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DON'T GET CAUGHT IN THE ALGORITHM - MIXON IT UP LIVE
12 Plays3 days ago
The world is competing for your attention like never before. In this thought-provoking episode of Mixon It Up Live, Bishop Sylvester Mixon explores how life's "algorithms"—distractions, comparison, busyness, and endless scrolling—can pull us away from God's purpose. Through the story of Nehemiah, discover why protecting your focus is essential to fulfilling your calling and why sometimes the most powerful response is simply, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."
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Transcript
The Algorithm vs. Purpose
00:00:16
Speaker
All right. So let's lock into this um tonight. You know, God really put this on my heart and my spirit um as it relates to um the algorithm is not your assignment. Literally, literally, we are um living in a time where everything is fighting for our attention.
00:00:36
Speaker
Right. Everything is fighting for our attention. Distractions are literally all over the place. Good evening, Pastor Chris. Bless you, my friend. Amen good evening good evening and so we're dealing with notifications opinions dramas trends um Algorithms we're dealing with backlash haters right? ah Drama all of these things that are vying for our attention like never before every day We wake up to something new some new change something new crazy going on ah in the world right?
00:01:14
Speaker
And so to that end, we have to be ever vigilant with what we're focusing on, where we are lending our attention, our energy so as not to be drained. So as not to be worn out.
00:01:26
Speaker
Right. And here is
Distractions: Invitations Not Destruction
00:01:28
Speaker
the reality. I want you to understand an algorithm is a system that is set up to grab your attention. And it is designed to pull you away from purpose to keep you scrolling instead of building.
00:01:42
Speaker
And if you're not careful, you will make the mistake of mistaking movement for progress. hear Hear me. Hear me. The enemy doesn't always attack with destruction.
00:01:54
Speaker
Sometimes I want you to catch this and write this down. Sometimes he distracts with invitations. Oh, God, are yeah are y'all in here tonight? The enemy does not always attack you ah with destruction. Oftentimes the enemy distracts you with invitations. And I want you to think hard about that. What invitations is the enemy using in your life in order to distract you now?
00:02:22
Speaker
Right. what What what invitations is Satan using in your life to distract you now? Is that good norm? Right. Is that he does not always attack us with destruction. Oftentimes it's just invitations.
00:02:36
Speaker
Right.
Focus and Destiny
00:02:37
Speaker
Satan is the great inviter that he comes to kill, steal and to destroy your purpose, your destiny, your assignment, your ministry, your calling.
00:02:47
Speaker
sabotage your dreams and your visions. Listen, it's about to get good. Have you liked this yet? Y'all go ahead and hit that like button for me on YouTube, hit that like button for me on Facebook. Um, and so, uh, when I began to, to receive this from the Lord and the Lord had me to share this, um, in, in my new setup called mixing it up live. And so I've got mixing it up podcast and this is going to be mixing it up live. And I'm going come on here every two weeks. Uh, to share some leadership principles and some empowerment because i have an assignment to raise up at at least a hundred new leaders at least a hundred new leaders and so tonight um in mixing it up live i want to talk to you from nehemiah six and three and and one verse he says i'm doing a great work and i cannot come down
00:03:36
Speaker
I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. I want you to put your name in place of Nehemiah's. I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. And I've come to tell somebody, listen, tonight you are too anointed to be this distracted.
00:03:52
Speaker
My God, you are too anointed to be this distracted. Why? Because focus is the currency of destiny. Right. Philippians 313. This is forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press toward the mark.
00:04:13
Speaker
Listen, you can't press forward while entertaining every distraction. you can't pursue purpose while babysitting off fence you mad you big offended come on you in your feelings and listen the enemy knows that you will never reach a purpose while you are living out your pain he he knows that he he knows that you will never reach a purpose While you're living in the offense of your pain that you can't hear God um effectively or clearly while you are addicted to the noise that's going on, whether in you or around you.
Momentum and Opportunities through Focus
00:04:51
Speaker
Listen, some of you are under attack. You're just not focused. hu Oh, God, some of you are not under attack. You are just not focused. And the danger of this season, hear me, is subtle.
00:05:06
Speaker
It doesn't feel like you're losing, but you're leaking time, energy. and clarity are y'all still in here and have y'all shared this with somebody tonight come on i've come with a language uh for where you are in the realm of the spirit and the devil wants to make you so offended come on that you miss out on your purpose that you miss out on your promise you miss out on the call of god that's on your life listen life has an algorithm too
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if you know it, but life has an algorithm and it will keep feeding you what you keep responding to. Yeah. And so if you keep responding to negativity, if you keep seeing negativity, if you keep entertaining distractions, if you keep ah listening to the negative, you will keep being delayed by the distractions of life.
00:06:01
Speaker
The enemy has an assignment. Listen, but whenever you mess around and lock in. Just somebody type in the chat, lock in, lock in, lock in. If you mess around and lock in, when you fix your eyes, come on, in that ministry, in that marriage, in the relationship, in your purpose, in your calling, whenever you decide, hear me, man of God, woman of God, my brother, my sister, my friend. it it Listen, when you lock in that's when momentum meets with your purpose and you cannot be denied.
00:06:33
Speaker
Come on. Doors got to open for you. Come on. Favor comes on your life. Come on. Opportunities begin to show up that you can now seize and watch this, not fumble because you are focused.
00:06:46
Speaker
who This is not the season for you to come down, Nehemiah. Listen, you are on the wall. Come on. You on the wall for those grandkids. You're on the wall for your family. You're on the wall for your marriage. Come on. You got to get on the wall for your ministry, your business, your anointing, your calling, your purpose. Cut the noise.
00:07:07
Speaker
Silence the distractions. It is time to lock in to what God is doing in your life, because hear me. What is the ahead of you? Can I prophesy? It's too big and too important to be interrupted by the small things, the small boxes that don't really matter.
00:07:27
Speaker
Some of y'all again derailed, derailed, delayed, distracted by little bitty things. Come on, critics. Oh, they said this and that about me. Listen, dogs don't bark at parked cars.
00:07:41
Speaker
They only bark when you're moving. Anybody that's doing anything great for the Lord, anybody that's choosing, come on, to finally get up out of that hole, to finally come out of your stuck place, to finally get focused on what the Lord has for your life, you're going to have critics.
00:08:00
Speaker
You are going to have distractions, right? The bigger you go, the more talkers you're going to have. And so let me start by ah with with with a a confession tonight.
00:08:12
Speaker
There is a wall being built in the city of Jerusalem here in Nehemiah chapter six. And a man that's building the wall literally gets a call and two men named Sam Ballett and Geshem send a message and they say, come down.
00:08:31
Speaker
This is so prophetic for this time, y'all. They say, come down, come meet us on the plane of. Oh, no. Now, let's talk. It sounds reasonable.
00:08:43
Speaker
It sounds rational. It sounds like networking. Hear me. And Nehemiah, listen in chapter six, verse three. sends back nine words I want you to write down and tattoo in your spirit.
00:08:57
Speaker
Hear me. His words are, I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. Woo! Ay-yi-yi. Leader, hear me tonight.
00:09:07
Speaker
Hear me. Hear me, my friend. Listen to me. The greatest threat to your assignment in the second half of 2026 is not opposition. It is invitation.
00:09:21
Speaker
It's invitation. It's that invite in your DMs. who It's that invite in your messenger. It's that invite in that text message. It's that call invite. Come on. The greatest threat, listen to me, is not opposition.
00:09:40
Speaker
It's invitation. What invitations do you need to evaluate and possibly alleviate or eliminate? ah Here's the one thing I want to put in your spirit tonight.
00:09:54
Speaker
and and And I'm going to hasten. I'm going to get out your way. I just want to drop
Attention as a Commodity
00:09:58
Speaker
a nugget. And my prayer is you're going share this with everybody in your friend group. My prayer tonight, you're going share this with every pastor, every business owner, every ministry leader, every every person that you know, you're going to share this with them. Here it is. Are y'all ready?
00:10:12
Speaker
Come on, don't miss it. The algorithm rewards your attention. but it cannot reveal your assignment the algorithm rewards your attention but it cannot reveal your assignment listen listen write that down write that down remember life is an algorithm it rewards your attention but it cannot reveal your assignment let me give you the number one reason that should sober all of us tonight and that is researchers tell us the average person now spins north to seven hours looking at a screen seven hours on on this phone seven hours on a device looking at a screen now do the math on it that's not a hobby that's a part-time job listen that you didn't apply for that you're not getting paid for up to seven hours you didn't apply for it but and you're not getting paid and here's the cruel here's the cruel part
00:11:08
Speaker
Here's crude part. Every one of these platforms ah was engineered by some of the smartest people on planet Earth and to do one thing and not to inform you, not to protect you, not to make you healthy, not to per se connect you, although they can, but to keep you.
00:11:28
Speaker
Come on, y'all. They've been designed to keep you. The product is not the app. The product is your attention. ah Your attention is literally their business inventory. They're making money off your attention.
00:11:46
Speaker
They are selling it to the highest bidder while you just relaxing. Come on. They making a lot of cash off you. Listen, Elon Musk, you just made him a trillionaire.
00:11:58
Speaker
See, the algorithm was built to capture your attention, but God built you for assignment. He built you for purpose. He built you for destiny. He built you as a dreamer. Come on. He built you as a builder, man of God. He built you for breakthrough woman of God. He built you for destiny. Listen to me.
00:12:21
Speaker
You're a sign that asks you, what will you keep building? Algorithm ask you what you're going keep scrolling. Listen, and here is the danger, not that the feed is evil. Please hear me clearly.
00:12:34
Speaker
There's a degree of entertainment. I get it. But that the feed, listen, is efficient and it will efficiently convince you that watching other people build is the same thing as building.
00:12:48
Speaker
Listen, listen, and it's not. You're sitting there watching them build while you build nothing. watching them go further and you're excited about it you happy only that your life is still in park see you cannot lay a single brick on your wall while you're standing at the plane of ono admiring somebody else's wall are y'all in here tonight i'm just trying to help somebody listen here's my first thing three things i want to give you the first thing is distraction is a decision
00:13:23
Speaker
Write that down. Somebody put that in the chat for me. Distraction is a decision.
00:13:30
Speaker
Distraction is a decision. And listen, listen, listen. Distraction is not at an accident. Distraction is a decision you make so quietly and so often that you stop noticing you're making it.
00:13:45
Speaker
See, there is a line that was credited to Theodore Roosevelt, and he said this, and I quote, and and and it's it's pretty powerful. Here's what he said. Here's what Theodore said. He said, comparison is the thief of joy.
The Cost of Distractions
00:13:58
Speaker
I only say that tonight because I want to update it for this scrolling era that we're in, and comparison is the thief of joy, but distraction is the thief of destiny.
00:14:09
Speaker
Wow, because distraction, listen to me, it's the decision that has one assignment and that is to keep you from your assignment. that that That is to keep you so lost in your purpose, so lost in relationships, so confused about who you are. Come on, so lost in self-awareness that you keep making the same relationship decisions, you keep dating the same type of person because you've never really sat down to take the time to sit with you because you've been so distracted by all these other relationships that you busy scrolling and thumbing and you're watching all of those things instead of working on you, which is one of the best investments that you can make. A distraction doesn't rob you all at once. It robs you on an installment plan. 30 seconds here.
00:15:01
Speaker
Right. A quick check there. a rabbit hole at midnight. A rabbit hole at 2 a.m. in the morning. Come on. When you should be resting, when you should be praying, when you should be planning.
00:15:15
Speaker
Right. When you should be preparing. And one day, listen, it waits to you are the most tiredest to you, the most vulnerable that this distraction leads you into a toxic decision you wish later that you had never made.
00:15:30
Speaker
Come on. Can I get some witnesses here? Can I get some real amens and some real thumbs and hearts right there? Listen, and one day you wake up and you realize that the wall you're supposed to be working on didn't get built, not because somebody tore it down, but because you never came back to it.
00:15:47
Speaker
You got down off your wall for a distraction. And it's supposed to have been built, but you never built because you got down off the wall you're supposed to be working on.
00:15:58
Speaker
Let me make it plain. Can I make it plain? Somebody shout, make it plain, Bishop. Make it plain. Listen, because the plane of Ono looks different depending on what God called you to be of.
00:16:10
Speaker
Maybe maybe for you, ah maybe for some of you, you sat down to study for 90 minutes and the algorithm quietly turned it into nine minutes of studying. But 80 minutes of somebody else's highlight reel. Come on. I've been there. ain't no judgment tonight. I've been caught up. And that's why I had to bring it to you. It's a prophetic word tonight. You didn't flunk the assignment. You forfeited it One scroll at a time. Nobody stole your future. You traded it for the fee.
00:16:37
Speaker
Oh, God, maybe maybe you've got 11 tabs open like sometime my ADHD have me doing. Lord have mercy. And not one of them is the actual plan you're supposed to be working on. You call it research, but the spirit calls it. Oh, no.
00:16:54
Speaker
Oh, no. Somebody just said, oh, no. Oh, no. Every shiny new idea feels like an opportunity. And watch this. Distraction is tricky because distraction is addictive. Every brand new thing is like, oh, oh, wow.
00:17:09
Speaker
Right. And your brain leans into it. And you got to learn how to tell yourself, oh, no, like I've learned how to do it. I start closing those windows. No, I've got to focus on this one thing.
00:17:19
Speaker
Right. Paul says this one thing I do for getting those things. Right. Listen, because you can't dig one deep well while you're chasing shallow water in 14 directions. Distraction won't kill your business with bankruptcy.
00:17:36
Speaker
It will kill it with busyness. business could it be that you're not getting anything done because you've got too many things going at the same time right that's the trap and it never feels like losing it feels like living in the moment When actuality, you are
The Nehemiah Principle of Focus
00:17:53
Speaker
behind. John Maxwell said this. He said a leader is one who knows the way goes the way and shows the way.
00:18:00
Speaker
But you cannot go the way if you keep stopping every nine seconds to see which way everybody else went. See, leaders who chase trend lead nobody.
00:18:12
Speaker
Including themselves, the greatest person that you should be leading, which is you. Come on. Come on. See, Sam Ballard sent this invitation to Nehemiah four times, four times. And scripture says four times because the enemy's assignment is never subtle.
00:18:28
Speaker
Listen to me, but persistent. He'll keep at you. Come on. Same thing. It's like that feed. You know, the feed is designed. The algorithm will give you more of what you've scrolled, what you've looked at. It'll give you more of it in order to keep you watching, in order to keep you on.
00:18:44
Speaker
Right. That's the same thing in life. And so so it's over and over until the wall stays unfinished. So your no has to be repetitive on purpose as well.
00:18:57
Speaker
Here's the second thing. Not only is distraction a decision, the second thing is you can't you the the fee can't give you what the wall was built to write that down. The fee can never give you what the wall was built to. Here's here's here's what nobody really tells you. The fee can never give the fee can give you information. It can give you inspiration. It can also give you irritation. If we tell the truth and be honest, but it can't give you identity.
00:19:26
Speaker
Right. ah ah and And leadership flows out of identity. So you'll never find your calling in the comments. Right. Come on. You got to be careful. And listen, the higher God promotes you, the higher you go, you're going to be OK with the comments.
00:19:42
Speaker
You're going to have to OK with commentary. You're going to OK with critics because you can't clap back at every commentary. Tell your neighbor that's a distraction.
00:19:53
Speaker
Listen, listen. one One of the evidence that you're not ready to go high is you got to clap back at every commentary. You got to clap back at every critic. No. Tell your neighbor. Oh, no.
00:20:03
Speaker
You don't have time for that. Right. And listen, can I argue to say you're really not that big if you don't have comments, if you don't have critics, if you don't have commentary, if you don't have people talking?
00:20:15
Speaker
Come on. Then you really ain't doing nothing. Right. And so you as a leader must learn how to focus, follow one course until successful. Right. See, the algorithm doesn't know your name. It doesn't know your gifting. It doesn't know that you were put built together in your mother's womb to do. It only knows what makes your thumb stop moving.
00:20:38
Speaker
Now, let let me get a little bit more personal with you. See, parent, you got to hear me tonight.
Family and Presence vs. Digital Distractions
00:20:44
Speaker
Mama, daddy, you got to hear him Your kids don't need a distracted provider. They need a present parent.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, they need your time. And there is no way to be in the room. and There is a way that you can be in the room and not in the room. Phone in one hand at the dinner table, eyes down. And and and that child is wanting your attention, wanting your time. But you're so distracted by what what's going on or who got the fighting or ah what happened in in politics or this, that, and the third. yeah And they're saying, watch me.
00:21:16
Speaker
Right? Come on. You got to stop that. Thumb. Listen, the algorithm never loved your child back. It will, however, gladly take your years that you were supposed to spend with them.
00:21:28
Speaker
Because hear me, presence is the one gift the feed can't post for you. Oh, God. See, ministry leader, you busy scrolling another church.
00:21:40
Speaker
I like real their crowd, their lights, their moment. And you come away discouraged and broken hearted that your church may not be growing the same way or that your ministry may not be moving like somebody else's. And you overlook you're not working on the wall of the assignment that God gave you.
00:21:58
Speaker
Right. You busy comparing yourself, your marriage, your ministry to somebody else's. Wow. You are destroying. you You are forfeiting the wall. It's just supposed to be. worth That's not information. That's intimidation dressed up as inspiration. And God didn't anoint you to envy a wall.
00:22:15
Speaker
He anointed you to build yours. Howard Thurman wrote this in one of his books ah that blessed me really good. He says, don't ask the world. ah Don't ask what the world needs.
00:22:25
Speaker
Ask what makes you come alive. And then you go do that. Right. Because what the world needs is people to come alive. See, here's the trouble. ah A numb leader can't tell what makes them come alive. Right.
00:22:43
Speaker
that they are so distracted so no awful filming and three hours of scrolling doesn't leave you alive it leaves you anesthetized right it leaves you full but not fed entertained but not equipped busy but you're never building right you don't have a capacity problem you got a clarity problem and clarity is being bled out by distractions number three not only number one must we remember ah is that distraction is a decision number two the fee can never give you what your wall can only give you but number three third and finally you gotta to have the discipline of I can't come down write that down y'all the discipline of I can't and this distracted and busy chaotic crazy drama feel come on y'all come on y'all world that we are living in
00:23:41
Speaker
Hear me, hear me. If I could just, if I could switch gears for just a moment. As I was thinking about this, um you know, I'm a business guy, so I've always got to drop some business and entrepreneur and nuggets on you as well. But in 1997, and listen, do me a favor, hit share and and hit like because somebody needs to hear this message. Don't get caught in the algorithm, right?
Focus as a Catalyst for Success
00:24:03
Speaker
Don't get caught up in these distractions.
00:24:05
Speaker
Destiny is calling you. Listen, listen, in 1997, Apple did something um that was quite significant. They were days from collapsing.
00:24:16
Speaker
Apple was was with days from a graveyard, days from no longer existing Apple. Yeah, yeah, Apple. right Yeah. um Bleeding money, losing market shares.
00:24:31
Speaker
and they were so cluttered with ideas and with products that Steve Jobs ah newly returned reportedly asked which one he should even recommend to a friend and nobody could answer Nobody. So Jobs walked to a whiteboard. He drew a simple two by two grid, consumer and pro, desktop and portable, four boxes, four products on this whiteboard.
00:24:59
Speaker
And he made a decision that saved Apple forever, or at least up to this point. Everything that didn't fit in these four boxes, every product, all those products, I remember this, that they had got canceled. I remember actually reading about it in Entrepreneur and Magazine.
00:25:19
Speaker
He cut the product line, y'all, by more than 70%.
00:25:24
Speaker
Right. This man took the axe to Apple's products. His his own people thought Steve Jobs had lost his mind. The headlines thought he was finished. But here's the testimony. A company that lost over a billion dollars in 1997 turned a profit the very next year.
00:25:45
Speaker
Same building, same brand, same broke company. The only thing that changed was their focus. glory to God, because sometimes we can be so busy, distracted doing everything that we're not focusing on the most intentional, productive things.
00:26:06
Speaker
Right? Jobs said it like this. He was as proud of what they chose not to do as he was what they did. Wow.
00:26:18
Speaker
Hear me tonight. I'm gone because that's that's not just business. That's Nehemiah's wall in a turtleneck. Subtraction is not lost.
00:26:29
Speaker
Subtraction sometimes is strategy. And there are times you got to ask yourself, what do I need to start doing? Sometimes you got to ask yourself, what do I need to quit doing so that I can be most productive? doing I'm declaring and decreeing 2026. The second half going be your best half.
00:26:52
Speaker
oo raba shete mado behold I declare in the name of Jesus. The rest of 2026 is going to be. yu I want you to lift your hands and just type in the chat. I'll receive. Lift your hands. Now type in the chat. I'll receive. It's going to be my most fruitful half.
00:27:10
Speaker
What do I need? God, what do I need to start doing? In order to be more effective in my life, my family, ministry, my money, God, what do I need to stop doing in order to be most productive doing the rest of this year? Listen to me. The fastest way for you to fail, hear me, is to say yes to good things, but not God things.
00:27:38
Speaker
To say yes until you have no more strength left for the greatest thing. Oh, God, focus, y'all, isn't doing more.
00:27:48
Speaker
Focus is the courage to cancel everything that's not in your four boxes. Are y'all here tonight? So what do we do with this, Bishop? You put a lot in on us.
00:28:00
Speaker
What do we do with it? We have to learn to say nine words and mean them. Oh, God, nine words. Listen, I'm doing a great work.
00:28:13
Speaker
And I can't come down. Years ago, years ago, got to be honest because I'm not perfect. I'm still learning this and I'm still growing at this and we're growing together.
Leadership and Hard Decisions
00:28:23
Speaker
And that's why I love mixing it up and live talks and the mixing it up podcast that you got to go download on Apple, Spotify, iTunes, because I like to keep it real with self-help and development and us walk this thing out together and grow in this leadership journey.
00:28:39
Speaker
um And by all means, invite me in. I like to do this together. But ah years ago, I had a leadership team of 22 leaders on my senior lead team.
00:28:51
Speaker
And I had to make a very hard decision through prayer, through a time of fasting. I was so serious and I was reading through some books, one in particular, The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni.
00:29:03
Speaker
And one of the things that book talked about is that sometimes your team can be so big that decisions get bogged down.
00:29:16
Speaker
I wanted I was just trying to do the right thing, trying to be effective for my church, trying to make sure I had the most and the best input and and and the right people in the room. and And it wasn't that the people in the room were wrong. It was just that it was way too many weigh ins and too many decisions. Leadership meetings was like three hours and I had to make a hard call.
00:29:40
Speaker
To cut down my team. and focus on seven or eight key leaders in key areas and then make sub leaders and make those leaders or sub leaders accountable to those leaders.
00:29:53
Speaker
I had to learn how to start building a tier leadership. Right. And just because everybody wasn't in the senior room didn't mean that their their their opinion or their thoughts doesn't count.
00:30:07
Speaker
It just meant I had to place everybody in the best positions in our ministry on the bus. Now, looking back from those what, 10 or so years ago, our our ministry has grown to its greatest ever.
00:30:23
Speaker
Right. But I had to make a hard call. that hurt some hearts hurt my heart but ultimately blessed everybody's heart in the decision as we are here today sometimes it's a hard call to cut some stuff maybe some things that you're loyal to one of our things that you see is we're not loyal to any sacred cows we will do anything short of sinning to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ we will do everything that we can
00:30:55
Speaker
right and we're not gonna be loyal to some just because we invented it because we came up with it because it was our cousin our best friend that did it no we want to do the most effective thing that will reach the most people for Jesus Christ and sometimes family friends it's a hard call what hard calls to make this second half your best half do you need to make What hard cuts? What hard conversations?
00:31:26
Speaker
What hard conflicts? Necessary conversations, crucial conversations. What decisions do you need to make so that you can be most effective?
00:31:37
Speaker
Listen,
Clarity and Purpose
00:31:38
Speaker
watch the word. Nehemiah doesn't say I won't. come down. He says I can't come down. Because when your assignment is clear enough, certain options simply die off.
00:31:51
Speaker
They're no longer in your view. You are most focused when your assignment is most clear. Coming down stops being a temptation and starts being an impossibility because you have written down your your box things, your your most important things. And so watch this. That's not legalism. That's focus.
00:32:13
Speaker
Focus is just a thousand small no's guarding one big yes. So here's the leadership. Here's your leadership lab. And I'm gone. Free bricks.
00:32:24
Speaker
I want you to lay so you can build your best wall with the rest of 2026. Y'all ready, family? Lean in. Come on, friends, partners. Lean in close. Number one, define your wall.
00:32:36
Speaker
Number two, guard your gate. And then number three, find your oh-no detector. Number one, define your wall. What's your wall? Write your assignment in one sentence.
00:32:48
Speaker
Is it to graduate these kids? Is it to make sure you're that parent that makes sure that there are at least five healthy meals for five days a week and then everybody got to fend for themselves on the weekend? What is your wall? Is it that I am going to intentionally on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday have an hour worth of study time?
00:33:10
Speaker
Right. So I can be successful and pass this college course. What is your wall? Is it that I am going to intentionally invest my leadership team in some leadership ah podcast learning or courses or or conferences?
00:33:29
Speaker
ah What is your wall? Write your assignment in one sentence. One sentence. I will be the most ah self-aware me the second half of 2020. And now what will it take for you to get there?
00:33:44
Speaker
if If you can't say it in one sentence, you can't defend it against a thousand distractions. And that's exactly what Steve Jobs did with his grid on that whiteboard.
00:33:56
Speaker
He made a mission so clear that every distraction had an obvious answer. Does it fit the box? Does it fit the box? Listen, clarity is your fence.
00:34:09
Speaker
Clarity is your defense, right? What will I do in this relationship? Some of y'all are dating and dating could be a distraction if you don't define what dating is supposed to be.
00:34:23
Speaker
Is dating just causing you to end up in somebody's bed prematurely and no ring on it? No marriage? Come on, that could be a distraction.
00:34:34
Speaker
So you whatever you're going to do, you've got to define.
00:34:40
Speaker
This is so good. Name your four boxes, then guard them with your life. Define your wall. Number two, guard your gate. Now, here's where I've got to correct something that the world taught you.
00:34:52
Speaker
The world says the answer to temptation is just have more willpower. Just be more disciplined. I hear you. But willpower is a tank, not a wheel.
00:35:04
Speaker
Right. Craig Rochelle made it plain in his book. Think ahead. He said willpower is a limited resource. The more you spend of it, the less you have and the weaker you get.
00:35:16
Speaker
So by the end of a long day, tired, hungry, overwhelmed, emotional, your willpower is running on fumes. And that is precisely the hour that that invitation, right, is going show up in your life.
00:35:32
Speaker
Am I telling the truth tonight? Somebody give God some thumbs. Hearts like a bishop is telling the truth tonight. That's exactly when the enemy shows up. That's when that phone call, that text message with their probably should have your number. Y'all ain't y'all. Y'all ain't saying that tonight. That's when that DM pop in. When that willpower is weak. Oh, God, which means you will never win the war in the moment of temptation.
00:35:55
Speaker
You win it before. How do we win it before, Bishop? Pre-decide. Pre-decide. Write that down. Making the decision in
Pre-deciding Against Distractions
00:36:03
Speaker
advance. When this shows up, I will do this. To guard my values. To guard what I value most. I will do this. What means most to me, I will not let what means, um ah what what grabs me in a moment mess up what means most to me for a lifetime.
00:36:25
Speaker
I will not let, come on, the immediate jack up my ultimate. come on come on listen here listen listen listen I gotta go I gotta go don't stand at 11 p.m. deciding whether the phone goes down you lose every time pre-decide at noon when you're clear that when temptation comes your decision won't rest on emotion you feel in the moment it'll rest on your values values give you vision for victory so you don't become a victim
00:37:00
Speaker
God already wrote on your heart. So don't negotiate with the feed when you're vulnerable. Win the battle the night before. Right.
00:37:10
Speaker
Prepare. Somebody say pre-decide. Pre-decide. Put that in the chat. prede decide Pre-decide. Pre-decide. Brick number three. Number one, define your wall. Number two, guard your gate. Number three, find your oh no detector.
00:37:23
Speaker
Oh no. Right. Every time someone or something says come down, ask yourself this one question. Does this build my wall?
00:37:36
Speaker
Ask yourself this question. Does this build my wall? 2026, we didn't prophesy, we've touched and agreed. It's gonna be our most effective and fruitful year. Does this build my wall or just borrow my attention?
00:37:52
Speaker
Does it build my wall or borrow my attention? If it borrows, it goes. If it steals your attention, Let it go. and And let me say say it for the pastor in the room, especially you cannot study the word with a divided mind and you can't hear God through the the notification storm.
00:38:13
Speaker
You got to pre-decide the gate, protect the study like it's sacred and your people, watch this, will be blessed because of it. I close, but there's an old hymn ah that we still sing.
00:38:27
Speaker
Great is thy faithfulness. Great is that faithfulness. And the whole testimony of that song um is one who called you is faithful to finish what he started in you.
00:38:39
Speaker
Heaven is not waiting on your wall to be perfect. Heaven is waiting on you to stay on it. Nehemiah finished his wall, y'all. 52 days, 52. A work that experts said could not be done. He finished it under two months.
00:38:54
Speaker
Under two months. Because one man refused to let distractions pull him down off what mattered the most. listen don't let what matters in a moment take what matters most jobs turned down a diet turned around a dying company called Apple which we effectively love Apple Stylix company around in one year on the same principle imagine what God could build through a generation what could he build through you
00:39:31
Speaker
who simply refuses to come down off your values so today i'm not asking you to delete the apps per se you need to you need to i'm asking you to dethrone them put your attention back on your assignment because everything rises and falls on leadership and right now your leadership rises and falls on whether or not you stay on that wall so the algorithm rewards your attention but dot rewards your assignment don't get caught in the algorithm so it is what i want you to do this week y'all ready name the one assignment you've quietly traded it for applause and then go back lay one brick back on the wall today name one assignment you've quietly traded it for applause or you've traded for distraction
00:40:28
Speaker
you're going go back and start laying brick, one brick at a time until you build the assignment that God has called you to be. Remember, distraction has one assignment, and that is to keep you from yours. And the enemy would not be attacking you.
00:40:45
Speaker
Distraction would not be coming if God hadn't put greatness down on the inside of you. If God hadn't called you a curse breaker, a generational change agent,
Building a Positive Legacy
00:40:58
Speaker
right? Maybe your parents weren't there.
00:41:00
Speaker
Maybe your parents didn't give you the right attention and you've got an opportunity to give that to your kids. Don't let distraction take that away. Maybe the family marriages in your family were toxic. Maybe nobody stayed together and you are destined to build something better and be an example don't let distraction take that away don't let one little argument don't let an offense come on don't let comparison of somebody else rob your focus from working on your wall maybe you're going to be the one that actually graduates
00:41:38
Speaker
Don't you dare come on, let distraction rob your focus. Maybe, maybe, maybe your town, all the the pastors and the leaders in the community that that you once knew who led with with with confidence and courage and led with clarity and conviction are no longer there.
00:41:58
Speaker
And the town is looking for a leader. The church is looking for a leader, someone who will preach with conviction, someone who will lead with passion, someone who will engage the political arena, someone who will lead in the educational arena, someone who will will will will will be the kind of influencer that inspires, that that that that entertains, but encourages, but empowers through your entertainment.
00:42:27
Speaker
and nobody else will step up. Huh? And you say, God gave me all this talent, but I feel stuck. Maybe you, come on, need to right on your whiteboard, draw that box like Jobs did and put in there your four things or your key things that are going help keep you focused so you can lay one brick at a time and toss out everything that will keep you from doing the one thing or the few things that will make you most fruitful.
00:42:58
Speaker
Listen, I believe in you and I believe that God had you scroll on, not by accident, but by intention. I believe that this word was the word that you needed to hear. And I hope that you're going share that with me and say, this was my word. So that it encourages me.
00:43:13
Speaker
And you're going to build the wall of your assignment. listen i pray that you have been blessed i pray that you've been encouraged by this this is mixing it up live talks and
Empowering Future Leaders
00:43:25
Speaker
uh... uh... we are back i'm gonna be here listen every two weeks i want you to log in with me look for me around seven o'clock every two weeks I'll be be better about putting out an earlier announcement and certainly check it out. This will this teaching will also be available on Mixing It Up podcast ah later this week. So go over to all of the media outlets and download Mixing It Up podcast. Leave me a comment so that we can continue to advance it.
00:43:53
Speaker
And the algorithm can pick up something that we need to hear instead of giving us a bunch of junk that we don't need to hear that distracts us from our assignment. We want this kind of stuff to go out. So listen, him hey, share it with your friends, share with your business, company owners, pastors, ministry leaders.
00:44:10
Speaker
Tell them you got to get mixing it up in there so that we can empower leaders and raise up at least 100 leaders in this area. Because we more than ever need some people who are winning in their assignment. If you like this, love it, like it, share it, hit that like button, hit that share button, tag somebody in it who needs to hear this. Be a share warrior, a social evangelist, because somebody's blessing is on the other side of your share. Listen, a few quick things.
00:44:41
Speaker
Of course, I've already told you about Mixing It Up podcast on all of the media outlets. I've got a book coming out called The Gap. I don't know how many of you have been like me where you've been in those seasons in life where you just felt stuck. Like, what do I do in this marriage? What do do in this relationship?
00:45:00
Speaker
What's my next move in this business? What what do I do ah took and in school? what what's How do I make this next decision? i don't know if you've ever been in that place to where you were. either depressed because you're stuck, anger, frustrated.
00:45:14
Speaker
Listen, the Lord's given me a little bit of wisdom through many sermons and over two decades of pastoring and leading and pouring into leaders. A John Maxwell leadership coach and certified speaker.
00:45:25
Speaker
um I don't know everything, but The little bit that I do know and that that I've learned from so many others, I put together in a little book with some personal testimonies that I'm going to share ah that I think you you'll find um ah funny and you'll get them the low a little bit more about me.
00:45:41
Speaker
um And that book is going to be coming out. Here very, very soon. We'll be releasing a lunch date and some flyers. So y'all, please be on the lookout for it. ah The book release, book signing. We're going to make it available on electronic outlets as well. So to be downloadable. But I actually want to have an actual book signing to where I can shake some hands and maybe sign the book for you um if you want.
00:46:03
Speaker
And man, we'll make it a special day. Have some food and and have a little bit of fun. Right. And I tell you just a little bit about what God is doing. Also, be on the lookout not only for the book The Gap, but the release of my newest website that's coming.
00:46:21
Speaker
Sylvester Mixon dot com. And it's going to be a place, a hub up where we can build community. Build leadership. It is my goal, man, to develop leaders in every arena, not just church, business, education, politics. I believe that we're in the greatest leadership crises the world has ever known. And more than ever, we like we need leaders. We need leaders, influencers. We need world changers in the movies, in music, come on, in fashion, um you know, in um and in ministry, in education, in politics, in finance, in business. We need leaders. And it is my goal um through Unity Christian Center, Global United Fellowship.
00:47:02
Speaker
And of course, Sylvester Mixon and mixing it it up ah business and brand to make this happen all over America as I travel this country. And I want to come to you and we want to make this happen. So if you guys will help me get get the word out and let people know that we've got some great things coming.
00:47:22
Speaker
And please, please pray for me. Don't pray on me. Don't pray against me. Pray for me and partner with me. And let's make a difference. And hopefully let's help raise the difference maker inside of you.
00:47:35
Speaker
God bless you. ah Y'all have a wonderful night. And thank you all so much for tuning in and commenting and sharing with me. Please inbox me. Please make sure you share it. Put it in your stories. Put it on on the ground. Put it on YouTube. Share it with everybody that you know. Get the word out.
00:47:52
Speaker
Don't get caught in the algorithm. You got a wall to build. There's a work inside of you. Maybe it's your family. Maybe it's your faith. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe it's planning out your future. Right. Wherever it is, there's a work in all of us. It's not always about, oh, I'm to be the king of of such and such kingdom.
00:48:09
Speaker
Maybe it's I'm going to be the best parent that I can actually be. Maybe it's I'm going to be the best uncle, auntie. You know, maybe I'm going to be the best youth league coach, best best teacher, best father, best pastor, best leader, best financial consultant, the best business builder, whatever.
00:48:27
Speaker
All of us got something. Find your wall. I love you guys.