seen over the years is the ability for a person to stay fresh in the Spirit.

History is replete with examples of men and women being used of God in remarkable ways only to see their lives become less than noticeable. The after glory is saddening.

Some loose their fresh touch because of assumption. They assume that simply because they were used means that they will be used. You do not have a right to a future simply because you have a past.

Some loose their fresh touch because of familiarity. They become familiar with the work of God, treating the anointing with contempt. They gimmick the touch of God, using it as a commodity for their own ego or appetite.

Some loose their fresh touch because of alliances. The people gathered around you will have an impact on the anointing. Make no mistake about it. If you have spiritually slothful, crass, mockers, or slanderers around you, the Spirit will not abide with you long. He is not comfortable around those who jest for the sake of crude humor.

Some loose their relevance because of sin. Their delusion is that they have a special gift from God and they can justify their sin while condemning others. Their duplicity will destroy them.

The last twenty-one days, my wife and I have enjoyed (and I really mean enjoyed) a fast. So much so, that we have decided to press on to forty days. The overwhelming sense that I have is that I want to stay current, in the moment, relevant with the Spirit of God.

Athens was the birth place of democracy. Paul is from Jerusalem, the seat of Theocracy. The American experiment is the combination of a democracy under the Head of God. We are “One nation under God.” It is in Him that we trust.

The primary philosophies that Paul confronted are the same “talking heads” that we are confronted with today. They are passionately religious people, committed to their gods, yet secular in their decisions of life. They “babble” on and on without ever saying anything. They cry intolerance when we question their hypocrisies, yet are visceral toward us if we stand for what we believe.

One of the leading voices in this cultural exchange is NBC. The broadcasting giant is now shrinking each day because of its narrow appeal to the general population.

Please take a moment and take a poll

When I started teaching the Seven Laws nine years ago, I came across pretty hard. People struggled with it because of my severe objection to their obduracy. I was motivated by the lack of honor and dignity that they felt toward the Church. The Church should live at a higher level that we have in the past. The dignity of our call, the honor of our Lord, and the supreme importance of our mission should compel us to do what we do with excellence.

Excellence is not perfection. I am not perfect and sometimes embarrassingly prone to do things slothfully. I have to constantly push myself to take the extra 10 or 20 percent effort to do it with excellence. I am very conscience of the fact that I have to constantly work on “me.” The fact is, I have reread my own book. Not because I personally enjoy reading my stuff but because I need faith to follow. I know that the Laws govern me.

My hope is that the Seven Laws don’t just fade away and are put on the back shelf. That is not my intention. I may look for new ways to market it because I like seeing Pastors take churches to new levels of glory. I like to see entrepreneurs double and triple their successes. I also like to see housewives apply the Seven Laws to making their home a place of hospitality for their own family.

I would love to hear back for you. If you have a comment or a testimony concerning what the Seven Laws has done, let me know.

This year is 9.

Nine is finality or completion. The first example of its use is that infinitely sealed first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God” which in Hebrew is: Brayshith Elohim which has the numeric value of 999. The very next statement “created the heaven” is also sealed with 999.

The number nine is endowed with a peculiar quality, it is finality in itself. Not only is it the final single number, but if you multiply it by any other number, the addition of the resulting figures will always revert back to nine (2 x 9 = 18 / 1 + 8 = 9 etc).

There are nine basic gifts available to the Christian believer through the power of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:8-10). There are nine basic fruits which should be evident in the life of the believer (Gal 5:22-23). The words “my wrath” have the numeric value 999. The word Amen or verily is valued at 99 and occurs 99 times.

The work on the cross was completed at the ninth hour when Jesus said “It is finished”. The shedding of his blood was final. It saw an end to the old system of animal sacrifice to atone for sin. The word “blood” in this sense occurs 99 times.