INTRODUCTION:
Get up…eat breakfast…head to work…work all day… return home…eat some supper…watch a little tv…go to bed… and then repeat those same steps tomorrow.
Some of us may have a few more steps; some of us may have a few fewer steps. No wonder people ask the question: “Is this all there is to life?” And it’s not just unbelievers who ask that question; there are many who know Christ as their Savior that ask that same question.
God tells us in John 10:10 (NKJV)
10 … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
God says there is more; and if we don’t see it; or more so, if we are not living that way then we are missing something. And so we began looking at places in our life where we miss the “more.” We talked about our daily routines being so fixed that God can not break in and get us to do something He wants. In week two, we saw the world wants to keep us under a spiritual fog because the “more” can be found when we see with spiritual clarity.
In week three, Jesus showed us that there is a script for our life, and it is called the will of God for our life. Our scripts are different, and we have the free will not to follow them, but the “more” can be found if you chose to follow the script.
And then in week four, we looked at giving God control; if you can take your hands off the way you think it should be done, and let God do it the way that He wants to do it then you will find the “more” of the Christian life.
Today, I want to tell you the “more” of life can be found if we can find the right definition of success. Unfortunately, too many Christians miss the “more” of life because they spend all their time and energies pursuing the wrong definition of success.
In 1980, Johnny Lee sang the song “Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places. “ You may remember it. It was about a guy‘s search for love that ended without success because he was looking for love in all the wrong places. I remind you of that song because just like love, many people, including Christians, are looking for success in all the wrong places and never find success.
Men, if you are looking for success by developing the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the athletic prowess of Drew Brees, the brains of Albert Einstien or the money of Bill Gates, you will not find success. You are looking in all the wrong places.
It is not fair if I pick on the men without picking on you, ladies. Ladies, if you are looking for success by having the body of one of today's hottest fashion models, or the money of an Oprah Winfrey or if you buy into the lie that the world tells you that you are superwoman and you can do it all, you will not find success. You are looking in all the wrong places.
Success is found by looking for it in the right place. And that right place is the Word of God. No other place is the right place. And so let’s see what God has to say about success.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
JOSHUA 1:8 (NIV)
8 DO NOT LET THIS BOOK OF THE LAW DEPART FROM YOUR MOUTH; MEDITATE ON IT DAY AND NIGHT, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CAREFUL TO DO EVERYTHING WRITTEN IN IT. THEN YOU WILL BE PROSPEROUS AND SUCCESSFUL.
POINT #1
THE RIGHT PLACE TELLS ME SUCCESS CAN ONLY BE FOUND BY SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF THE BOOK.
I took eight years of Spanish, but cannot hold a small conversation in Spanish. I speak English, and some of you would probably say not very well.
Look what Joshua speaks: Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth…
He is telling us that He speaks the language of the Book. Let me ask you a question: “Do you speak the language of the Book?” What do you mean, Bro Dave?
Well, this Book is a source of healing. You are not speaking the language of the Book if you are tearing someone down.
This Book is a source of truth. You are not speaking the language of the Book if you are spreading lies about someone.
This Book is a source of encouragement. You are not speaking the language of the Book if you discourage or kick someone when they are down.
This Book is a source of faith. You are not speaking the language of the Book; if you are telling others, God is probably not going to come through for me. Oh, God works in other peoples’ lives, but He usually doesn’t work in my life.
I want you to think about this past week, did you speak the language of the Book in your home, at your work or with your friends? If not, then we need to change the way we speak.
POINT #2
THE RIGHT PLACE TELLS ME I HAVE TO WORK TO SOME CONCLUSIONS DAILY ON HOW GOD’S WORD WILL FIT INTO MY LIFE THAT DAY.
meditate on it day and night
You may not believe it, but we all meditate every day. To meditate is to chew something over in your mind to come to some plan.
Let me show you why I think we all meditate every day.
You ladies, if you have a job where you have to dress up, you go to your closet, and you meditate. What should I wear? When was the last time that I wore that outfit? Does this outfit make me look a little fat? If I wear this outfit what shoes am I going to wear with it? That’s mediation. In the end, you have an outfit that you are wearing to work.
You guys, if you work with a bunch of other guys, usually around ten a.m. you start to meditate about what you all are going to eat for lunch. Someone says: “What do you feel like eating today?” And then before long, you all have discussed all the possible choices. That’s meditation. And as lunchtime approaches, you have a plan where you’ll are going for lunch.
Well, what you read this morning in your devotional time; or what you may heard during Sunday School or maybe heard so far in this sermon should be going around in your head, and you should be asking yourself questions like “What is God trying to say to me? Is there something that I need to do as a result of what I read or heard? Is there something that I need to change in my life?” That is meditation. And you are developing a plan of how you are putting that in your life.
Well, you may be saying if that is the case, then “I meditate,” but here is where you may fail. It is supposed to be a daily thing. Day and night, in other words, a day or a night, does not go by where I do not think about God and His Word and make that part of the way I live. How well do you meditate when you are not at church? How well do you meditate during the weekdays?
It is those who meditate every day that find success. For some of us, that may mean we need to change the way we think.
POINT #3
THE RIGHT PLACE REMINDS ME AS I PUT GOD’S WORD INTO PRACTICE IN MY LIFE, I NEED TO BE CAREFUL.
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it
I remember when I started to drive as a teenager, every time I was leaving home and getting into my vehicle, my mother would say to me, “Be careful out there.” If my mother was still alive and if I was living home, she probably be still telling me. “Be careful out there.”
And what she was telling me is that although I navigated somewhere and got back home safely, never take for granted that there is danger out there.
When you stop being careful as a Christian and think you got it, then you are ready to fall. And unfortunately, as a pastor, I see that time and time again.
Let me read you a couple of Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 10:12 (NKJV)
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Ephesians 6:11-12 (NKJV)
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Listen, it doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian 5o years, every single day of your life, you need to heed the warning to be careful. The “more “ of this life is found in being careful.
Think about it. This world is never going to tell you to be careful. It tells you, “Go for it!” Try anything and everything you want to do. That’s bad advice. God’s advice is perfect, “Be careful.”
Let us pray!
