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FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE NOTES:
Matthew 25:5-6, 8-13, 18, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30 MSG
"God's kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn't show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep. "In the middle of the night someone yelled out, 'He's here! The bridegroom's here! Go out and greet him!' "The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, 'Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.' "They answered, 'There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.' "They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked. "Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, 'Master, we're here. Let us in.' "He answered, 'Do I know you? I don't think I know you.' "So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive. "It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money. "After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' "The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' "The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.' "The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest. "'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'
Luke 19:11, 13-19, 21, 23-27 MSG
While he had their attention, and because they were getting close to Jerusalem by this time and expectation was building that God's kingdom would appear any minute, he told this story: "There was once a man descended from a royal house who needed to make a long trip back to headquarters to get authorization for his rule and then return. But first he called ten servants together, gave them each a sum of money, and instructed them, 'Operate with this until I return.' "But the citizens there hated him. So they sent a commission with a signed petition to oppose his rule: 'We don't want this man to rule us.' "When he came back bringing the authorization of his rule, he called those ten servants to whom he had given the money to find out how they had done. "The first said, 'Master, I doubled your money.' "He said, 'Good servant! Great work! Because you've been trustworthy in this small job, I'm making you governor of ten towns.' "The second said, 'Master, I made a fifty percent profit on your money.' "He said, 'I'm putting you in charge of five towns.' "The next servant said, 'Master, here's your money safe and sound. I kept it hidden in the cellar. To tell you the truth, I was a little afraid. I know you have high standards and hate sloppiness, and don't suffer fools gladly.' "He said, 'You're right that I don't suffer fools gladly—and you've acted the fool! Why didn't you at least invest the money in securities so I would have gotten a little interest on it?' "Then he said to those standing there, 'Take the money from him and give it to the servant who doubled my stake.' "They said, 'But Master, he already has double . . .' "He said, 'That's what I mean: Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag. "'As for these enemies of mine who petitioned against my rule, clear them out of here. I don't want to see their faces around here again.'"
Almost everything we do involves a risk of some kind: habits change, new circumstances arise, competition appears, factors outside your control could delay your proposed plans. Risk analysis and risk management can help you to assess risks and decide what actions you need to take to minimize disruptions to your plans, interrupt a season of constant delays to keep you from derailing your destiny all together. It will also help you to decide whether the strategies you could use to control risk are cost-prohibitive or cost-effective.
When I speak of cost, I am not just speaking of money. Sometimes a strategy employed can cost one far more than money. It can cost you time. AS a Kingdom Intelligent citizen, we have to begin to evaluate our resources from a Kingdom perspective. When we do so we will find that our time has a far greater value than our money. Money we can always get again but time, once spent, can never be replaced. It can only be redeemed. We spend our time to get money. We can never use our money to buy time.
Now we need to define risk. It is 'the perceived extent of possible loss'. Different people will have different views of the impact of a particular risk – what may be a small risk for one person may destroy the livelihood of someone else.
One way of putting figures to risk is to calculate a value for it as:
risk = probability of event x cost of event
Another way of stating this is:
RISK = the likelihood of something we want times the value measured by what must be given, done or undergone to obtain what we want.
Doing this Allows you to compare risks objectively. We use this approach formally in decision making with Decision Trees. To carry out a risk analysis, follow these steps:
1. Identify Threats:
The first stage of a risk analysis is to identify threats facing you. Threats may be:
- Human – from individuals or organizations, illness, death, etc.
- Operational – from disruption to supplies and operations, loss of access to essential assets, failures in distribution, etc.
- Reputational – from loss of business partner or employee confidence, or damage to reputation in the market.
- Procedural – from failures of accountability, internal systems and controls, organization, fraud, etc. Project – risks of cost over-runs, jobs taking too long, of insufficient product or service quality, etc. Financial – from business failure, stock market, interest rates, unemployment, etc.
- Technical – from advances in technology, technical failure, etc.
- Natural – threats from weather, natural disaster, accident, disease, etc.
- Political – from changes in tax regimes, public opinion, government policy, foreign influence, etc.
- Others
This analysis of threat is important because it is so easy to overlook important threats.
One way of trying to capture them all is to use a number of different approaches:
- Firstly, run through a list such as the one above, to see if any apply.
- Secondly, think through the systems, organizations or structures you operate, and analyze risks to any part of those.
- See if you can see any vulnerabilities within these systems or structures.
- Ask your coach, your mentor or other person that is wise, who might have a Kingdom perspective.
