Striving For Mastery Part 3 | Systems & Structures by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Why Systems and Structures Matter

Truth in itself does not bless arbitrarily. Just because you are in the presence of truth and just because you have the truth does not mean you will be changed by it. Truth that is randomly communicated will not produce growth and stature. For truth to profit you, it has to be communicated holistically and arranged sequentially.

The believer is like a spiritual house. All the materials required to build a house are real, but they are not all required at the same time and not all in the same quantity. A chef can list every ingredient needed for a meal — and that is truth. But without knowing the sequence, the timing, and the proportion, you cannot produce that meal. It takes mastery to communicate truth to God's people in a way that builds and edifies. Paul called himself a wise master builder.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 — If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct. Wisdom is what makes the instrument effective, not just the instrument itself.

God is a God of systems and structures. Every time God builds, he builds with the intention of allowing what he built to continue — without him having to come and rebuild it again. He put seed within the trees so that they would keep reproducing. He seldom starts a process and returns to do it again. He initiates that process and creates a system around it so that any day you want to see that result, you find the system that makes for that reproduction.

Ezekiel 37:1–7 — The hand of the Lord carried Ezekiel out in the spirit and set him down in a valley full of very dry bones. He asked: can these bones live? Then he commanded: prophesy unto these bones. There was a noise, a shaking — and the bones came together, bone to his bone. It would have been enough just for the bones to come together. But the Bible says bone to his bone — because it was not the mere coming-together that mattered, but the accurate arrangement. For that army to be formidable and for life to be profitable in those humans, the bones had to find their places of assignment and stay there.

Many believers, as individuals and as organizations, downplay the power of systems and structures. We say: if my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is strong, every other thing will work itself out. That is not so. You will learn that every aspect of your life depends on your ability to build systems and structures around it.

Definitions

What is a system?

A system is a set of elements or components that are organized for a common purpose. A second definition: a system is a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done. In one sentence: a system is an organized approach.

What is a structure?

Structure comes from the Latin word structura, meaning to fit together or to build. Structure means the way in which parts of a system are arranged.

• Systems talk about execution strategies — how things are done
• Structures talk about organizational or build-up strategies — how things are built and arranged

No growth process or result is sustainable until and unless it is systematized. Whatever you are doing, provided you have not systematized it, there is no sustainability there. The longevity factor in everything we do is the system built around it.

To systematize means to make the outcome predictable by generating a formula or creating an organized approach.

Five Advantages of Systems and Structures

1. Systems make it possible for everyone who engages them to have the same or similar results

   A building can be reproduced anywhere in the world where there is land. You do not need to carry the building — you carry the architectural plan. An architect who has never seen the original building can reproduce it with digital precision. The power of systems.

   The system allocated for salvation means that whether a person is in Nigeria, America, or in the belly of a ship — anyone who engages that system receives salvation. Romans 10:9–10 is a system. It does not require a particular preacher to be in the room. The Holy Spirit can lead that person to engage the system and they can be saved alone in their room.

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2. Systems and structures minimize biases and sentiments

   If results depended on biases and sentiments, there are certain people who might never have them. God put systems in place to minimize biases and sentiments — so that your background, your tribe, your gender, your location would not determine whether the kingdom opens to you or not. Those who engage the system get the result.

3. Systems and structures guarantee sustainability and longevity of results

   There are buildings in parts of the world that are 200 to 300 years old and still standing solid — because those who built them built with the intention of outliving them. There are organizations and ministries that have passed from great-grandfather to grandfather to father to son for generations. Systems guarantee that the result survives the individual.

4. Systems and structures make replication possible

   The Lord Jesus Christ designed a system so that we, who were not there when he died and rose, are beneficiaries of that system. We can stand today and do what Paul did, and preach as Jesus preached, and see the results they saw — because the system was still here when they were gone. Any result can be replicated when you make it systemic.

5. Systems and structures provide a basis for commendation, correction, promotion, and demotion without biases or emotional interference

   The presence of systems legitimizes you commending or rebuking someone without sentiment. It legitimizes you promoting or demoting someone without tribalism or emotional preference. Without systems, everything is "as I like" — and you cannot build anything great on that.

   Even in God's work with us, God does not commend emotionally, correct emotionally, promote emotionally, or demote emotionally. When you look at the seven churches in the book of Revelation, every commendation was based on something. Every rebuke was based on a standard. If there is no reference, there is no basis for commending or rebuking.

   Positive compromises only become profitable when the structure and the standard are in place. Compromises only make sense when standards exist.

Two Kinds of Systems Every Individual Must Build

For an individual, you must create two kinds of systems:

1. A value system, or code of conduct — this guides your character and what you stand for
2. An operational guide — a modus operandi based on your convictions and priorities; this guides how you do things

Proverbs 25:28 — A man who does not have a watch over his spirit is like a city without walls. If you must excel in every area and dimension of your life, you must be prepared to know that living emotionally in this age is a risk. Living just based on emotions and sentiments will at best leave you average or defeated.

For an organization — a church, a business, an NGO, any corporate platform — you must create a compendium of the systems and the modus operandi that run the organization. Use it to train your staff, your workforce, your membership. Everybody within the organization should understand the systems that function there and how things are done.

Six Questions That Must Be Answered to Build Formidable Systems

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Apostle Joshua Selman
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1. Why do I exist? — The question of vision

   You cannot build effective systems around your life if you cannot answer the question of vision: why do I exist as a person as far as God's divine plan is concerned? Why does this organization exist? There must be a clear definition of the goal to be achieved and the end product.

   Jesus gave us his manifesto in clear terms. His very name captured it — Yeshua, the one who saves. To seek and to save the lost was his primary goal. Knowing the end product gives you the power to endure. Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.

   There are many businesses today that just happened because of hunger — there was no vision, so the business cannot last more than a year. There are ministries that do not have any known vision, no goal, no end product. Activities going everywhere but arriving nowhere. There is a problem with motion, activity, even speed — when there is no arrival. Without vision, you will not arrive.

2. Who are the beneficiaries of my solutions?

   You cannot say you are sent to everybody. Potentially yes — but who specifically are the beneficiaries of your solution? Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost. That means if the Father had already found you, that particular mission did not have a slot for you.

   Moses was not told: go and tell any human being you see that you have met the God of the Bible. The nature of his training was with respect to where he would be sent. God said: I am sending you to Egypt. Here is your mandate: deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh and take them into a land flowing with milk and honey.

   Every mandate — whether in ministry or in business — has targeted beneficiaries that you must understand. It can be an age range, a vision, a gender, a territory. You have to know your clientele. What calls you? That is a worthy question to sit with.

3. What tools do I need?

   Your tools talk about your skills, your resources, and your relationships. What tools will be required? Do not create systems out of nothing. If you are Moses, you need a rod. Never move until you find a rod. If you are David, do not stand before Goliath until you have your sling — and make sure there are five stones, not an empty sling.

   If you are a man of God and you know you need a high level anointing and a consistent manifestation of God's power, then knowing that you need those tools, you can now build a system to make sure your spiritual life never goes down. The nature of your calling demands that you are on fire at all times.

4. Who does what? — Distribution of tasks

   You will fail if you do everything. Most leaders fail in life because they cannot trust anybody. Who does what is a question you must answer. There must be a proper definition of tasks.

   Moses was wearing himself out counseling people from morning till night. Jethro, his father-in-law, said: this thing you are doing is not good. Find people and set them as captains over hundreds and thousands.

   Acts 6:2–4 — The apostles said: it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Look among yourselves for seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

   There are many men of God whose spiritual fire has gone down because administrative duties became a burden on them and they could not trust anyone. When a system collapses in your absence, something is wrong with the systemic nature of your organization. When you are not there for one month, the only thing that should be missed is the unique expression of the grace of God upon your life — not the growth, not the edification, not the fire.

5. What is the most important aspect of the vision to focus on now? — The question of emphasis

   God is not doing everything in your life at every time. God is a God of times and seasons and he operates based on emphasis. There is always something God is doing now. There is always something an organization is doing now. Yes, there are many things in the blueprint — but God walks one step at a time.

   1 Corinthians 10:23 — All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful, expedient, profitable, or constructive. You must know what God is doing per season in your life. There are seasons where his emphasis for you will shift to your finances, to leadership, to organization. Do not fight it. If you jump that school of the spirit, you will pay for it in the future in ways you are not prepared for.

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   And for organizations: there is always a main door. In every house there are many doors inside, but there is always a main door that leads you in — and you can leverage all other doors from there. Know the area of emphasis per season and do not major on minors while minoring on majors.

6. What are the major limitations, pitfalls, and distractions to avoid?

   1 Peter 5:8 — Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

   One of the assignments of systems and structures is to keep you true to your values and to what you stand for. You must be able to know the limitations, the pitfalls, and the distractions to avoid.

   When God begins to lift you financially, the dynamics of your living will change immediately. There are relationships you do not need that will force their way around your life. Systems will give you the legitimacy to say no to many things that may be good but are not useful for your life. Systems allow the "no" to come from the structure rather than from you personally — and this saves you many needless enemies and broken relationships.

   If there is the pitfall of pride in your life, show the system you have built to guard against it. If there are relationships that lead you away from your convictions, show the system that prevents them from having unsupervised access to you.

   Build a code of conduct and a code of operation around your life and in your organization out of the answers to these six questions. A code of conduct guides your character. A code of operation guides how you do things. It takes more than being a person of character to excel. Both are needed.

Applying Systems to the Key Areas of Life

Your Spiritual Life

If you depend on your emotion to read your Bible, to pray, or to go to church — you will not do any of it consistently. The reason most believers go up spiritually and then come crashing down is that everything about their spiritual life is based on emotion. Emotions vacillate. You will not be able to produce consistency without a system.

What is the system you have put in place for your Bible study? What is the system for consistent prayer? What is your system for renewal and retreat?

Many of our parents practiced morning devotion. They may not have prayed in tongues for an hour or finished their Bible cover to cover — but every morning the Bible was at the side of the bed, and after 50 years of that discipline they were in contact with scripture every day. Some of us love the Lord passionately, can pray for eight hours one day and then not pray again for three weeks. You cannot become spiritually robust by allowing your emotions to define the level of your spiritual commitment.

Systems are supervisors. They supervise compliance. If your prayer life has an alarm and a structure around it, that system will supervise you — even on the days you do not feel like it.

Your Mental Development

What is the system you have put in place to correct and build superior beliefs? What is the system that gives you a superior philosophy about life?

There are teachings to listen to every day. There are people whose thoughts shape understanding — and this must be a non-negotiable, scheduled discipline. Submit to mental development. Look for people whose philosophies are word-compliant. There is material in the personal development space whose thoughts are consistent with scripture. Listen to it. Adjust your philosophy. Do not depend on low-level thinking and cap what God can do through you.

Your Health and Wellness

You are given only one body per lifetime. Maintaining it is your responsibility and you must create a system around it. A system for accessing nutritious food. A system for rest. A system for physical activity. Scriptures for your health that you engage consistently.

Medical science shows that most conditions that destroy people can be managed if they are dealt with in their infancy. Being a person of faith does not exempt you from wisdom. The Bible says wisdom is profitable to direct. The assignment requires a long life — and a long life requires intentional systems of health.

Your Finances

What is the system you have in place for budgeting? For savings? For giving?

Most people do not prepare their offering before they come to church. They decide at the last moment based on what is in their pocket. That is why there is no growth financially. Give God what you have already committed to before you arrive.

Do you have a system for savings? The pension scheme works — despite all its imperfections — because there is an automatic deduction from your salary. The system does the discipline for you. If individuals were expected to deposit their own pension savings, only a fraction would ever do it. Create a system that removes the decision from your moment-by-moment emotions.

Favor is maintained by wisdom. Some receive extraordinary favor and blessing, then spend it all in one season of celebration — and find themselves stranded when real needs arise. Through wisdom a house is built.

Your Relationships

What is the standard in your life for having friends? What system do you have for investing in and maintaining the key relationships God has connected you to?

Write a list of the most valuable relationships in your life — by reason of spiritual contribution, dependability, and mutual commitment. Then invest in those relationships consciously and consistently. You cannot generalize your relationships and invest the same level of time, energy, and effort in everyone. That is not discrimination. It is wisdom.

Some people around you will not be there forever. Those who go out of their way to show you love, honor, and kindness — who will be with you in both your smiling and your tears — do not push them away or take them for granted. Invest in those relationships.

Your Family Life

What system have you put in place for training your children? For spending time with your spouse? For the financial welfare of your home? For the spiritual upkeep of the household?

Eli was a great man and sincere before God — but he was careless about his sons. He had no system for overseeing the character formation of those entrusted to him. The Bible records the consequences. Your children will not drift into excellence. There must be a system — for morning devotion, for Bible study, for family prayer, for how guests are received, for values that are non-negotiable.

Many children today do not learn about God or build character from home because there is no system for it. Our society continues to deteriorate because we are hoping that religious, educational, and governmental institutions will do the work that families should start.

Your Work, Career, and Ministry

What system have you put in place to excel in your work? For meeting with your leaders, training them, and making sure they are growing in God?

It is dangerous to be a man of God on fire but not know what is happening to the people around you in your care. You do not know whether they pray, whether they fast, whether they love God — you just know that when you give them assignments, they do it. That is a risk to you and to the vision.

Man of God: stop moving around telling people you are anointed. Go and sit down and build your value first. Ask God: what is the secret of sustained fire? How do I understand and communicate scripture with precision? Build the system around your preparation. No man of God on fire has any excuse to come before God's people without being prepared.

The Challenge and the Closing Call

Identify the areas of consistent inconsistency in your life — the highs and lows in your spiritual life, your finances, your family, your organization. Those areas are the ones that need to be systematized.

Hebrews 6:1 — Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. Let us go on to a higher level of maturity. It is time for people to be able to say: "I know that if I meet this man or this woman of God, my life will change" — because there is a system around their life.

I prophesied as I was commanded and there was a noise. The bones came together — bone to his bone. There are bones in your destiny that need to find their assignment and take their place. The reason increase has not come — no matter the prophecy — is that there is no structure to hold the growth. It is time for bone to come to his bone.