Gateway Church's Podcast
Peter Daniels - Part I
Thank you, Pastor. I'm delighted to be here. I trust you're going to be able to understand my accent. I have some problems with yours. Well, you talk about food and you call it chow. That's Chinese. You talk about the great prairies in that French. You talk about the corrals in that Spanish. And when I meet you, you say, there you go and haven't gone anywhere at all. You have no idea what it's like for a state or a Baptist to come into a place like this and meet with Texans. But everything is bigger, wider, taller, deeper. I cannot resist the urge to tell you that in Australia, we have a farm called Victoria Downs. You call it a ranch. We call it a farm that's bigger than the entire state of Texas. One farm. If we hear any more bragging, we'll cut it in hives and have two farms bigger than the entire state. Now, that's stretching it somewhat. But it's a fact, it's bigger than the entire state of Texas, one cattle farm. Australia has about the same landmass as the United States. We have the largest camel population on the face of the earth, wild camel population. We export them to Saudi Arabia. We have the largest wild horse population in the world, the largest wild goat population in the world, the largest wild pig population in the world, the largest wild donkey population in the world. And of course the largest wild crocodile group in the world. And when you go into crocodile country, you need to understand that a crocodile can run faster than you can over land. So you always take a friend with you, who's a slow runner. Now, I don't know what the pasture is shared with you, but let me give you just a little bit of background. I'm 68 years of age. My wife, Ravina and I have been married for 47 years to each other. We have three children and eight grandchildren who think I'm the fourth member of the Trinity. I've never gone through formal schooling. I've never passed a grade at school. I came from the third generation welfare recipient family. I had four fathers and two mothers. Most of my relatives had three broad and lunges with King George VI. I met her in jail. My inhibition as a young man would be flyweight boxing champion of the world. I'd had a fight on every street corner. I went to school as a normal child, went to school, but I went later than other children because I was suffering from the debilitating disease called diphtheria, which was prevalent during the Great Depression years. And when I arrived at school, they tried to do some educational assessment on me and they said well, this kid, he's just one brick short of a load. He's not playing with a full deck. He's elevated, doesn't go to the top floor. And they thought I had brain damage and they were going to put me with a group of brain damaged children until a long came a teacher who called Ms. Phillips. I've often thought in retrospect that she could kick start a jumbo jet. She'd make the rock of Gibraltar look like a marshmallow. She said he's not brain damaged. She just plain stupid. And for three years she punched me. She kicked me. She slapped me. She didn't get any sense into me in or out of me. And she used to get me by the chin and rat my teeth and say Peter Daniels, you're a bad, bad boy and you're never going to mount you anything. That became a self-fooling prophecy because of 26 years of age. I was an illiterate bricklayer. I had great problems in comprehension. I have cute dyslexia. Great problems in articulation. But on May 25, 1959, as an illiterate bricklayer, I went along to a Billy Graham crusade in Adelaide, South Australia, where I lived. And when I heard the gospel in Fleertune for the first time, I suddenly realized that I was equal with all men before God. And I'd reason that if I was equal with all men before God, I know me to accept inequality with anybody. I was the son of a king. And God had gave me a dream at that time, a very simple dream as a young man who I couldn't share with anyone. But it was to see how much money one human being could give away in their lifetime from poverty. I mean, if I had to share it with anyone, that'd take me off to the funny farm. I didn't know anyone that had gone to high school. I didn't even know anyone that was in business. Be careful who you share your dreams with. Well, I didn't know what to do. I played about it. Someone read out to me the words of Joel, "I will restore under you the years the locates has eaten." And there was a return medical missionary from Indonesia for 15 years, for two and a half hours every Saturday morning on my knee. He taught me Bible and prayer and faith. But that didn't help me in business. It gave me character, stability. And so what I'm about to tell you is the true story. You can check it out. People talk to people and so on. But I went down and purchased three dictionaries. And I started pointing to words and I asked people what they meant. I checked with two or three other people. Make sure the first one told me the truth. You've seen Croftwell, I've done deep. I went through those dictionaries, front ones and then backwards until I understood every single word. You see, I don't know what's happened to us. I had business interests throughout the world. But wherever I go in Christendom, there's something missing. We want someone to sponsor us. We want someone to give to us. We're not supposed to be the receivers. We're supposed to be the givers. I need to tell you, I'm not part of the wealth code. I think it's disgusting. We give because God is God. I remember Sabine and I, we had to reach up to touch bottom. I mean, we tied, we gave in offerings and gifts. For 12 long years, we were poor at the end of what we were at the beginning. God rewards faithfulness. God rewards faithfulness. And so I kept pointing to words. I put one, one dictionary next to my bed. I put one in the bathroom. That's a good place to read. I put one in my excuse for a motor car. Now I need to tell you about this motor car. It was a 1937 Ford V8 clubman sedan that had been rolled three times. The windows were missing from the sides and we kept the doors on with wire. And it wasn't the gasoline that bothered me. It was how much oil this confounded thing used. If I drove it very carefully, I could get 14 miles to the gallon of oil. If anyone showed any disrespect for my motor car, I'd wait like up within three feet of the rear bumper bar. Then I'd put my foot on the clutch and slap it on the accelerator and I would baptize them in oil. I kept pointing to words until I went through the dictionary front with and then backwards until I understood every single word. I then read 1500 biographies. Now, I haven't got polygrip. I said 1500. I then studied law or accountancy philosophy, theology, modern ancient history, politics and economics. I found the mindless like a muscle that could be developed in a winter business. Lost everything. I want to tell clear sinuses. I paid it back and went into business the second time. Lost it again. I mean, you learn nothing new from the second kick from the horse. I paid it back and went into business the third time my wife said to me, Peter, just get a job. I mean, you sure God's talking to you. I mean, just get a job. I want some steady money coming and Peter just get a job. She said, here we are. Winter's coming. Peter Jr. needs a sweater for school and grandly shoes and I'm pregnant again. You spend all this money on books. I don't see anything happening. On our 33rd wedding anniversary, I bought her a 49 carat oval with 33 diamonds on him. You just think so big when she walks, he's got to walk like this. I said, you haven't complained about the books. I bought lately. Well, I went to business the third time and lost it again. What do you do when your dreams start to fade? You reach for one more dream. My friend is Bible believing Christians, we should never give up or let up or shut up until God takes us out. I don't know what's happened to us, but become a bunch of wimps. I mean, we talk about faith, sing about faith, read about faith, pray about faith and go out and get the job the most secure in it. The contradiction of fact, we ought to be the greatest entrepreneurs in history. We believe the unbelievable. We believe a virgin birth. We believe the resurrection. We believe that this Bible is in Aaron and it's original form. I mean, what's happened to us for crying out loud? We become a bunch of wimps. I mean, we're living in one of the greatest economies in the history of the human race. We say that God doesn't want us to have any money. What's happening? I admit some Christians, even in this country, they're not interested in money. I say, give it to me. They change immediately. I've said to my wife, if anything happened to my brain, my college just told me I have a very unusual brain. A couple of people have paid me a million dollars, one even in this country, for 10 minutes. Advice, I guess. God's got a sense of humor. I've said to my wife, if anything happened to this brain, which can write a best-selling book in 15 hours or longham without any reference material or no corrections, you'd have worth 5 million when I'd finish. The concepts that I've created because I've never had the disadvantage of going to university. I said, if anything happened to this, well, I'd get doctorates from university to make them look good. I said, if anything happened to this brain, for goodness sake, get me a Christian brain at their perfected brain implants. He said, why? I said, well, it's never been used. I mean, for goodness sake, when we come to church, we live in parked outside. We don't study our Bible. We give it a cursory look. Several years ago, I spoke to some of the greatest theologians about time and I asked them this one question. What was the value of the gold, frankincense and mer, that was given to Jesus in his birth in today's currency? I said, that hadn't been asked for 2,000 years. I said, well, I'm asking it now. They said it's a monstrous job just trying to track that down. I said, I'll pay. They said, we'll do it. Two years. Have you any idea the value of that? I mean, we like talking about Jesus being poor in the manger and all this sort of thing. Well, he received it when he was 22 months old. There was an army that came with him. It's historical fact now they've discovered this that came down from Persia. Part of the army was 1,000 Bowman, a very unusual group. They had short horses and they would attack in a circle. And when they reached the pivotal point, the arrows would go all day. They could defeat an army 10 sizes size. The historical fact is that Herod had his army away fighting a battle and he thought they were going to aid Caesar, the city. That's why he invited them in. Jesus was not poor. And again, I have to repeat, I'm not part of the wealth cult. I think it's disgusting. But surely of God has put us at this time in space and put you in one of the wealthiest countries the world has ever known. Surely, surely you ought to go out and earn as much as you can and do what no one else in history will do. And that is to give it away to evangelize the world. That's why he's put you here. That's why he's put me where I am. Have you got the idea what it was worth? He tried 240 million American dollars. Jesus was not ordinarily rich. He turned the water into wine. He can multiply the lozom fishes. If he hid his toe, the lead of archangel would come down and rest you him. People said, "You're yes, but his parents had the gate gave the poor offering. Of course they did. Study your Hebrew." You find that under Hebrew law, if they'd have touched his heritage, they'd have been stoned to death. And what happened to it? Well, of course, it went with the bankers till he reached his age of maturity. Read the story of the talents. In Jesus' time, there were two talents. There was a standard talent and a royal talent. A standard talent was 30 kilos of gold. A royal talent was 60 kilos of gold. What was Jesus talking about? We've got to get our act together in some of these things. I wish you could be with our researchers and see some of the material we come up with that our theologians haven't even scratched the surface. The last 40 years will be digging deep into some of these issues that need to be brought to the surface as Bible-believing Christians. When the Ark of the Covenant came back to the people of God, it did not come back to the priests or the religious leaders or the prophets that came back to a man called a binadab. And he and his son looked after it for 20 years. We've researched him through the Jewish synagogues. He was a famous entrepreneur. All of Jesus' disciples were business people. I mean, it's time for us to get off our blessed assurance. I mean, it's time for us to get our act together. Well, anyway, I went to business, paid it back and went to business the fourth time and got one of the largest real estate corporations that came in our nation with us in Singapore and Hong Kong. We sold those out some years ago. Today, we're involved in many areas of business around the world. We're very unusual. We have no overdraft, no loans, no mortgages. At times, we lend up banks where we're very heavy in gold. We did some films a few years ago, and we won the Golden Global Award on economics. And we're in the top 10% of the advisers in economics in the world, and God has a sense of humor. God gave me another dream as a young man to change the world in my lifetime. And within the next 10 or 15 years, I trust in the provenance of God, I'll be able to pull a switch that will change the world for 300 years. To say that's a crazy comment to make. How come one person changed the world in their lifetime or let me hate to remind you in biblical times? Abraham changed the world in his lifetime. Moses changed the world in his lifetime. David changed the world in his lifetime. Gideon changed the world in his lifetime. In my modern time, the man called Mahatma Gandhi with what he called Satyagraha, which was sole force. He broke the change of colonial power. He changed the world in his lifetime. Henry Ford changed the world in his lifetime when he set the world moving by the automobile, and Roger Banerster changed the world in his lifetime when he ran the first four-minute mile, and he proved that the absolute human endeavor he had to come. The last great English bulldog, Sir Winston Spencer Leonard Churchill. He changed the world when he mobilized the English language and sent it in the battle. He said never before in the field of human conflict for so many old, so much so few. So let us brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its commonwealth would last for a thousand years, then what's still say, this was a finest hour. In the battle of Britain he changed the world. Mark and Beethoven changed the world in our lifetime as they expanded our consciousness in the area of symphony and song. And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he changed the world when they're on Capitol Hill before the television audience of the world. When he gave that famous speech, he said, "I have a dream." He said, "I have a dream that my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of the character, I have a dream today." And so we got out from the very early hours of this morning, scratched ourselves, got to act together and came here to talk to you after traveling ten thousand miles. Why? Well, I ask you a very simple question. It's a question that Joseph Fowler asked his son. It was this question. What is this dream that you have? What is this dream that you have for many of you? It was alive and well when you're a little younger. You'd go for a swim at the beach or the lake or you'd stand in front of a wood fire on a cold wind at night or under the starry heaven of a hot summer night. You'd land the sand. You do what men and women and all ages have done. You would contrast that picture of what you are against what you would like to become. Well, during the next thirty-six hours or whatever time I'm here, tonight, tomorrow night, we'd like to try and turn on that dream machine. You see, because dreaming is not a waste of time, when you dream, you're on the periphery of God-likeness and you're creating something out of nothing. You know, I struggle sometimes to wonder what I should say to people in America. You know, I really struggle because you see, you say our nation during the forties. The Japanese were coming in. I'd already showed Sydney Harbour, the bombing Darwin. I'd already printed the currency. As a kid, I sat on a curb and I saw the Australian infantry go past. Oh, just a bunch of guys. They didn't have a prayer. Allow me was over in the Middle East fighting Ronald. And there we were, trying to get our act together in some of the Americans came. I sat on the same curb and the Americans went past. It took four hours for the convoy to go past. And every GI wave to me and they asked me if I had an older sister. You know, I think of that often, you saved our nation during the forties. I wish you could know how much we love you for that. I wish you could know how much we love you for that. You sent Billy Graham, my older son, says to me, "Dad, you know, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I wonder where we would be today if the American people hadn't sent Billy and you hadn't come under the power of the gospel." He said, "When I think about that, I cannot go back to sleep, Dad. I just can't go back to sleep." Then when, as a young man, I tried to get my act together. I tried to come to grips with things and I got hold of Dal Carnegie's book, "How to Win Fringe and Influence People." I got W. Clement Stone book. You know, it's a success system that never fails. I read Frank Bechter's book, "How I Read Myself from Failure to Success." You see again the Americans come. That's why I keep coming back. I've been here about 80 times and I'll keep coming back and I'll keep talking to you. I'll keep letting you know that there are people in the world that love America as well as people that hate it. But there's never been a nation in the whole history of humankind. There's been as benevolent as the United States of America. I've governed it at one time, criticized America and he and I were on the front page of the newspaper 12 days while I ripped his guts out. You see, there's never been a nation like America and I don't like the other options that are available around the world. I want to share some concepts with you tonight. Some of them may be stale. But I think we need to understand that growth or success, call it what you will, comes from three very simple factors. First of all the climate of the times in which we live and surely, surely we live in the most exciting time in the history of the world. As I walk up and down in my international headquarters, I have 6,000 years of history on my office wall. I'm a student of history. For 40 years I've been a student of history. Why do I study history? Because the thing that we've learned from history is that we will not learn from history. And here we are in this incredible world today. The climate of the times in which we live has to be the most exciting in history. The Berlin Wall has gone. All of you, I'll write a letter to the Kremlin and thank them for field testing, communism. It didn't work. There's a lot of criticism out there about the church. People tell us and they're partly right. Christians are lazy. They're not ambitious. They tell lies. They can't keep their marriages together. Their kids are running off the rails. Well part of that is right and we've got to get our act together there. But let me tell you, the gospel of the Christian church is still a silent unsung hero of every generation. And if your nation or my nation were to close down the work that the gospel is doing in our countries and care for the age and education and for those people that can't help themselves and the captains of industry, the trade union movement and everyone else would find that the nation would collapse and be in chaos within 90 days. The climate of the times in which we live, most exciting time in history. Secondly, what you personally are prepared to do is a service to others. For 40 years I've heard Christians say, "Oh, I want to be a servant leader." Now is your time to be a servant leader. Go out and start a business. Get off your blessed assurance. I mean, we sing onward Christian soldier and we never go into battle. We talk about leadership and we couldn't lead a group in silent prayer. And have a look behind and see if anyone's following. And for crying out loud, you know, leadership for a Christian that is not optimal, it's mandatory. We're told we are the light of the world, which means we should lead the way. We're told we're salt, which means we should penetrate everything. We've never told we're going to be a majority. We are a minority. The majority is always wrong. It is the minority that's right. The majority may confirm what is right, but they never initiate what is right. And thirdly, what you're personally willing to sacrifice along the way. And let me tell you, don't have to sacrifice your family. It's a lie of the devil. You don't have to sacrifice your family. Our family is so close. I think if I had a headache, one of my grandchildren could ask her and not feel fine. And by the way, Isaac, my youngest grandson told me to tell you something. He said, "You tell him, pop me." And he sang me this song and went something like this. If you're black or if you're white or if you're in between, God loves you. If you're tall or if you're short or if you're fat or lean, God loves you. He loves you when you're happy. He loves you when you're sad. He loves you when you're very good and when you're bad. No matter what you look like. No matter what you do, God loves you. Hallelujah. God loves you. Suck it, too. You tell him, pop me. You tell him. I mean, if Isaac was here, he would sing it himself for you and you'd get the full blast of it. But to see two out of those three statements depend on you success is not a demand on life. It is the biggest response to life. And I listened to the economists on CNN and so on trying to talk up or talk down or try to manipulate the economy. You're not going to be able to do that. Wake up, America. You're terrifying the life out of everyone. According to your politicians and if they're, I don't know whether any better than ours or not. We have a saying in Australia, how do you know if your politician is lying? He's lips are moving. But according to your politicians, you owe $6 trillion. Now let's get it into perspective. Our researchers say it's near a 19 trillion. And we'll take your word for it, $6 trillion. Tongue and cheek, we'll take that. But if it's only $6 trillion and we started paying off at a dollar a second, every minute, every hour of every day, every week of every month of every year and we started 150 years ago, we'd have to go 159,000 years to pay your bills. If America collapses, the whole world collapses and you can kiss goodbye to evangelism, maybe for 50 years. For goodness sake America, get your act together. You are the leader of the world and the way to get your act together is for individuals to get their act together. I think it was George Bernard Shaw said if you had to get a hundred economists and lay them head to toe on the ground they wouldn't even reach a conclusion. But the mainstream world economists have come together for the first time in history and they have said there are five essential necessary for success as we funded towards now the 21st century. The first one is a rich, modern, highly productive agricultural base. The second is a rich base of energy-bearing materials. The third is an abundant supply of non-energy-bearing materials. The fourth is a highly developed technology and the fifth is a highly educated and sophisticated population. And of all the nation of the world, all the emerging nations in the entire universe, there's only three nations on the face of the earth that have every one of these. One is Canada. One is Australia and the other one you've guessed is the United States of America. The seat with the limitation of other countries and the enormity of the opportunity before us, the position that we are in here this evening must inflict upon us commitment. We've been through the industrial age, the automotive age, the jet age, the space age, the electronic age and many believe now that we're in the age of the cortex. Many believe that the human mind is on the periphery of its greatness. It is the last great unconquered area of mankind and now is the time to cut the feathers from our mind and allow it to glide as it was divinely designed to do so. But you've got to use some principles. One of the things that I notice is I travel around the world and for a number of years, well for the last 40 years I've been involved in Christian work. I help Bob Schuller for 21 years and raise his money, build the Christian Cathedral and so on. Bob's a pain in the neck. I'm all genius in the pain in the neck. The Hagia Institute of Advanced Leadership Training, we would fly up to 65 world leaders at a time in the Singapore and train them in advanced leadership techniques. People like the Chief of Event Bowl, nuclear physicists, major generals of armies. That's why I always carry this with me, a cookie cutter. Because you know one of the things that I've found is that when you get a bunch of leaders together, you expect them to be gregarious and hospitable and get on world war one another. They fight like cat and dog. You can't make leaders with cookie cutters. You can't make leaders with cookie cutters. Cookie cutters are rigid with no flexibility. All leaders have peculiarities. What are we doing for goodness sake? Do you realize there's not one Christian institution on the face of the earth? Not one school, not one Christian college, not one Christian university that teaches Christians to own the corporations. All it does is teach them to be employment fodder for godless corporations, that's all. If we're goodness sake, when are we going to wake up? We carry a lot of passengers too. We've got to stop this. When the ride's free, more people take the ride. It's the same here as it is in England and in our country and elsewhere. We have people within our midst that say, you've got to help me because I've been rejected. I've been rejected every woman in the world when I married my wife. Everyone's been rejected. I mean, what's this? You don't know how I've been brought up. I had a terrible time. I wasn't brought up. I was dragged up. We're looking for excuses to blame why we don't have to perform like you do. It's a sickness that's right through our churches. Dr. Alfred Abner, the great Austrian psychiatrist, understood this and he spoke of what he called the lifeline neurotic. He said it is a categorical demand of the patient's lifespan that he or she should fail through the guilt of others and that's be free from responsibility. In other words, if I can blame the system or if I can blame the way you're treating me, well then I have a free ride. My Bible doesn't teach me that. It teaches personal accountability or I know some people have problems and they need psychiatric help and so on but it's in there. It's so minute and it'll only work if they start in the beginning of God. The English psychologist Dr. Hans J. Einzeck analyzed Nihim reports having 7,000 psychiatric cases and he found the rate of cure or improvement with psychiatric help at 64%. He compared that to a spontaneous recovery rate. That is for individuals who received no therapy at all and that was 66%. Some of our psychiatrists might be driving this crazy. The Canadian psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Price spent 17 months studying Nihim witch doctors and his conclusion was that the therapeutic results were about equal to those obtained in the North American clinics and hospitals. For those of you who feel too old, I hate being with people my own age. I mean they're always glorifying the past. It wasn't that good I was there. Well they say I'm too young or I have mental or physical handicaps that prevent me from success. Everybody's got handicaps. I'm color blind. I used to sell paint. But let me just remind you that 100 years of age grandma Moses was painting masterpieces. That a 94 Bertrand Russell was an active and national peace drives. That a 92 Rubenstein gave one of his greatest titles in New York, Carnegie Hall. But at 89 Albert Switzer was head of hospitals in Africa that at 88 Conrad Adnawert Chancellor in Germany that at 82 Sir Winston Churchill wrote the history of the English-speaking people that at 46th Beethoven became totally deaf and he wrote his greatest music during those later years in Orange County where we left this morning. There's a man there called Henry Diskani Jr. He was born without legs. He is the president of the Human Resource Center and founder of Abilities Incorporated with 13 honorary degrees and nine books to his credit. So the question I have to ask you is what's your problem? You an excusiologist? You know, probably the greatest behavioral scientist of the 20th century was a man called William James. And he said the greatest discovery of my generation is you can change your life by changing your attitude. I believe my Bible says it much better. It says you can be born again. And you can change completely. Change completely. Edison said greatness is an ordinary man with an extra ordinary attitude. Wow, I'm watching this clock. I guess the first principle of success if we want to put some principles down. Certainly I found in my lifetime and I guess I've worked with some of the biggest corporate giants, some of the biggest academia giants, political giants, theological giants of the 20th century. The first principle of success in my opinion is mastery over procrastination. Mastery over procrastination. If you come with me as I go into my office and I've just got to be very frank with you. I don't work hard. I don't even get up early. I think of God wanted me to see the sunrise and shed a little later in the day. I'll watch it on video. Yes, some of you people have any acquired time at five and six o'clock in the morning. I taught them that at 10 o'clock. He's not there. But as I go to my office, you'll hear me say in my motor car, do it now, do it now, do it now, do it now, build up the affirmation. Now, Rubina and I, we have a very unusual relationship with my wife and I've never been out with another girl in my life. I mean, I've kissed her at 16. I didn't wash my face for two weeks. I drifted two miles home. We go to sleep holding hands. We wake up holding hands. I wake up every morning of a life with cafe latte and marmalade or something like that. There's a very good reason because it's called self-preservation. She's not responsible for anything she says in the morning to she has a coffee. But we think differently. And by the way, fellas, don't expect your wife to think like you for crying out loud. She's not like you. You were made from the dirt. You're grubby. Yes, say grubby things. You do grubby things. I mean, she's not like you. She was built. That's why when your first story is like, "Man, what a build." And she needs some security. Am I right, ladies? You hear that, fellas? Women need security. And some of you guys are flying by the city of pants and they'll give me your family the security they need and deserve. And the Bible tells us he that does not look after his own is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. Now my long suit is economics. And don't think that I was always this way. As a young man, I had more summonses for not paying my bills than anyone else. And I could have war-paid the whole lounge out with him. But I learned to be responsible. And we need to look after our wives and look after our family and take a really sensible approach towards that, a biblical approach. But I remember some time ago, Rubina and I were in Perth, Western Australia. Now you're all ought to know where Perth is. That's the place that took the Americas cup from you. You didn't know you had it till we took it. We grigariously gave it back. But I had to go and speak at a men's group. Now, Rubina travels everywhere with me. If I'm chairman of the board of directors, I take my wife. And I make the other directors bring their wives in that way. I get their brains for nothing. And we were in Perth, and I had to speak to a men's group. We were in a hotel. And I said, "Well, sweetheart, I'll be back at five o'clock. They're coming to pick me up at nine." By the way, what are you going to do today? She said, "Well, I'm going shopping." You know, this was many years ago. We were doing well. We learned as well off as what we are today. I said, "Well, what are you going to do today?" She said, "I'm going shopping." "Oh, my goodness." I said, "Well, what are you going shopping for?" She said, "Peter, I'm going to buy a dress." I said, "What do you want a dress for?" She said, "Peter, our son's getting married. I need a dress for the wedding." "One dress?" "Yes, one dress." We even kissed on her. When I came back at five o'clock that night, I knocked on the door. She opened up with flourish in the hotel room. She had a little more amorous and normal. I smelled a rat immediately. As she put her arms around me, I looked over her shoulder and saw two boxes on the bed. I said, "Hey, what's going on here?" She said, "No, hang on." She said, "There's an interesting story about this. There's always an interesting story." She said, "When you left the morning, I went down to Hay Street. I saw in the shop window there. A dress that was perfect for Peter Jr.'s wedding. I went in and tried it on it. It did it beautifully. It said, "No credit. It's no returns. I bought it. There it is." I said, "What about the other ones?" She said, "Don't ask me. I'm coming to that." She said, "I had a look at the time. It was only half past ten in the morning. You're not coming back to five-thirty. What am I supposed to do while you're out throwing yourself off the platform all over the city?" She said, "I caught a bus." I went to Fremantle to look at some of the old convict buildings. By the way, Australia was built on convicts. We were very balanced people. We got a chip on each other. She said, "I suddenly found myself on the shopping center." She said, "The beautiful shopping center." She said, "No, I walked up and down. There's pipe and music coming through the amplification system." She said, "No, it's a morning tea." She said, "It was lovely." She said, "It was lovely. I was arrested by another dress shop. When I looked in the window, I saw a dress belt and the other one. I knew that we'd made a commitment. While I looked at it, I could hear the music coming through the amplification systems." She said, "And suddenly, as if by magic I thought, I heard your voice." I said, "What did it say?" She said, "It said, "Mastery over procrastination. Do it now." And I did. But it's a single most important tool for success. Mastery over procrastination. The second principle is enthusiasm. It comes from two Greek words in theo, meaning the God within. "I have a sign in my international headquarters behind my desk that says either get enthusiastic within ten seconds or get out." You know, some Christians, you've got to sign them up with a theater light to see if they're moving. We're raring to go and we can't go for raring. What's happening to us for goodness' sake? We're not taking the world by storm. We've got more divorce, more abortion, more drugs, more delinquency. And the church, and any time in history. We need to get our act together. Islam is laughing at us. Literally laughing at us. We need a little bit of enthusiasm about our faith. Let's see. Enthusiasm is an outflowing of a pleasing personality and a contagious enjoyment for what you're doing. Enthusiasm is not void of reason. It's clarity of plans and energy with wings. You also need a positive mental attitude. The Bible says whatever things are good report, think on these things. A positive mental attitude means spending your creative energy on finding ways that can be done rather than exhausting your emotional and mental powers on dwelling on the ways that cannot be done. That means turning a problem into a solution that means you must develop thought displacement, stand central to the gate of your mind and challenge thoughts as they come in. Also, you need to pay the full price. I was in Chicago and my last trip and a young lady came up to me. She said, "Mr. Daniels, I've got a dream. Would you like to hear about it?" I said, "If I've got an option." She said, "I want to win the world of Christ." I said, "Good. What are your demographics?" He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, if you're going to win the world of Christ, how many cities in the world are there with a population of 100,000?" She said, "I don't know." I said, "Well, just over 3,000." I said, "Well, now, watch your budget." I mean, for goodness sake, don't we read Shakespeare in Othello where it says, "Oh, God, that man should use his mouth as an enemy to his brain?" We wonder why people look at us and shake their head and walk away. I mean, the Bible tells us, "Put a hand over our mouth even if the fool is considered wise, we keep his mouth shut." I mean, we're paying the full price. It means a commitment to excellence and learning how to excel in dimensions that we have never known before in our life. Whatever God has called you to, you must know your stuff inside and out, saturate yourself with it. There is nothing that will put a spring of confidence in your walk and in your performance like being sure that you're definitely concretely and specifically know what you're doing. As a young man, I knew I had to do something and because I'd never gone through formal schooling and psychologists tell me I have an unusual mind because I read differently than you. I've until three years ago I read 5,362 biographies alone. Why? Because the bulk knowledge of the world is doubling every 10 years. If you're not twice as smart as you were 10 years ago, you're going backwards. And we are the ones. We are the ones that are supposed to lead the world. We are the minority. [BLANK_AUDIO] You