Blueprint for Success: Should a Christian Be Successful?
Pastor Rob Yanok
Text: Genesis 1:27-28
1. God EQUIPPED people to be successful
2. God EXPECTED people to be successful
3. You were born to win!
A. There is not much difference between success and failure.
1. One tree, one serpent, one wrong decision made man fall
2. Jean Claude Eli the downhill skier in the 1966 Olympics in Grenoble - he won the gold medal by one tenth of a second. The difference between him and the silver medal winner was one tenth of a second. Jean Claude received 2 million that year in endorsements and the 2nd place winner went on to be a ski instructor for $30,000.00 a year.
3. In NYC, two men fell off a bridge - 1 committed suicide because of loosing $100,000.00 and one fell off the bridge because he was drunk from celebrating that he just won $100,000.00. One had the worst day of his life and the other had the best day of his life.
4. 3x3x3x3x3 = 243 4x4x4x4x4 = 1,024 - 1/3 of a jump, 4x plus greater
B.What does success mean to you?
•Success is often misunderstood - They polled many executives throughout the business world and this was their definitions of success:
1. Success is Possessing something specific and worthwhile (material things)
2. Success is Experiencing a special feeling (tv car commercials, winning the superbowl or world series)
3. Success is a Journey or a process
a. some people say - when I retire I’m gonna live, youth say, when I get on my own or when I get married.
b. When I get a new job, etc....
c. When all this is accomplished they say they will be happy. WRONG! Happiness is a choice and you have to make that choice.
4. Success is Reaching your maximum potential at any given moment
a. What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
b. You see purpose and potential is the original intent for the creation of a thing. It is the assignment that is produced by the intent of the creator.
c. Completing our potential is the fulfillment of the reason of our existence
d. Remember purpose is not doing a good thing but doing the right thing
e. I read in the Wall Street Journal not to long ago: “ A man said to the Personal Manager of a company, I know I’m over qualified for the job but I promise to use 1/2 of my ability.”
5. Success is Overcoming problems, setbacks, and obstacles
a. “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
-Booker T. Washington
b. “ A Successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” - David Brinkley
c. Successful people are failures who keep getting up, moving on, and reaching out, and trying again.”
d.”Success comes in CANS, failure comes in CAN’TS.”
1. Mark Twain said - “The difference between the right word & the almost right word is the difference between lightning & the lightning bug.”
2. The following statements are taken from official documents widely read during their time period of statement. Folks we must take the CAN’T out of our lives!
a. Why? “I CAN do all things through Christ....”
1840 - “Anyone traveling at the speed of thirty miles per hour would surely suffocate.”
1878 - “Electric lights are unworthy of serious attention.”
1901 - “No possible combination can be united into a practical machine by which men shall fly.”
1926 - (From a scientist) “This foolish idea of shooting at the moon is basically impossible.”
1930 - (another scientist) “To harness the energy locked up in matter is impossible.”
3. There will always be people who say it can’t be done. That is what the “experts said”. The real tragedy is 99% of the people believed them.”
4. Quit thinking about all of the reasons why you “can’t” do something and think of all the reasons why you “can”.
5. Jesus said, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” Jesus did not eliminate anything, he said, ALL THINGS!
6. Success is WORK and Effort
a. John Paul Getty once said, “Rise early, work late, and strike oil.”
b. Two strategies - Pull and Push
c. “You can always tell when you’re on the road to success - it’s uphill all the way.” - Paul Harvey
d. January 1st a favorite day of mine -College Football Heaven
1. Chuck Jordan was at one time the coach at Auburn and he asked a Miami Dolphin LineBacker who used to play with Auburn to help him recruit some new players - “You know the guy who gets hit...” etc...“We want the guy who keeps knocking everyone down.”
7. Success is Power
a. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” - Abraham Lincoln
b. Andrew Carnegie once said - “Success is the power with which to acquire whatever one demands without violating the rights of others.”
8. Success is Not looking back with regret
a. The early methodist had coined a statement - “How to Die Well”, which meant when I die did I give it my best shot. This is what it means to me:
1. Faithful to my God
2. Loving to my wife
3. an Example to my kids
4. Helped my friends
5. Truthful to my self (honesty and integrity)
9. Success is production (be fruitful and multiply)
a. Henry Ford said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”
b. Sign in an office - 57 Rules for Success
#1 Deliver the Goods
#2 The other 56 don’t matter
c. In 1930 Babe Ruth and the owner of the Yankees got in a squabble over what he should be paid - BR demanded $80,000.00 a year and the owner said, “I can’t pay you that, President Hoover doesn’t even make that much money. BR answered and said but Pres. Hoover didn’t have as good a year as I did.” hahaha
WHAT I THINK SUCCESS IS :
10. Success is:
a. KNOWING God and His desires for me
b. GROWING to maximum potential; and
c. SOWING seeds that benefit others
1. saddest thing to be ever said about a person -”He/she lived for themselves” “What profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” LK 9:25
2. It is said that the average person in his or her lifetime will influence over 10,000 people. Will you influence for the positive or negative, will you lighten the load or be the load
• In our society success has required you becoming what everyone else tells you to be.
• Remember nobody knows the purpose of a product except the one who made or created it. You were created by God and He:
1. Equipped you to be successful
2. Expects you to be successful
