CHOOSE THIS DAY
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S-ubject: Success
C-entral Theme: What is Success
O-bjective: Young people can have success in life by understanding three things that success is.
R-ationale:
I. Success is Fulfillment (your calling)
II. Success is Freedom (your joy)
III. Success is Forever (your past, present, and future)
R-esources:
Intro: “Winner”
Conlu: “Giving it up for a friend”
E-valuation:
Introduction: Winners
Below are two quizzes. See how well you do on each one.
Quiz 1
1. Name the MVPs of the last World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup finals, and NBA finals.
2. Name the winner of the last Heisman Trophy.
3. Name the winner of the last Miss America contest.
4. Name five Nobel or Pulitzer prize winners.
5. Name five winners of last year’s Academy Awards.
6. Name the winner of the largest state lottery in history.
7. Name the winner of the last Indianapolis 500 or Kentucky Derby.
8. Name five winners of last year’s Grammy Awards.
Quiz 2
1. Name a teacher who has helped you learn and grow as a person.
2. Name five friends who have been there for you during good times and bad.
3. Name three adults who have been excellent role models for you.
4. Name two people who love you and pray for you regularly.
5. Name someone who makes you laugh.
6. Name someone who has given you something of great value.
7. Name a hero whose life story has inspired you.
8. Name someone has helped you through a difficult time.
We all want success but not everyone experiences success because they have the wrong mentality of success. Here’s what success is not:
Success is not ---- WEALTH
Success is not ---- A WARM FUZZY FEELING
Success is not ---- SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Success is not ---- POWER
Success is not ---- SPECIFIC AND WORTHWHILE POSSESSION
Scripture Text:
Joshua 24:14 through Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
14“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I. SUCCESS IS FULFILLMENT
A. WHAT’S YOUR CALLING
1. If you really want to be successful in life you are going to have to know the calling of God on your life. A calling is not something that only preachers have but all people have.
2. How do you know your calling?
a. Talk to God and then listen to Him
b. Ask yourself what do you like to do. (Psalms 37:4)
c. Don’t choose a road or path just to make lots of money
d. Will you be fulfilled in what you do.
3. God has a specific calling and direction for each of our lives. Many people spend a lifetime trying to find their calling in life and waste precious time that could have been spent doing what God had called them to do. Whereas others listen to God and walk out their life calling and are successful.
B. HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
1. Part of being fulfilled is to know you are headed in the right direction. Most people young and old are on a trip with no set destination, no charted course. They are like a ship a drift on the sea. It goes wherever the wind blows.
2. The sad thing about going wherever the wind blows is that when you come to the end of your trip or life you will have wasted so much precious time that could have be used to advance the kingdom of God and to serve others.
3. If you truly want success in your life you are going to have to be headed in the right direction. Seek God and He will answer you.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
II. SUCCESS IS FREEDOM
A. FREEDOM TO DO WHAT GOD WANTS
1. Freedom is not “to do whatever you want” as the America way of thinking goes. Freedom in Christ means that you are free to do what God wants you to do. What He has called you to do.
2. When you begin to walk in what God wants you to do you are no longer in bondage to your flesh and following it’s cravings and desires.
Romans 8:5 through Romans 8:11 (NIV)
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man£ is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind£ is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
3. There is a joy that comes from the freedom of success. Joy because you know that you are walking in what God wants you to do. Joy that comes from a deep sense of fulfillment, you are fulfilling the destiny for which you where created.
B. FREEDOM TO BE WHO YOU ARE
1. Success is freedom to be who you are and not to be somebody else. There is nothing wrong with having a mentor or looking up to someone but learn from them and not emulate them. Emulating someone is to be just like that person. God made you uniquely you. There is no one else like you and you should not be like anyone else.
2. When we find who we truly are there is a freedom that comes with that. Free from having to perform and live up to somebody else’s standard and/or image of who we should be.
3. The only person that we should ever strife to be like is Jesus Christ. But even then we are to be the person He created us to be, different from the rest and a stand out.
III. SUCCESS IS FOREVER
A. YOUR SUCCESS STARTS RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW
1. Where do you want to go to today? Success is not something that we strife for and someday in the distant future attain. Your success starts right here, right now.
2. God’s dream for all your life.
a. The dream of your life time
b. A dream gives us direction
c. A dream increases our potential
d. A dream helps us prioritize
e. A dream adds value to our work
f. A dream predicts our future
3. Don’t wait for tomorrow to start living your dream start right now. Heaven began the day
your were saved. Heaven is not just a destination but a state of being in Jesus.
Psalm 118:24 through Psalm 118:25 (NIV)
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.
B. SUCCESS IS NOT A DESTINATION
1. Success is a lifestyle. Live in success don’t live for it. Success doesn’t come to those who are lazy and lifeless. Success is a way of living and an attitude that affects every part of your life.
2. If you have the mentality that success is in the future you will never experience success in any of your endeavors. You must “choose this day” that you will be successful. Success is not just achievement but doing what God has called you to do.
3. If success is a destination then what do you do whenever you get there? God never intended us to reach a point and just stop. God’s plan for success is for us to continue to grow, never just arrive.
CONCLUSION:
Kay Poe and Esther Kim grew up as best friends and fierce competitors. Their sport was tae kwon do, a form of martial arts that was featured for the first time in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As Kay and Esther got older, they found themselves in different weight classes, so they rarely met in competition. In the pre-Olympic trials they were each favored to win their classes.
There was just one problem. The United States would be sending representatives from only two of the four weight classes to the Olympics, so only one of them would be able to go to Sydney.
In the final moments of the final bout in her weight class Kay seriously dislocated her kneecap. In spite of her injury, she fought strongly enough to win the match and her division. As she hobbled off the floor her Olympic dreams seemed over. She still had one more match to win—this one against her friend Esther Kim.
Esther saw her coach carrying her friend Kay back to the dressing room. The outcome of the final match was a no-brainer. All Esther had to do was show up, and she was on her way to the Olympics. Her injured friend didn’t have a chance. Esther knew that she, not Kay, would be going to the Olympics.
But in a moment of incredible love and sacrifice, Esther made a decision to bow out of the final match and concede victory to her injured friend. She gave up her Olympic dream so that Kay could realize hers.
When Esther informed Kay of her decision, Kay protested.
“Don’t you dare argue with me about this,” Esther told her. They held each other and cried. “Please don’t think I’m throwing my dreams away,” Esther said, “because I’m not. I’m putting my dreams in you.”
Esther signed the scorecard, withdrawing from the match. Then the two friends had to bow to each other on the mat to make it official. Kay’s coach helped her walk to one side of the mat. Esther walked to the other. By the time they reached the referee in the middle, tears flowed freely. The two young women bowed. The referee signaled Poe the winner. Then the women locked arms, sobbing. As they slowly walked off the mat together, the tae kwon do officials stood and bowed while fans applauded them both
Esther later told stunned reporters, “There’s more than one way to be a champion.”
Application:
ALTAR CALL: Direction
Successful living
