The Battle For Success Series

In the 35 years following the Civil War 3 success writers towered

high above all others, and they became successful by writing about

success. All 3 were ordained men. One of them was Russell Conwell

who was the pastor of the Baptist Temple of Philadelphia. He

delivered his famous lecture over 6000 times, and raised several

million dollars with which he built a large university. The title of his

lecture was Acres Of Diamonds, and this is the story behind it:

One day as he was jogging down the banks of the Tigress and

Euphrates on a camel, led by an old Arab guide, he was told this story.

There once lived in ancient Persia a wealthy and contented farmer by

the name of Ali Hafed. One day an old priest visited him and told him

about diamonds that had been discovered. He told of the wealth and

power that came with their possession. That night the farmer could

not sleep. He was discontent with what he had. The next day he sold

his farm and went off in search of diamonds. After wandering through

Asia and most of Europe he had become a wretched man in rags and

in despair. He threw himself into a great wave and was drown.

The man who bought his farm was one day leading his camel

through the garden, and the camel desired a drink. As the camel

nosed the water the owner noticed a flash of light from the sand in the

brook. He picked up a stone and took it home. A few days later the

old priest came to visit. He recognized that stone as a diamond. They

rushed together to the brook, and thus was discovered the famous

diamond mine of Golconda, the most magnificent of all history. Ali

Hafed had lived on acres of diamonds, and died a failure because he

didn't recognize what he had, and was off looking for it all over the

world.

Russell Conwell was impressed with this story, for he had seen a

similar thing happen many times. Numerous poor people sold their

land to go off to improve their lot only to learn that their had been oil

or gold on their land. He had been a poor farmer, and had run away

at 15 to make a better life for himself. He went to Europe, but

returned and fought in the Civil War. It was while lying in a hospital

tent dying from his wounds that he received Jesus as his Savior. He

entered the ministry and raised millions to build up a church and

school to meet the needs of working class people. His conviction, like

that of most success writers, is that every person can be successful if

they recognize and practice some basic principles. Our purpose is to

show that Scripture in general, and Paul in particular, support this

idea that all of us can be successful. We want to examine the basic

principle that Paul stresses to the Corinthians that applies to all of us.

Let's consider-

THE ARENA WHERE THE BATTLE FOR SUCCESS IS WON.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within you, and Paul made

this same point to the Romans when he said that the kingdom of God

is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy

Spirit. The Corinthian Christians were failing in the Christian life

because they were like Ali Hafed. They were looking for success

somewhere out there in the world. But success is not found in

externals says Paul. All their search for success in following men, and

getting excited about gifts with the most external display, is taking

them far afield. Their acres of diamonds are not out there in the

world, but they are within them.

In verse 16 Paul writes, "Do you not know that you are God's

temple and God's spirit dwells in you?" Their greatest resource was

right within them. They were wasting their lives in the futile search

for what was already theirs.

Paul tells them in vv. 21-23, "For all things are yours, whether Paul or

Apollos or Cephus or the world or life or death or the present or the

future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's. In

4:8 Paul writes, "Already you are filled! Already you have become

rich." Yet, with all of these resources they were failing. Paul is

constantly telling them where they are failing. They were successes

living as failures when they should have been failures living as

successes. If we recognize that the arena where we battle for success

is within, we can learn to fail successfully.

History has some great examples of failures being the key to

success. The famous atheist Robert Ingersall was once traveling by