SUCCEEDING WHERE OTHERS FAIL
II Timothy 4:7
I like to succeed at things. I like to accomplish things. I think we’re made that way. We’re made to ACCOMPLISH THINGS! I believe without a shadow of a doubt that God made us to ACCOMPLISH! God told Adam & Eve in Genesis 9:7 to go forth & multiply. He said to them to “...be fruitful, and multiply, and bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply therein.” He didn’t say He would do it for them He told them to do it.
HE TOLD THEM TO SUCCEED! HE IS TELLING YOU TO SUCCEED AS WELL! GOD WANTS YOUR SUCCESS EVEN MORE THAN YOU DO!
Have you ever started something and never finished it. Sure! We all have done that at one time or another!
Have you ever seen someone do something and wish you could do that? Or maybe have you seen someone do something and think I could do that even if they failed? OF COURSE WE ALL HAVE!
I LIKE SUCCESS! I LIKE TO SUCCEED! Anybody else here like to SUCCEED? I thought so! We’re all “SUCCESS JUNKIES!” YOU WANT TO “SUCCEED” as much as I do! There is nothing wrong with that! There would be something wrong if you didn’t want to SUCCEED!
We're all “SUCCESS JUNKIES!” Nobody wants to “FAIL!” There's nothing wrong with that but more than likely you're going to "FAIL" at some point in life! It’s just inevitable, that’s just life! BUT “FAILING” is not "FOREVER!" Sometimes it seems like “FOREVER” but hear me it “IT IS NOT FOREVER!”
Have you ever failed along with everybody else? Sure you have! We all have! Would you like to “SUCCEED WHERE OTHERS FAIL?” I think you would! I want to share some tips, some secrets with you about...“SUCCEEDING WHERE OTHERS FAIL!”
I feel like I’m proficient and qualified in this topic because I’m a “SUCCESS at FAILING!” I’ve done it some many times I have to be a Master on the subject! So I know of what I speak about!
Please know and understand that “FAILURE” is one of the “EASIEST” things to experience in life. “IT’S NOT EASY GOING THROUGH IT!” “FAILURE” doesn’t require much or much effort. In fact you don’t even have to show up to “FAIL!” So being that “FAILURE” is that easy it would seem that everybody can and at one time or another does “FAIL!” Some do it so often that they have & become so proficient in it that you could call them “PROFESSIONALS” at it.
Now on “SUCCEEDING WHERE OTHERS HAVE FAILED” of the things, the secrets, the subjects I’m going to share with you I have mastered them all. I just have not been able to put them all to use at the same time very often, but I’ve done and practiced every single one of them at one time or another.
Of the things I’ve found most helpful in “SUCCEEDING WHERE OTHERS FAIL” is...
I. FOCUS
If you’re going to “Succeed where others fail” you need “FOCUS!” Faith takes “FOCUS!” Scripture says “It’s impossible to please God without faith.” Folk, God wants you to succeed, He wants your Success! Any Parent wants there children to “SUCCEED!”
Matthew 14: 29-30
“...and when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out saying, ‘Lord save me!’ ”
Peter lost “FOCUS!”
II Corinthians 4:18
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, but, the things which are not seen are eternal. ”
II. TENACITY
Success takes “TENACITY!” Life takes “TENACITY!” Christianity takes “TENACITY!”
Paul understood this: “OVERCOMERS NEVER QUIT” & “QUITTERS NEVER OVERCOME!” ANYBODY CAN QUIT! I may not always succeed but I WILL NEVER QUIT!
Quitting is a “LACK OF TENACITY!” Paul didn’t know the meaning of the word “QUIT” but he knew what the word “TENACITY!” meant! He shouted it in...
Philippians 4:13
“I PRESS TOWARD THE MARK OF THE PRIZE OF THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.”
III. COUNTING
Success requires that you must “COUNT THE COST!” You never start something without weighing the cost in order to finish what you intend to start and build. Otherwise your foolish! If you are going to “SUCCEED WHERE OTHERS FAIL” you have to “COUNT THE COST!”
I can’t begin to count the buildings I’ve seen half finished, never to be finished. Empty frames of what could be due to the failure to “COUNT THE COST!” IN SUCCEEDING, THE “COUNTING OF THE COST” is “IMPERATIVE & EMPIRICAL!” Failure stands alone and you can see it in the empty frames standing alone where others have succeeded!
I drive the back roads of this and surrounding counties and see empty houses that were started but never finished. Beautiful houses and homes of what could have been but never were for lack of and the failure to “COUNT THE COST” of what was being done and needing to be accomplished! AND “FAILURE” WAS THE OUTCOME! “FAILING TO COUNT THE COST” WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BRING ABOUT “FAILURE!” I KNOW, I’VE DONE IT!
Luke 14:29-30
“For which of you intending to build a tower, sits not down first and COUNT THE COST whether he has the money to FINISH it or not. Lest after they...mock him saying, ‘This man began to build and is not able to finish ”
IV. GOAL
Setting of a “GOAL” is another one of those “IMPERATIVES & EMPIRICALS” in “SUCCEEDING WHERE OTHERS FAIL!”
Without a “GOAL” how do you know where you’re going, how do you know how to get there or even how do you know when you get there? You see setting of a “GOAL” is important. Have you set any “GOALS” in your SPIRITUAL LIFE?
I Corinthians 9:24
“Know you not that they who run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run that you might win!”
Philippians 4:13
“I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
4. FINISH
YOU MUST “FINISH!” ALL THE OTHERS MEAN “NOTHING” WITHOUT “FINISHING!” A LOT OF PEOPLE RUN THE RACE AND DON’T “FINISH!” THEY GIVE UP AT THE LAST MOMENT!
I remember the tragic incident that happened in the Pacific towards the last of WWII when the USS Indianapolis was delivering the Atomic Bomb dropped in Hiroshima. Coming back empty they were torpedoed. Some #900 men went into the water and only little over #300 came out.
Many of them started strong enough to wait out the disaster but didn’t finish. Many were eaten alive by sharks but others just swam off while their buddies begged them to stay. THEY DIDN’T FINISH!
It’s so sad to see someone running a race so well and in the last stretch just give up with the goal in sight! Satan does that to God’s people all the time! Not only do we need to keep the “GOAL” in sight but we have to “FINISH!”
When it gets so tough that you want to quit you have to dig deep inside of yourself and muster up the courage, the strength and determination to “FINISH!”
I can tell you from experience that “FINISHING” is "EVERYTHING!" Without “FINISHING” nothing else matters! It doesn't matter how good you are, how well you've done or how hard you've trained or how hard you've worked...
IF YOU DON’T “FINISH” IT’S ALL FOR NOT!
I have “FINISHED!” and I have “ALMOST FINISHED” and I have found by far “FINISHING”is the better of the two!
But understand one thing! “YOU ARE” GOING TO “FINISH”ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! YOU ARE GOING TO “FINISH GOOD” OR YOU ARE GOING TO “FINISHING BADLY!” THAT IS JUST THE WAY IT IS!
THAT’S THE PART THE ENEMY DOESN’T TELL YOU! HE DOESN’T TELL YOU THAT “GIVING UP” IS “FINISHING BADLY!” AND THAT IT LASTS FOR ALL ETERNITY!
BUT “FINISHING WELL & GOOD” WITH GOD LASTS FOR ALL ETERNITY AS WELL!
Paul sums it all up for us in one sentence!
II Tim. 4:7
“I HAVE FOUGHT THE FIGHT! I HAVE (FINISHED) THE RACE! THEREFORE IS LAID UP FOR ME A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS...”
CLOSING
#1. HOW’S YOUR FOCUS?
ARE STILL ABLE TO “SEE” WHAT GOD DESIRES FOR YOU TO SEE? ARE YOU FOCUSED ON HIM! ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE WAVES OF LIFE OR ARE YOU “FOCUSED” ON HIM ALONE?
#2. HOW’S YOUR TENACITY?
ARE YOU FOCUSED ENOUGH TO HOLD ON? TO NOT GIVE UP & QUIT? IS “QUIT” A PART OF YOUR VOCABULARY? IS THERE A “QUITTER” INSIDE YOU WANTING TO “QUIT?” KNOW THIS, THERE’S A “WINNER” WANTING TO “WIN!”
#3. HOW’S YOUR GOAL?
DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR “GOAL” IN SIGHT? ARE YOU STILL GOING TOWARDS THAT “GOAL?” ARE YOU “PRESSING TOWARD THAT MARK OF THE HIGH CALLING OF CHRIST JESUS?”
#4. ARE YOU DETERMINED TO FINISH?
YOUR DETERMINATION TO “FINISH” IS KEY TO YOU “FINISHING!” WHEN YOU THINK YOU CAN’T TAKE ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS THE “FINISH” LINE THAT’S WHERE THE ENABLING POWER OF THE “HOLY SPIRIT” COMES IN AND “ENABLES” YOU TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! THE “HOLY SPIRIT” HELPS YOU TO “FINISH!”
