Latest / Marketplace Proverbs and Coffee with Ernie-A Proverb Per Day Keeps Stinking Thinking At Bay / Marketplace Proverbs & Coffee With Ernie

Transcript

Marketplace Proverbs & Coffee With Ernie · Marketplace Proverbs and Coffee with Ernie-A Proverb Per Day Keeps Stinking Thinking At Bay

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we are in Proverbs 13,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: verse 12,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: which highlights a slight or silent burden many faithful marketplace leaders carry,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: spiritual fatigue.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't about rebellion or abandoning faith, but a gradual waning of hope.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders keep showing up,
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: producing,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: and serving, and Yet beneath the surface, thriving turns into merely surviving.
• 0:30
  [music]
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Marketplace Proverbs and Coffee with Ernie,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: where a proverb a day keeps stinking thinking at bay.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Ernie Lansford.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: After more than 60 years in sales and leadership,
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned that biblical wisdom is the most valuable asset we can carry into
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: the marketplace.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Each time I read Proverbs,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture, Well,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: as I said in the opening,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: this is the 13th day of the month,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: and I've chosen Proverbs 13, verse 12 from the NIV.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Quote,
• 1:16
  [music]
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's Proverbs 13, verse 12, using the NIV.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: this scripture highlights a silent burden that many of us,
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: marketplace leaders,
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: spiritual-filled, spirit-filled, gospel-centered, customer success masters carry.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's called spiritual fatigue.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it isn't about rebellion or abandoning our faith, but it's a gradual waning of hope.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: we keep showing up,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: producing, and serving, yet beneath the surface, thriving turns into just surviving.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hope deferred often manifests subtly.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Dressed up as discipline and responsibility or professionalism until the heart feels dry.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I am not a psychologist.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Please, believe me, nowhere near it.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's even difficult to spell that word.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But hope deferred could be another moniker for depression or anxiety.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, through my experience in marketplace leadership over 60 years
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: and coaching salespeople and executives in various companies to help them grow
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: into customer success mastery,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: gospel-centered customer success mastery,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: over the years I've observed five key indicators
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: That someone isn't necessarily losing faith, but maybe losing their fire.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that mirror just popped up.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking from personal reflection as that guy in the mirror who's writing this chapter.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So let's examine those five signs, conviction dulls.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: We no longer feel that gut check we once had.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Choices that once challenged our conscience are now justified with phrases like,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: that's just today's culture,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: or we'll have to do what it takes to do to make the deal work.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, righteousness becomes negotiable when hope is deferred.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Think on that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second one is prayer becomes procedural.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: We still pray, but mostly out of habit.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: The words flow, but engagement diminishes.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer shifts from a conversation to an obligation.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: We inform God.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: We inform the Holy Spirit.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: We inform Jesus of our intentions as a courtesy rather than truly seek counsel
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: and guidance by way of the Holy Spirit.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: We talk to him.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then we talk with him.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: A gospel-centric customer success mastery lives at the intersection of God,
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: assignment, and a person.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And number three is we're informed, not transformed.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: We read scripture,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: listen to sermons and podcasts,
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: attend fellowship,
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: join study groups,
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: On your version, but the impact doesn't match or even exceed our intake.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Knowledge grows, but obedience stalls.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Information accumulates while transformation slows.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: When our thinking and vision are fuzzy, our wisdom is foggy.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then the fourth sign is discipline flourishes everywhere except in the secret place.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We remain focused, organized, and driven.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: In the marketplace,
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: we work diligently and pursue transactions,
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: sometimes calling it relationship building.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: We claim to love our neighbor as ourselves and to conduct business with integrity
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: and generosity.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we often delay spending time alone with God.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Our connection with the Holy Spirit once energized our work
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: and daily lives now seems optional rather than essential.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: We rarely read God's Word daily to learn, grow, and worship.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when we do, it feels like an obligation rather than a joy.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So think about this.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you make it to the end of the day without praying and find yourself more
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: or less happy There's a good chance you're living more secular lifestyle
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: than you realize.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then the fifth sign that I've observed, we say we're fine, but our soul knows better.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: We smile, perform, encourage others, yet inside there's a quiet dryness.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're not falling apart, but we're not truly alive either.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're merely surviving when we were created, frankly, to thrive.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And think about this, a Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's a quote from Charles Spurgeon.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Proverbs 13, 12 doesn't condemn this condition.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: It diagnoses it.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not lazy or evil, but ill. And illness demands attention, not denial.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt, we're beyond believer status.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're followers of Jesus because we don't just believe.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: We've invited him into our hearts.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're followers and hopefully disciples.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we ignore God's guidance through his Holy Spirit.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: We crave moving toward being disciple-like, but we hold ourselves back.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: The marketplace values endurance, output, and resilience.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yet scripture reminds us that endurance without renewal eventually causes something deeper.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And when hope is repeatedly postponed,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: spiritually, relationally, or purposefully, the heart absorbs the impact.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: God never intended productivity to replace intimacy or transactions
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: to substitute transformation.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: When hope is restored,
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: it becomes a tree of life,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: not just for us, but for everyone connected to our lives and leadership.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Today's customer success code, a life on fire, wakes up eager to add significance to others.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Father, you see the places where hope has been delayed and the weariness
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: that has quietly settled into my heart.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: I confess that I've learned how to function without being fully alive at times.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Please restore what has been deferred.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Reignite expectancy where I've settled for survival.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Make my heart a tree of life again,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: rooted in you,
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: nourished by your presence and fruitful in the work you've entrusted to me to do.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Marketplace Proverbs and Coffee with Ernie.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to hearing from you.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Please leave a comment in the show notes or send me an email, ernie at ernie.coach.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I close with my normal, everyday, ordinary statement.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Chasing personal success is temporal.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Adding significance to others is infinite.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Make your day great.