Video Transcript: Just Do It Part 3

Just Do It Part 3

I want to talk to you about getting the enterprise attitude. A lot of enterprise has to do with your attitude. You can have great ideas. You can have great opportunities. But if you don't have the right attitude, you don't take advantage of these ideas and opportunities. So in this lecture, I'm going to be challenging you not just to listen and learn stuff. I'm actually going to be challenging you to do stuff. A lot of times, our attitudes are shaped by what we actually do. You can't just sit around and think, "I want to be enthusiastic about whatever I'm doing." Sometimes you have to actually do something and then that doing actually creates certain attitudes within you.

I want to give you a couple of verses before I give you your assignments. One of the verses I like is 2 Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here." I want you to center on that word "new". Because I'm going to ask you to do new things.

The second verse I want to share is Deuteronomy 31:8. "The Lord himself goes before you." I'm going to ask you to do other things, and I want you to remember that the Lord himself goes before you, and you he will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid in these assignments, and do not be discouraged when things don't go exactly as you would like.

The first assignment, order something new at a restaurant. Do you ever go to a restaurant? Instead of ordering the same old thing - we tend to do that. We go to the same places, and we order the same things. Why? You liked those things in the past. Once in a while, you've strayed from that. You ordered something new, and you didn't like it. So you want to stay with something that you know and something that you already like rather than taking the chance on getting something you don't like. I'm suggesting the next time you go to a restaurant that you order something you have never ordered before. And yes, it might be worse than what you usually order, but who knows? You may discover something new. You have to do things new if you're going to advance.

Talk to somebody new - somebody that you've never met before. I'm going to give you a suggestion of what you might say.

1. Come up to somebody, a random person. Maybe it's somebody at a mall, somebody on the street, "Hey, excuse me. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

Now, someone might say-- I just had someone do that in Menards. It's a store that you can buy home improvement products and so on, and someone stopped me and said, "Can I ask you a few questions?"

I said, "No. I'm too busy." And I kept walking. Fine. Ask people until you finally get someone who says yes. Maybe it will take one, two, or three different people.

2. Ask them this, "Why do you think people don't go to church?" My wife and I actually did this when we planted a church in Vancouver, British Columbia. We went out and knocked on doors, and we did exactly this. "Can I ask you a few questions?" Most people, maybe they don't want to spend time with you, but they'll say okay.

Then we asked them this, "Why do you think people don't go to church?" Do you know what? People were eager to tell us. Because the question is asking for their expertise. I'm saying, "You're an expert on this and I want to know something from you." I'm not asking why you don't go to church. See, that would be offensive. I'm asking you why you think that people don't go to church. And people will tell you.

3. Ask them this. "If you were to go to a church, what would have to be different at that church?" If people answered the first one, if they talked about why people don't go to church, they probably ended up telling you why they don't go to church.

Now, this third question is designed to get them thinking positively about the church. Not that you would go to church, but if you were, what would you like to see different? All of a sudden, you have someone thinking about going to church. But my whole point in this - that you get out there and talk to new people. You may not like doing that. You may be a shy person, not an outgoing - an introvert type person. But if you're going to get involved in enterprise, you have to get out there. You have to talk to people. And this is one easy way to go out and do it.

Take a different route to work
We tend to take the same route. Perhaps it's the quickest route. Take the long way. See something different. Take a different route to school. Take a different route home. Take a different route to wherever you're going. You'll see different things, you'll think different thoughts. Quit doing the same old things over and over again.

Call a random number
Do you have a phone? Just dial a random number, and see who picks up the phone. Tell them about this assignment. "Hello. I'm calling you and I really don't know who I'm calling. I'm just called a random number. I'm doing it because I have this assignment from my school. Do you mind if I talk to you? Nine out of ten people will say okay. Ask them what they do for work. "My assignment was to ask you what you do for work." And people will tell you. Ask them to tell you what their work is all about. "What does your work do? What does it accomplish?" Thank them for helping you out with this class. Try it.

Interview a really successful business person
Henry and I went on a trip to Florida, and we stopped by a huge house. It turned out the house was for sale. We had stayed there years ago, and the guy who owned the house, his father invented something, a small little thing that the son took over. It was just a small little part for boats that he manufactured. He made millions and millions of dollars. So we asked him, "How did your father do that?"

The father first went to boat manufacturers with this invention of his, and they turned him down flat. Then he went to the people that sell boats, and they turned him down flat. Then he went to people that actually owned boats, and little by little by little, he got people to use it and it made a difference. So the business grew into a multi-million-dollar thing. Just a small little thing. It's inspiring to hear that someone started from nothing, had an idea, kept pushing it, kept trying in the midst of all kinds of failure until it actually worked. Talking to someone like inspires you to think that maybe you could do something too.

Try a new sport
Three years ago, I had a new hip put in. My hip wore out, and I had a new hip put in. After a couple of months, I could do stuff, and someone invited me to play a game I had never heard about - pickleball. It's with a paddle. It's like tennis. It's sort of in between ping pong and tennis. I never played the game before. Now I'm playing probably four days a week. I have this whole culture of people, hundreds of people who think of me as the pastor of the pickleball place. It's led to all kinds of different ministry. I have people from this pickleball world coming to my church. It's opened up a whole new world because I started a new sport.

Watch a documentary about something you know very little about
Just go to some show and watch how people make something or whatever it might be. It opens up your whole world into something else. Watch it and then tell somebody else about it.

Learn a joke and tell it to three people

If you're like me, I hear jokes and I'm going to remember this one. Then I forget. I can't remember a single joke. So I have to go and find a joke, then I think the process of actually remembering it is telling to someone else. The only joke I can remember is two kids were arguing about whose father made more money. The one kid was saying, "My father makes so much money, he gets paid every other week. He gets a check in the mail. Actually, they put the money right into his bank. He makes a lot of money."

Then the other kid said, "Well, that's nothing. My dad makes way more money than that. In fact, every Sunday it takes six people with big bags collecting it from all the people in bringing it to the front. That's how much my dad makes." Anyway, it's supposed to be the pastor.

Not a very good joke. But learn a joke and then try to figure out how to tell it and tell it to three people and see how it goes.

Listen to a genre of music you typically do not like, for a whole day
We tend to listen to the stations, and radio stations, and the music that we like already. My son got into drumming when he was in high school, and he had a drum set in the basement. He got a few friends, and they came over and they played this-- I forget what kind of music it is. But the drums are really banging around. I'm listening to this music, and it was loud, and the drums are going crazy. And I'm wondering, "Is this good music?" And each song sounded just like the other one. I couldn't tell the difference between one song and another. But they played every day. Over time, I remember thinking, "Well, I kind of like the one song." I started understanding it.

Eventually, I came to the basement and I said, "Hey, this banging drum style,"-- some band took a slow song and did it in this version. I said, "Could we do Amazing Grace in this version?"

So I got my guitar out and we sat down, and we did it. I found out that, hey, there's something I like about it. But it took time. You have to listen to something new over and over again before it becomes familiar with you.

If King David came and played his 10 top songs, we would hate every one of them, because we wouldn't be able to relate to the music. So we relate to what we know. Well, expand what you know. Listen to something different for a whole day even if you don't like it, and see what you think at the end of the day.

Write a poem for somebody in your life
Maybe it's your wife. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe you're dating someone, and maybe you're not very good at this kind of thing. It doesn't matter. You sit down and you try to write something that rhymes. You write it and then you give it to them regardless of how good it is.

In other words, if you are going to be involved in enterprise if you're going to be a tent-maker if you're going to get involved in the Kingdom, and you're going to start doing these things that you haven't done before, you have to get out there and just try. Maybe it' not that good at first. You're not going to get good at this enterprise thing or this church planting thing unless you go out and fail enough. You'll do it poorly, but eventually, you'll discover what you're really good at and how to do things better.

Ask your spouse or your friend to give you something they no longer want
Just go up to a friend, or spouse, or a family member and say, "Hey, I want you to give me something you don't want." Okay, I'll tell you what you have to do with it. Go to a public place with this thing that they've given to you, see if you can sell it to someone you've never met before. I don't know what they're going to give you. It might be a crazy thing. The crazier the thing is, the better. Now you have to go out and see if you can sell it.

Next time you buy something, try to get it cheaper than the sticker price
I remember I was 12 years old and we needed a windshield wiper for the truck. Before we went into this place that sold different things for cars, he said, "Now, always ask for a discount." So he walked in. My dad was a Grand Rapids fireman. He was in the fire department. So he walked in and he said, "I need a wiper blade. What is the fireman's discount?"

The salesman responded with, "The farmer's discount is this." Then my dad bought it. As we were walking out, he said, "See. It didn't even matter what I said. He didn't even hear that I said, 'fireman'. He thought I said, 'farmer'. It doesn't matter. The fact is you just ask and people will often give you something." Ask for a discount.

Ask if there's an open box or damaged version of an item that you wish to buy. It doesn't matter whether you're at a store that has fixed prices or not. Go in and assume that you can get it cheaper than what is being asked for. You have to at least ask. Now, they may turn you down. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Again, you have to get used to going out there and checking out the possibilities. It might not work, but it might just work.

Do things out of your comfort zone
I guess that's the bottom line. Now, I'm giving you all these assignments. You're listening to them. Maybe you're writing things down, and you're thinking, "Well, I don't know if I want to do that." Yeah. And you cannot do anything. There's no test. I can't come and visit you to see whether you've done any of these things. I'm just appealing to you on the honor system. If you want to improve, if you want to get out there with enterprise, or tent-making, or Kingdom building, whatever it is that you want to do, you want to move from where you are to actually out there doing something, you need the right attitude to do it. And you're not going to get the right attitude just sitting around reading things. You have to get out there and do these things.

So I'm giving you simple little tasks. You should write them all down and just check them off. Within yourself, just doing these things will give you the self-confidence and the attitude to go out and actually do the thing that you really want to do.

Let me leave you with the two verses we started with. If you think about all these assignments that I'm giving you, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation is come. The old is gone. The new is here." Do something new. Finally, as you do these things new, Deuteronomy 31:8, you get yourself out there, you attempt things that you don't know if you can do or not do, whether you're going to fail or succeed. But "The Lord himself goes before you." The Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth goes before and he will be with you, and he will never leave you or forsake. So do not be afraid. Get out there. If it goes poorly, do not be discouraged. God bless you in this endeavor.