Many years ago I aspired to become a leader in the church. I was appointed as the leader of the young people's division - the Youth Leader.

I thought this was awesome. I had wanted to go into ministry and to get some responsibility, and now I finally got this opportunity to be in charge of a whole group.

The great thing about it was that it was just the young people there. The old folks, the pastor and all the others weren't there. They didn't attend the youth meetings.

It was my show. I could do it the way I wanted to do it and could try and run it differently to the way they were running the church. Of course nobody really liked that. It was boring. I wanted youth meetings that were exciting.

I had been in youth meetings before, where the youth meeting was simply another church service with just young people there. It was even worse, because you had a bunch of people who were not preachers standing up and trying to preach.

Some of those meetings were awful. So I made up my mind that my youth meetings were going to be different and exciting.

People Want Something New

I started out with great zeal. I was very popular and all the young people loved my youth meetings. It was the first time I had ever really become a leader, and I realized that people continually want something new.

You know curiosity is one of the most powerful forces in human nature. And curiosity is not only something that cats have.

There is that old expression, 'Curiosity killed the cat.' This is because a cat will go and fiddle with something he shouldn't, even if it will kill him.

But human beings are actually not much different. Our curiosity gets the better of us. We are always looking for something new; something that is different to what we are used to.

I found out with the young people that every week there had to be something new. It wasn't good enough to say,

“Well our youth meetings are not going to be like the church meeting.”

Not only did they have to be different, but the youth meeting this week had to be different to what it was last week.

Now you might get away once with having the same thing this week that you had last week. Last week's was great fun and everybody enjoyed it.

They thought it was terrific. It was funny and different. We did things we don't normally do. But this week it is not a surprise anymore. And it is not so much fun anymore.

Yes we laughed a bit last week, but you know it is just not so funny anymore. It is just not so exciting and different anymore.

Human nature is a strange thing. We all crave knowledge of something new - you included. So don't just sit there all smug and say,

“Well I'm not like that.”

New Music

Yes you are. We all want to listen to the latest hit song. There is a new song that has been released and we all want to listen to it.

You say, “Have you heard the new song by so-and-so?”

Or, “Have you heard this new singer that is out?”

It has a real appeal. It is something new. Everybody is listening to it and it is doing the rounds right now.

“You mean you haven't heard the song yet? It is awesome.”

New Movies

We all like to go and see the latest movie.

You say, “So have you seen this movie yet?”

“Oh I didn't know it was out.”

“Yeah they just released it in the shops. The DVD is available. You should go and get it. It is available right now in the video rental.

“We want to go and watch it. We have heard so much about it. We've seen the previews. It is exciting. We have never seen this movie before.”

We want something new.

You want to go and listen to the latest good sermon. Well that doesn't happen very often, but there are some people that are sermon junkies. And there are some very good preachers who preach some good stuff.

New Books

We all want to read the latest good book; the brand new release by a famous author. It is splashed all over the Internet and on the billboards. The bookshops have posters up about the new release by this famous author.

You say, “Have you read it yet?”

“No I haven't. I want to go and get a copy right away.”

We find time to read it. We are excited. We want something new all the time.

Now here is the bad news in business. You cannot survive in business without people. This might sound like a total contradiction to what I said yesterday. I said you must never need anybody in the world and never be dependent on people.

Yes, you as an individual must never be dependent on people. But if you want to run a business or a ministry organization; if you want to succeed in business, you need people.

Give People What They Desire

Without people you cannot survive. And if you want to survive and keep those people happy, you must give them what they desire.

What do most people desire?

Well there could be a whole list of things. But here is one they all desire and I have just given it to you. They want something new; something different.

You have some analyticals who like old established principles, and they don't like something that is so new. They like something that has been given before that they are comfortable with, but I am not speaking about that.

I am speaking about the excitement and the curiosity. And even somebody who is very analytical in their thinking has a curiosity to learn more and to absorb more. Their brains are like sponges.

Just look at the number of books that are published each month. People are buying these books and reading them, and businesses are making money out of selling these books.

If you know how little money actually gets made out of selling a book, you will realize how many books have to be sold for booksellers to become wealthy.

The mind craves knowledge. The soul craves emotional expression. And we as human beings crave social involvement and entertainment.

The entertainment industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. These people are continually putting out new music, new movies, new books, new materials and new products.

Thank the Lord that people love something new, because it gives us an opportunity to come up with new and innovative ideas; with new products that have never been made before.

There is Nothing New

Now here is the mistake that most people make when they think about business. You have probably looked at business and thought,

“I would really like to go into business, but what do I do? What do I make? What do I sell or present to the public?”

Something new will always sell. How do we get something new?

According to Solomon there is really nothing new. Paul found the same thing. He found that people always wanted something new.

We read in the book of Acts where the Apostle Paul came to Athens. It says in Acts 17:19:

They took him and brought him the Areopagus, saying, We would like to know about this new teaching that you speak of. Because you bring certain strange things to our ears and so we want to know what these things mean.

And it says in verse 21:

The Athenians and the strangers that were there, they spent their time in nothing else but either telling or hearing some new thing.

Paul had a chance to stand up there on Mars Hill in front of this big crowd and to preach his doctrine.

Well he had to preach it a bit differently. He had to try and appeal to their intellectual thinking, but it was new all right. They had never heard this one before. He really got them stirred up.

He got them thinking - until the next speaker stood up with something else that was new. There is nothing new under the sun, but it may seem new right now.

Have you ever pulled out an old book that you bought years ago? Or have you ever pulled out an old movie that you watched a long time ago?

When you watch it again you find that you don't remember much of what was in it. It is like watching it afresh all over again.

Fashion Cycles

Have you ever noticed that the fashions of this world go through cycles?

When I was a young teenager there were certain types of clothing that were very popular. The granny print shirts with the flowers on were very popular. Well I haven't seen that one come back yet, but one of these days watch it. I'm sure you will see it.

There are the bell bottom trousers that flare out at the bottom. They have come and gone a few times.

They are different fashions. Just watch it and you will see it. Each generation goes through these cycles. When you start seeing people wearing the stuff that your granny used to wear, you might say,

“Ooh, that looks like my granny.”

The younger generation doesn't think so. To them it's new, it's hip, and it's the latest. Everybody wants to do it. It is human nature.

Yes especially for Christians it's not a good thing to get caught in the systems of this world. But you know there is fashion in the church too.

There are certain kinds of preachers that we like. There are certain kinds of churches that we like. And there are certain ways of doing things that we like.

Then somebody comes up with something new. And if they are a strong enough leader they will get everybody stirred up to follow that new thing.

Are you going to be one of the old ones who will get left by the way, because everybody will be saying?

“Been there, done that. I've seen that. There's nothing new there.”

Or are you going to be innovative and come up with something new? How are you going to do this and come up with new ideas?

Get Revelation

The key word begins is the word revelation. You need revelation to come up with some new things.

You say, “Well I'm not really a prophet. I'm an entrepreneur.”

Yes but if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur you will need revelation.

Where does revelation come from? I don't have time to discuss that here, but we will look at it again some more.

Right now I want you to sit down and think,

“If I were to start a business or start my own ministry, how can I present something that is fresh, original and different to the people?”

If you can come up with that you will find that you will succeed and grow very quickly.

So why don't you go and meditate on that for the rest of today. Then tomorrow we will start to look more at the subject and consider how to get revelation.