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As your teacher, I'm continuing my lessons on possibility thinking. My lesson today is Born to Greatness. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to give a speech to over 3,000 people, gathered for the 75th anniversary of Land O' Lakes Butter in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Before my speech I was invited to WCCO radio for an interview with a young man who was the host of the show. His first question to me was, "Dr. Schuller, you were born on a little farm here in Iowa and today you've got a great ministry that reaches around the world. Also, you have just written your 30th book. Doesn't your success surprise you? "I said, "No. I'm not surprised." He looked shocked as I said, "After all, I was born to greatness." "What do you mean? Your father was not rich." He responded in surprise."No." "Your parents were not in the social upper class." "No.î "What do you mean, you were born to greatness?" I said, "I was born first on a farm. That meant, I learned responsibility. I had chores to do and I had to do them whatever the weather, whatever the problems, whatever the pain, whatever the risk. The cows got milked. That's character. I was born into it.î

Greatness is character before it is cash, or cultural rank!

"And I was born into greatness because I was born into a family that prayed together at all of our meals. We opened the Bible and read a chapter every day before we ate our dinner. We went to church every Sunday! I don't think there was a Sunday in my life that we didn't go to church. That's the kind of world I was born into. I was born to greatness!î That's the kind of soil where possibility thinking emerges. Today, I ask you this question in this lesson on possibility thinking:

Q: How do you become a possibility thinker?

A: It begins when you know you were born to greatness.

But you say to me, "That does not include me." And I say, "Oh, yes, it does." You probably were not born into the culture and family that I was born into. But, to be born into greatness means to be born with a mind that can dream.

Greatness is having a mind that can think creatively.

Yesterday we had our board meeting. This ministry is governed by a Board of International Directors, and a separate Board of Trustees, who supervise the cash flow, the liability, etc. They run the business portion of this ministry.

All of these Trustees are successful, dedicated, and dynamic people. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is a man named Beurt SerVaas. He was just elected again as the President of the Indianapolis City Council in Indiana, for the thirty-first year. Under Beurt's leadership that town has become a world class city. He is one of the greatest friends I have. Beurt has two earned Ph.D's, one in Medical Physiology and the other in Medical Research.Yesterday he said at the board meeting:

"In my studies, as a doctor, I have seen many, many, human brains, but I have never seen a human mind."

You cannot see the mind. It is invisible. Cut through the brain and check the various sections of the brain, but you will not find or see the mind. The mind is a collection of experiences all recorded in a super computer, under the management of the Creator, Himself. That's exciting! And a mind survives death, and we know that as "the immortality of the soul."

I ask you, do you know who you are? Do you believe in yourself? You were born to greatness!

You have been given a brain and you have been given a capacity to develop a positive mind, to listen, think, make positive decisions, imagine, dream and fantasize. There isn't a single person listening to me who was not born to greatness.

You may choose not to develop your potential. If you believe in all the negative thoughts, you surrender leadership to your failures and your hurts. Don't surrender to the negative things that have been said about you... possibly because of your race or your color or your creed. The world is full of negative thinkers. Listening to them, you won't develop your mind to its full potential.

On our campus this week, we had a Possibility Thinkers Conference for Men. Hundreds of men come each year to hear outstanding speeches from inspiring and successful leaders who share their success secrets. The men spend three to four days saturating themselves in the possibility thinking philosophy of life and in their faith. This week the men were taught three basic steps for possibility thinking.

#1 Look within

See who you are. You are a human being who can think and can say "yes" or "no". You can say, "I'll tryî or you say "No, that's not for me." That decision makes you a person, not a puppet. You need to program yourself to respond positively. The first step is to look within! Too many people look to the outside, "Will you do it for me? Will you give me this? Will you open the door for me?î

Everyone you meet has his own dreams and his own challenges and is not going to be as concerned about you, as you are. Start by looking inside, through the studies at a church like this - and the Holy Bible.

In Philippians, Chapter Two, St. Paul writes: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.î Look inside yourself. What kind of a person are you?

"In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."

Yes, when you look up to other people rather than down on them. Guess what? You are going to win some powerful friends. The next verse reads: "Let each of you look out not only for your own interests...î Do you hear that? It's okay to look out for your interests, that's not being selfish."...but also for the interests of others.î That purges your self interests from becoming selfish and greedy. The next verse is the key verse:

"Let the mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

Jesus believed He could change the world! He died on a cross at the age of thirty-three, but today more people honor the name of Jesus Christ than honor the name of any other religious leader of any faith in human history. Jesus Christ changed the world. Most of us here are Christians. And if you're not, I invite you to become a Christian. Get the kind of thinking that Jesus had when he said, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to your mountain, move, and it will move! And nothing will be impossible for you!î - Matthew 17:20. Now that may take you ten or twenty years. In my case, at least forty... and I think it's going to take another ten years to do what I have to do.

Look within. You can think. You have a mind. Pray that your mind will be the mind of Christ.

Look within. You realize all you need is a right idea and that's what faith gives to you. Positive thinking produces possibility thinking.

#2 Reach out

We have a private school here on this campus, where I spoke the other day to 230 children from first grade through eighth grade. Wow, did they fire the questions at me. Everyone of them has a dream. One child said, "I'm going to be a doctor.î Another said "I'm going to be a veterinarian." Still another one said "I'm going to be an author.î A little first grader said, "I'm going to be a pastor like you.î These young students have dreams!

If you can dream it, you can do it! How do you become a possibility thinker? First, look within. "I have a brain, I can make a decision." "I can listen to the dreams that God has for me." "I'll look within."

Then, you will have to reach out, because you can't pull it off alone. You will need to reach out to find teachers who can educate you. Success is not swift and cheap. I don't know how to do it the fast way. I had to spend four years in the university, and three years in postgraduate school. You have to prepare yourself. You can learn.

There is someone, somewhere who can teach you! And no matter what your challenge is that keeps your dream from coming true, there's somebody, somewhere who specializes in the very problem you are facing. So my prayer for all my life has been, "Lord, lead me to the person who is smarter than I am." And people who work very closely to me, starting with my wife, heard me say a thousand times, this ministry is a success because God brought the right people with the right skills, the right talents, the right gifts, the right power, the right connections at the right time to help me! I feel I have done nothing!

Reach out. You are going to need help. God's dream is always too big for you to pull it off alone. He wants to be a part of it, so when you succeed - God wants to make sure you will be humble. Greatness is not having a lot of cash. Greatness is not being at the top of the social ladder.

Greatness is character! You're born for greatness! Look within! Then reach out.

#3 Hang on!

Finally, I like the way my guest today, Herman Cain, gave tribute to his dad who taught him the principles that turned Herman into a great possibility thinker. His dad never taught him how to quit. Hang on!

The front page of the Sports section yesterday in both of our Southern California newspapers show a beautiful color picture of a member of this church, the swimmer, Janet Evans. She grew up in this church and I consider her a special friend. Janet Evans won Gold Medals in the past two Olympics. Last summer she was with us here on this platform and she said, "I'm going to try again for the Olympics in '96, but I don't know if I can make it. I'm getting older."

She is 24. I said, "That's not old." But Janet said, "For a swimmer it is." She was 15 when she first made it. That's the best age. Last summer she was beaten by a 15 year old from Florida. She was shocked. Then she was beaten for a second time by another 15 year old teenager. She couldn't believe it. She was beaten the third time.

And the critics said, "Janet, you're too old. You can't make it. You're not 15 anymore." But when she came to the tryouts yesterday, she said, "A big crowd of 4,500 people applauded and applauded. They kept on applauding. Wave after wave of applause greeted me when I was introduced because I was the great old lady with the record."

A reporter wrote how Janet's coach took her aside just before she jumped in the water and whispered to her, "Janet, don't forget who you are. Don't forget all you have done and all you have accomplished. You are a four-time Olympic Gold Medalist, a 45 time National Champion and Triple World Record Holder. If you don't earn a consecutive third Olympic berth, don't forget who you are and what you have accomplished."

Janet began her swim and yes, the teenagers were ahead of her. But in the last few seconds of the race, the story goes, "Janet shot down her rivals like clay pigeons." She left the teenagers in her wake. Then she took aim at the critics who had suggested she would be dead in the water at this event, her third US Olympic trials. Janet said, "Lots of people said I was washed up after last summer, but I never stopped believing in myself." And with a last thrust, when her arms were hurting, she moved past and won first place. The caption says, "There's still some life left in Evans."

"The last two Olympics mean the world to me," Janet said, "But this one is going to be more special because it's in the United States. "Janet Evans, we are proud of you... we love you.

Look within... listen for God's dream for you! Reach out... there's a coach who wants to manage you. His name: Jesus Christ

HANG ON... Quitters never win, and winners never quit! That's the lesson for today in possibility thinking.

Prayer: Lord, You are leading us. You are guiding us. You are speaking to us. You are motivating us. We have experienced the power of Your creative energy within us through thoughts, ideas and moods. Our minds have been "positive-ized" through Your Holy Spirit, working in us. Let the mind of Christ be in us now, Lord. We're following a winner. His name is Jesus. Hallelujah! Amen.