Success!
Being successful means being a servant (Acts 6:8)
Being successful means being Filled with the Spirit (Acts 6:9-15)
Being successful means being a person of the Word (Acts 7:1-53)
Being successful means being Like Christ (Acts 7:54-60)
Slide 1
Success!
Who doesn’t want to be successful?
There are magazines devoted to being successful.
There are websites that say be a success with your own home based business.
There are infomercials that want you to be a success.
But what actually is success?
Money
Some people think it is having a lot of money or stuff.
There used to be a bumper sticker out that read,
He who dies with the most toys wins.
But we all know that is not true.
There are many who have attained great wealth who can tell you that success is not about having a lot of money.
Ted Turner said this about success, “Well, I think it’s kind of an empty bag, to tell you the truth, but you have to really get there to really know that.”
(Guard your heart, pp.133-134)
Power
Some people believe that success is found in power.
Getting others to do what you want.
But even those that have had great power will tell you that it is lonely there.
Is that success?
Well, if it is not found in those things, where can we find this elusive thing called success?
And how can we live a life of Success?
I want to take a look at a person today whom, you may not think of when you think of the word success, but I think the problem is not so much in this person not being successful, but in how success is defined in our minds.
That is the thing we need to begin with. Success is elusive because we believe it to be one thing but have to change our definition when we discover that that is not what we desire.
If we define success correctly, then we can not only be successful right now, but throughout time as well.
Scott’s Definition: Success is fulfilling your purpose.
Our purpose is to Glorify God.
So success for us living to glorify the Lord.
Let’s look at Stephen, (Acts 6:8, p. 775). He is a man who was successful.
Slide 2
Some of you may say, Stephen? He
died early in his ministry. And He was
stoned by the people.
How can that be success?
But he glorified the Lord in his life and his death. That is success.
In fact he got to see God’s glory while he was still alive.
And then for all of eternity.
Success.
So let’s take a look at Stephen’s life and see if we can
see what successful living looks like in real life and
learn how we can live a life of success.
Turn with me to Acts 6:8 (p. 775).
Acts 6:8
Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.
We learn from this first verse that
Being Successful means being a Servant
Slide 3
Stephen used his gifts in a powerful and mighty way serving God among the people.
Yeah, but Scott, God gave him the gift of miracles and wonders. Who couldn’t be successful with gifts like that? I am just a regular person. How does this help me?
Do you know where the success of using his gift started, though?
It started with Stephen being willing to serve where he was needed.
Read back in
Acts 6:2-3
2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
Now I am not at all diminishing the responsibility of what these men were taking on. But it was not visible teaching and leading ministry that the Apostles were doing.
But the church needed some people to help with the distribution of food, waiting on tables.
Stephen and the others did not say,
“Hey, wait a minute. I can do more than wait on tables. I should be teaching or leading or have a more prominent role.”
No. They served willingly. They recognized that the need was here and they were willing to serve.
When we can be faithful with a little, God gives us more to be faithful with.
Matthew 25:21
21 "His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
To be successful, you need to be willing to serve where the Lord opens opportunity to you.
When you are faithful to serve there, the Lord opens opportunity for you to be used in more areas.
You don’t have to have the gift of miraculous powers to be successful.
You just need to humbly be willing to serve where the Lord needs.
If you are sensing that Hickory Creek is where the Lord has you for the time,
We have opportunities for you to serve.
Come and talk with me. Even if you are not a member, we have places for you to help.
You can help usher or greet or help in the nursery or help with VBS.
But start being successful in life by serving.
Point 2
Continuing on in Acts 6:9
Acts 6:9-15
9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Here we see that
Being successful means being Filled with the Spirit
Slide 4
We talked some about this last week, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it, but if want to live a successful life we have to be filled with the Spirit.
This is more than just being a Christian. This is being continually attached to Christ and walking in the ways of the Lord.
John 15:5
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
To be successful in this life, you must remain in Christ. This is not talking about remaining a Christian but about maintaining that close abiding relationship with Him.
You will not be successful in life apart from an abiding obedient relationship with Christ.
Slide 5
That is impossible if we have unrepentant sin in our life. If we are not actively seeking to turn from sin and repenting of the sin that is in our life, we cannot live a life that will be successful because we are unattached to the vine, we are not in fellowship with the Lord
Jesus goes on to say in
John 15:6
6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
A withered branch is not a successful branch
Be successful and remain
filled with the Spirit,
walking in the ways of Christ,
continually attached to Him,
so that you can turn way from sin and be productive in life and full of joy.
Well, Scott, following God may bring you joy, but the things that bring me joy are the things God doesn’t want me to do.
Getting Drunk
Partying
Carousing with people of the opposite sex
That is what makes me happy.
Does it really?
I think you are being deceived.
I am not saying that there is not an element of fun right in the moment.
But it is short lived and leaves an emptiness that that shows your need for something else.
But not only does it leave an empty, it makes you emptier.
Be filled with the Spirit and walk in His ways so that you can experience that true joy.
Romans 14:17-18
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
When we are living righteously, we are pleasing to God, glorifying God and thus fulfilling our purpose and finding and feeling success.
Be successful and be filled with the Spirit.
Thirdly,
Being successful means being a person of the Word
Slide 6
In Acts 7:1-53, we see Stephen giving a history of Israel from Abraham to Joseph to Moses and telling about the things that God was doing.
He knows these things because He was a man of the word. He had
read and
studied and
knew
what God had done and what God had promised and when it happened, he was ready for it.
We need to be like Stephen to be successful in this life.
We need to be people of the word.
We need to
read it,
study it,
know it,
believe it,
meditate on it, and
read it again,
so we
know the things God has done, and
know the things that God wants from us
so that we can be obedient to it and live successfully.
True Joy is only found in living the way God intends for us and that is found in His word.
Psalm 19:8
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
God’s precepts, God’s commands are right and when we follow them it gives joy to our hearts.
John 15:10-11
10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
If you want to experience complete joy, a joy that is eternal, a joy that comes with living successfully according to the Lord, then trust in the Lord and follow His ways.
And to do that, you need to know His ways which are found in His Word.
So Being Successful means being a person of the Word, like Stephen was.
Finally, we see that
Being successful means being Like Jesus
Slide 7
Listen to these final verses and see if they sound familiar, like you have heard someone else say these things.
Acts 7:54-60
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen sought to glorify the Lord in life and in death.
He was being conformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:29
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,
Stephen recognized that there is no success in life other than striving to live, and if necessary, die like Christ.
Now, to be like Christ, we all don’t have to die like Christ.
But Stephen’s example shows us how we can bring glory to God in any circumstance.
Keep our eyes on Christ.
Respond as Jesus would.
Be holy as He is holy
1 Peter 1:15-16
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
There are going to be times when life is just plain hard.
Jesus experienced that
In the Garden he prayed for this cup to pass from him, but not his will but the Father’s be done.
Stephen experienced it
The Apostles experienced it.
I have experienced difficult time
Many of you have experienced difficult times
We will experience times in the future that are hard.
In those times,
Be holy as He is holy.
Glorify the Lord.
Keep your focus on Him
Be like Jesus
Facing difficulties does not mean that your life is not successful.
Facing difficulties helps you to live a life of success by giving you opportunity to be like Jesus.
Success does NOT equal easy
Success equals Being like Christ, Being Holy, Glorifying the Lord in our actions.
When we have done that, we have achieved success, and we can achieve success moment by moment. You do not become successful and then you are done. You are successful on a moment by moment basis.
Success is ultimately about surrender, Surrendering our inferior will for God’s superior will for our lives.
Slide 8
Matthew 10:39
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This verse speaks about those who look to this life to give them all that they think they want but lose their eternity with the Lord because they would not follow him.
But for those who are Christians, we will never find
success,
true peace,
true joy
until we surrender all areas of our life to the Lord. And when we do, we find that true living, even in this life, is found there.
We are going to sing Surrender again.
(Worship Team come up)
If you have been living your life striving to find success and not finding it, maybe you have been looking for success in the wrong place.
You need to surrender to the Lord.
Be a servant, filled with the Spirit, in the Word and striving to be like Jesus.
That is where you will find a life that is marked with success, being faithful to the Lord
When we live each moment like that then as those moments build upon each other and we reach the end of our lives and come to a point where we, as people who have received Jesus as Savior, have not only experienced the joy of having surrendered to Him and lived successfully, but will be able to see face to face and realize the ultimate of success, Hearing those words of Christ,
As recorded in,
Matthew 25:21
Well done, good and faithful servant!
Tell the Lord that you Surrender to Him as we sing.
Song.
Pray
