Am I Doing Success Right? (North OC)

Speaker: L Good morning everyone.

How we doing?

Good.

Good, good, good.

Happy Sunday.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Um, it's great to be here.

I'm always, I'm always, uh, honored to always share with you what

God has been teaching me, and as we've been going through this

series, am I doing this right?

I've really felt like as a, as a, for myself at least, I really have had

to ask myself, am I doing this right?

Um, this dec this September, I'll be coming up on uh, 10 years as a disciple.

Be double digits, such as mind blowing.

Um, but it, but we always have to beg the question, am I doing this right?

Um, and uh, we've talked about faith, we talked about relationships.

We talked about finances.

You know, Maurice's stories are really funny.

Last week, I dunno if you were here, but you know, talking about his

contribution checks being bounced 'cause he had no money in his account.

Or his, the speeding ticket, getting paid up, all that stuff.

It was like pretty comedic, but it, I had to reflect on mine.

And there was one story that I remember specifically that stood out to me was I

was a freshman in college at Cal State Fullton, uh, with my roommate Drake.

Uh, we went to Chick-fil-A and, you know, thinking nothing of it, you

know, I get my meal and I, I, I about to pay and I get, I give him my card

and the card comes back declined.

And I was like, oh, I, I'm like, he tried again.

So he tries it again.

And I was like, can you try it one more time?

You know, maybe, maybe it's, it's an insert chip.

It's not the tap anymore, maybe.

Really?

You know?

So come to find out, I, I am like, uh, I, I step outta lines.

I'm embarrassed.

So I just go to the back of the store and I'm like, I'm looking at my bank

account and my app, my Wells Fargo app, $0 and 0 cents in the bank account.

I called my dad and I was like, dad, I think my account got hacked.

I, there's no way I can have $0 and 0 cents.

And he's like, are you sure?

I was like, yeah.

I, I, I, you know, I, I, I should have gotten paid by now.

This, this, and that.

And so I, he was like, well, just check your transactions.

I was like, okay, sure.

So I, I opened up the history and I was like, well, that's me.

Yep, that's me too.

That's also me.

That was gas.

That was a subscription.

And then I, it added up to where yes, I was the culprit.

I robbed myself, you know, so.

Finances, you know, God entrusts us with little, I had very little, but you

know, over time, hopefully, I mean, as of right now, I'm doing pretty well.

I'm not at zero, I can tell you that much.

But, um, other than that, um, I really am grateful to continuing this series

and actually finish our series and we're talking about success today.

Um, before we get into it though, let's bow our heads and pray, and

let's just get centered with God.

Uh, God thank you so much for today and the time to come

before you and come together.

God, it's always a blessing and a gift to be able to come

together and to worship you.

Father, we pray that today our hearts are stirred, not by my words, but by your

word God, that it carries and is timeless.

God, we pray that we are impacted and inspired to want to go do

more and advance your kingdom God, not for our glory, but for yours.

We love you, father.

We praying Jesus name.

Amen.

All right, so like I said, am I doing this success thing right?

Right.

When we, when we view success, I'll take some answers.

When you hear the word success, what are some words or people

even that come to mind for you?

We'll take some hands, take a couple responses.

Words or people?

Yes.

Accomplishments.

Accomplishments, absolutely.

What else?

Determination.

Determination?

Yes.

Anything else?

Discipline.

Discipline?

Yes.

Chris?

Winning.

Winning.

Yes.

What else?

Marcel.

Money.

Money.

Corina.

See, this is how, you know they're married.

You know, they think the same thing.

Yep.

Prayer.

Prayer.

Yep.

Okay.

I like that.

We're going spiritual now.

It's all right.

I, I like that one more.

Yes.

Have it all together.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think when we think of success, there are so many phrases and people

that come to mind instantly that, but I think in our culture, especially

in the Western civilization, success is very materialistic.

It's very, very materialistic, and we have to be careful because if

that combines with our faith, we get into a very dangerous place.

So we're gonna start off in Matthew chapter 25, verse 14.

Matthew 25:14

If you wanna turn your Bibles over to there, I'll also have 'em on the screen.

But if you bought your paper Bibles, praise God.

We're still gonna keep it going.

Um.

Just some context here.

We're in what's called the all of it discourse in the last, Jesus' last

teaching, his final teaching with his disciples in chapters 24 and 25.

He's teaching 'em about the end times.

Um, he's teaching them about the, his second coming, his return, but he is

also teaching about, um, basically like how to live until he gets back.

And so with that, we're in, uh, chapter 25 and in verses one through 13, he's

already talked about what's called the Parable of the 10 Virgins, and it's

about spiritual preparedness being ready to come, ready, be prepared when

he comes back, when the master returns.

But now we're gonna be picking up in verse 14.

So it says again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his

servants and entrusted his wealth to them.

To the one he gave five bags of gold to another two bags and to another

one bag each according to his ability.

Then he went on his journey.

The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money

to work and gained five more bags.

Uh, so also the one with two bags of gold gained two more.

But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the

ground, and hid his master's money.

After a long time, the master of those servants returned and

settled the accounts with them.

The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five masker.

He said, you've entrusted me with five bags of gold.

See, I have gained five more.

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.

The man with two bags of gold also came master.

He said, you have entrusted me with two bags of gold.

See, I have gained two more.

His master replied.

Well done.

Good and faithful servants.

You have been faithful with a few things.

I will put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness.

Then the man who had received one bag of gold came mastery, said, I knew

that you are a hard man harvesting where you have not sewn and gathering

where you have not scattered seed.

So I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground.

See, here is what belongs to you.

His master replied, you wicked, lazy servant.

You knew that I harvest where I've not sewn and gathered

where I've not scattered well.

Then you should have put my money on deposit with the banker

so that when I return, I would receive it back with interest.

So I got three.

We're gonna stop there for today.

I got three points for you today.

The first point being stewardship over striving, stewardship over striving.

You know, Jesus begins this parable by painting the picture of a master,

entrusting his wealth to his servants.

You know, none of them earned it.

You know the word in trust means assign the abi, the assigned

responsibility for doing something too.

So it's not something that they earned or get or, or, or worked

for in these bags of gold.

The master had entrusted them to it, you know, and he gave it to each, according

to their ability, not to test their worth, but to invite them into his worth.

Um, the one thing we have to understand with Godly success,

and that it starts with God first.

He doesn't call us to hustle or to prove ourselves.

He entrusts us because of his grace and his purpose.

Everything you have, think about it, your time, your talents, the opportunities,

the, um, some of the skills and the abilities that you may have, that's not

something you earned or you deserved.

That's all from God and he entrusts that to you.

Now, think about that.

Like how, like how gracious of a God do we serve, that the gifts and the

talents and the abilities, the time, the opportunities that you have.

All come from our gracious father.

You know, this is about a relationship.

Like I said, none of us have deserved it.

None of those servants even deserved those bags of gold.

But God entrusted, God graciously gave those things to us.

You know, even then God is in this boss that is waiting around for you to mess up.

He's like, all right, I'm gonna give you this opportunity.

I'm gonna watch for you, for you to fail.

'cause obviously, we're imperfect people, so of course we're going to fail.

But God is not a God that looks for our flaws.

He works with us despite our flaws.

I don't know if you guys remember it, but a sermon that I preached about was that

God can work with imperfect faith, right?

We have to remember that God is a gracious God.

He's not this hard, overbearing God that is looking for your every mistake.

He's looking to work with us.

He loves us.

In spite of that, amen, we have to ask ourselves this.

Am I treating what God has entrusted to me as a gift to

steward or a task to prove myself?

You know, I've often felt the pressure, I'm sure you have of

messing up in some type of way.

You've been given a job opportunity, a responsibility or assignment, and

you're like, and, and maybe it's a big opportunity and you're like,

man, I don't wanna mess this up.

I feel the pressure, I feel, uh, the worry, I feel the weight, I feel

like I also feel kind of honored, but I also don't wanna mess it up.

I think a lot of times though, I think.

I have a hard time growing.

I mean, growing up for me, I, I, I'm, I'm an achiever by nature and I will

get into that a little bit later.

I love to win.

I love to succeed.

I love to be the best at what I do, but it's very hard when I fail.

It's very hard to, for me to be, not say necessarily humble, but to accept that

failure is a possibility to accept that I am not gonna have it all together.

And it's hard because I think sometimes.

I, I focus so much on being perfect, but I actually have a hard time believing

that God can actually work through my flaws and that what he's given me.

I have to be perfect at.

I have to use my time effectively.

I have to, uh, make sure that every opportunity that is given to me,

I live it out to the full, and that there's no room for error.

But that thing, the thing is I have to remember, we have to remember

that we have to stop striving and start stewarding what God has given

us with humility and with faith.

You know, isn't it?

Like I said, it's a relief to know that God is the God that

give, that invites us to grow.

He's not, it's not attest to see if we pass perfectly.

What he gives us, what he gives us to steward is inviting us to grow and

to honestly be more reliant on him.

When we remember we've been entrusted and not hired.

Everything in our perspective shifts because now the question becomes,

what does God actually want from us?

But what does God actually want me to grow in?

And it leads me into the next principle that have is

faithfulness over fruitfulness, faithfulness over fruitfulness.

Now go to verse 20.

Uh, verse 21, what does the master say?

He says, well done when, when all the servants come back.

He says, well done, good and faithful servant to the one that

had five and that brought five.

And the one, that two, that brought two.

You know, when the master returns, like I said, he is at,

he's calling them faitfhful.

He didn't say most productive, most successful, most like you, like you

brought back the most investment.

Congratulations.

Like, no, he just said, he called him faithful, faithful servants.

I, I, I mean that, that phrase for me, I don't know about you, but that phrase

is what I want to hear when I see God.

Isn't that what we all want?

Not to be judged by the amount, but by our faith.

Not the fruit of what we, what we've had to bear, but by our

faith, and honestly because of our faith, we should bear fruit.

That's just how it is.

But if we are so locked in on the fruit and lose the faithfulness,

are we truly serving for God?

Are we serving for ourselves on our own satisfaction?

Godly success isn't about outcome, it's about obedience.

Our role is to respond faithfully to what God has given us, not

to the guaranteed results.

You know, in one Corinthians chapter three, verse 6, 3 7, Paul is riding

to the church in Corinth who have placed their identity in the leaders

that have been leading the church.

But Paul says this, he's, he tries to remind me, he's like, Hey

guys, you have to remember this.

He says, I planted to see I, Paul a Paul's watered it, but

God has been making it grow.

So neither the one that plants, nor the one who waters is anything,

but only God who makes things grow.

Amen.

Faithfulness does not force outcomes.

Sometimes we, we confuse control with faith.

We wanna make things, uh, happen.

We wanna make things push forward.

I, I mean, for the campus ministry, I'm sure they know Kyle Lounsberry's

favorite phrase is, make it happen.

If we ever have a problem and we gotta have a solution to fix

it, Kyle's like, make it happen.

Which is not a bad thing in its entirety, but I think what happens is that mindset

can somehow, and I'm not saying, I'm not trying to bash saying the phrase

is something that we like, we like to be optimistic and adaptive to, but

in life though, we're always in this make it happen type of mentality where

it's about us and about our control, about our power, then we truly are not,

we're not living out I authentic faith.

You know, the Bible also says in Psalm 21, 27, verse one, unless

the Lord builds the house, the la, the builder's labor in vain.

You know, even if you're not, it's necessarily committed to God.

If you're not a disciple, I'm sure you can feel the pressure and, and, and the worry,

but also the, the how exhausting it is.

To go chase after results and work in school on social media.

You might feel like you have to achieve everything, but it's

never quite enough at some point.

But what if the goal, what if it wasn't to achieve more, but to live with purpose,

to live with integrity, and to live with peace regardless of the outcome?

Can I be honest for a quick, quick second?

Yes.

I love results.

I am a results oriented person.

I, I, I, I'm a doer.

I love to get things done.

It's in my nature.

If you have any questions about it, you can ask my mother.

She's in the front row here.

It's probably from her, so if you have a gripe with me, you can bring it up to her.

But I'm a doer by nature.

I just, I, I love to achieve.

I've always been an achiever, whether it was in sports, whether it was in

school, whether it was in Kids' Kingdom, and doing bible trivia or memorizing

the scripture, like whatever it was, I wanted to just get it done, but

also be the best at what, what I do.

And you know, I, I don't if you haven't already, I, I love showing

people my Google calendar and a lot of the campus guys know I like, I

have my calendar on my phone that I, it's color coded and it's everything.

It's nice and tight.

It's, it's great like that, that, that's just how, that's just who I am.

And that's all, that's from my dad.

That's from my dad.

My dad is the color coded schedule guy.

So like family vacations, itinerary, there you go.

No free time itinerary, right?

If, if it was free time, there was something in that

free time that we had to do.

Right.

And so for me, you know, I, and for those that also don't know, I'm also currently

in a master's program at Long Beach State.

Go Beach.

Um, but also Go Titans.

That's my undergrads, that's my, my home.

So there you go.

Yeah, there we go.

There we go.

But I, I'm in a sport management program getting my master's right now, and one of

the things they emphasize so heavily in the program is called personal branding.

Is that how do you brand yourself to employers, people in that you're

looking to be, um, hired by people that you're looking to get contracted by.

It's all about how you present yourself.

So, uh, on my LinkedIn, go add me after service if you want.

Um, is that in my bio?

I put passionate, results driven, adaptive, dynamic, charismatic

sports management, graduate student, multi-sport athlete, looking to

get experience in the sports world.

So even in my bio, I'm branding myself as results driven,

and that's not a bad thing.

I think in our world and in some of our jobs today, results are good and I

don't wanna discourage anyone from that.

Results are a good thing.

However, the moment that results starts to drive our walk with God

is where it becomes very harmful.

I know for myself currently right now, as I lead the campus ministry, it's

very hard when I don't see growth.

We don't see as many people attending our ministry or our

events as much as we want to.

It's hard, 'cause like I said, my mindset in my head is that I'm so

results driven and I need to see results.

I need to see growth or else I don't think God is working and it's so

dangerous 'cause it just, it totally wrecks everything that we're here for.

It's about to be, it's a walk of faith, not a walk of results.

Like I said, the faith, the fruitfulness comes from our faith.

But if our, if we're so focused and we're so like locked in on the results

that we're gonna miss the walk with God saying that I should have been there by

now, or we should have been here by now.

But this walk, it's all about humility.

It's about us surrendering and living at peace no matter what the outcome is.

So even if my ministry does shrink, am I still being faithful to God If

it grows, am I still being faithful to God or am I saying, oh yeah,

look what I've done in your jobs.

Same thing if you get that promotion, man, look at all the work that I've done.

It's like, no, what has God guided me through to be able

to have this opportunity?

I'm gonna get, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna start going a little bit deeper, so I hope

you guys are buckled up and ready to go.

We're ready.

We have to ask ourselves, am I more loyal to the alchem?

I hope for.

Or to the God who holds it.

Parents, you're, I'm, I'm sure one of your greatest desires in life is

to see your kids become disciples.

I, I, I, I hands, I know my mother is here in the front row, and I would

not be here because without her faith, without God, more importantly, but

because of her faith and my dad's faith, I would not be here right now.

So parents, I understand as a, as a kid, as a kingdom kid receiving.

Faith in the years that you've walked.

I understand the, the love that you have for your kids, but we also have

to understand that you also have to understand, I can't say we, I'm not

there yet, but I'm gonna need you to hold me down when I get there.

Is that it's up to it's, it's God.

I have to entrust.

God has entrusted them to me, but I also have to make sure that they

understand that they're God's first.

That's right.

We have to entrust their future to God.

'cause God loves them more than you ever will.

And that's hard 'cause you're like, I don't wanna make sure

nothing happens to my kid.

I don't want 'em to get influenced by the wrong things.

I don't want them to be around the wrong people or hear or experience

things like, trust me, I get it.

But we have to be able to entrust them to God who holds all things together.

And I wish the teens were in the room.

'cause I would, I would talk to 'em directly and tell 'em that it's

not, they're not being overbearing, they're not being unreasonable.

They just love you a lot.

You still tell Yeah.

I guess they'll tell 'em.

Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll shoot Dan a text right now.

You know, like I said, but faithfulness as a parent, it's not about controlling

their outcome, it's about loving them consistently and entrusting their

lives to God's timing and his grace.

Right campus.

Yo Pros, you're pursuing the degree, master's, bachelor's, the job, the career,

trying to figure out what your calling is.

You easily obsessive over getting it right, like the one,

it's, it's gotta be one shot.

Like I've gotta get this right or it's never gonna happen.

You ask yourself the question, we've all been asking this

series, am I doing this right?

Trust me, 18 to 22.

Man, it's confusing as heck.

I, and I'm sure most of us have been here, so we all understand like.

What were we doing?

We don't, we don't know sometimes, but sometimes the, the questions

of, am I doing this right?

Am I making the right moves?

Did I do this?

Did I do that?

Are sometimes more rooted in control than they are in faith.

And it's hard because we wanna make sure that we are setting

ourselves up for the future.

But the biggest thing is that I'm not here to discourage us from dreaming

big for any of us, but we shouldn't sacrifice our discipleship for a dream.

If anything, our discipleship, our greatest dream is to be with God, which

we'll talk about a little bit more, but we can't sacrifice the questions

or allow the questions and the doubt to sacrifice our discipleship for a dream.

You know, as someone that is, like I said in my masters program, trust me, I get it.

And especially in a world of sports and media where it's all about results.

It's all about who you are.

But at the end of the day, none of those people are gonna be

beside me when I stand before God.

That's it.

None of those people are gonna be there to vouch for me and my spirituality

because God already knows everything.

It's not about what I do here or for them even.

It's about how faithful I remain to God.

This is where we're gonna need the older generation, the more

seasoned disciples I should say.

We need you guys to be able to hold us down.

Right.

Your walk, your consistency, your perseverance, your faith

is needed because you are an example to us of how to live a faithful

life, of desiring godly success.

Not a life about the numbers.

And I know finances can be tight and it can be stressful.

Trust me, I'm, I'm barely holding my own together, but.

We need you guys to hold us down, keep us rooted.

Remind us what is important to not sacrifice our discipleship for a

dream, to not sacrifice our jobs, or sacrifice our, our discipleship for

a job or even for a relationship.

We need you guys with all your wounds and the scars you've endured over the years,

the battles that you have gone through.

The tests, the trials to share with us, to guide us, to help us see that, like I

said, life as a disciple is so much more fulfilling that the success that we bear

through God's eyes is more fulfilling than anything we could ever gain in the world.

And even for those of you guys that are well off, that are successful, praise God.

I don't wanna take, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to, I'm not

trying to diminish anyone or anything that God has blessed you with.

Also even in that, how do we praise God?

How do we worship God even in the midst of being so successful?

Because I know for me, if I was a successful man, I, I could easily

get in my own head about man, like, this is, this is great.

I enjoy all having all this and all these things, but it's

about surrendering to God.

If you can be that example for us, our church is in good hands, not

because of who you are, but because who God has allowed you to become.

I also want to have a quick shout out real quick to a lot of our older singles,

for those of you who have been here for years and in a culture, in a world

that has pushed the, the agenda for a certain achievements or milestones

that you should be here by now.

You should have done this by now.

You should be married by now.

You should be doing this by now.

At the end of the day, your reward is in full because you have Christ.

Marriage is a bonus.

I'm, I'm, I'm just saying it plainly.

'cause Paul considered singleness a gift.

Why?

Because he was able to focus and be faithful to God in a

way that married people cannot.

And it's hard because sometimes, like I said, when we, when we, when we wage

and we balance and we, when we try to figure out how we can value that versus

valuing our relationship with God, it becomes very difficult to please God.

And even end pleasing ourselves because we know in our hearts, man, I need

to be, I need to be faithful to God.

But also if this dream doesn't come true, and I don't know, is my faith

gonna waver, but I, I, I commend you.

I'm encouraged by you.

I'm inspired by you, because it takes another level of faith to remain faithful

to God, despite the societal or the cultural norms that go on around us.

Like I said, in a culture that pushes for us to quote unquote arrive at

certain milestones, God invites you into joy and success right now

into his presence and his purpose, that your journey is significant.

So if you ever felt like you were overlooked or that you were

still waiting, remember that you have already arrived in Christ.

You are deeply valued in this kingdom because not only for you, but those that

may be following in your faith, in your footsteps, in your faithful footsteps, can

see the example that you have laid before.

Amen.

You know, one detail we can't miss is in verse 19 that says, after a long

time the master of those servants return and settled accounts with them.

Jesus will return or we will meet him.

When he does, he's not looking for the successful people or just the

married people or the popular people.

He's looking for faithful people, good and faithful servants that we,

that he wants to welcome into his joy.

Faithfulness is a, is not, it's like, it's not a matter of visible fruit, but

the most beautiful part of this story isn't about the work of the reward.

It's the invitation to something deeper.

You guys still with me?

Yeah.

Last point here is presence over payoff.

Come on.

Verse 21, the master away, even non verse 21.

But after the one that brought back five bags of gold, the one that back, that

brought back two bags of gold, he says, come and share your master's happiness.

The true award wasn't more gold.

It wasn't.

It was, it wasn't the fact that they got to gain so much

more than they already had.

It was the fact that the master now invited them into a relationship.

He already had one then, but he says, he says, come and share my happiness.

Come and share my joy.

That's the offer on the table to all of us.

It's not the usefulness or the productiveness, but the faithfulness, the

closeness that we can gain with Christ.

In Philippians chapter three, verse eight, it says I, this is Paul

again into the church in Philip.

I says, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

You know what's sad is that the third servant missed this.

He didn't understand the master.

He feared him.

He misunderstood him, and he buried his opportunity out of fear and not faith.

You know, like I said, like, and then he even comes up with the reasoning saying,

it's like, well, I know that you're a hard man and you know, you, you, you,

you, you, you don't plant where you sewed and you like all these things.

And then I love how the master's response is like, well, if you knew those things

and you were so fearful that I was a hard man, why didn't you do anything about it?

Which I kind of find it's very comedic at my end.

I, I, I kind of find like, I was like, I would be sarcastic in that way

as well, but at the end of the day, sometimes we can carry this mindset.

This incomplete or distorted view of God, or, or if anything, we assume that we know

God, so therefore we, we act accordingly.

And the, honestly, we tend to end up doing the things that we, he doesn't want

us to do just because of our assumption.

We end up viewing things or we start to proceed to participate in

certain things that we feel like, well, I know God is, you know, in

this way, so I, I shouldn't do this.

Or I'm, I'm fearful to do that.

I'm, I, I'm hesitant to step out and obey.

And, and, and I, and I'll shrink back into my, I'm gonna protect

what I have because if I step out, I'm afraid I'm gonna lose it all.

'cause it shows up in our daily lives, sometimes the way that we compare

ourselves to one another, the way that we wonder sometimes if we're not

getting the recognition we deserve, if it really matters or we fear that we've

missed our moment because we don't quote unquote, see God working in our lives.

But the win isn't the result.

It's the relationship.

Jesus is the reward.

God doesn't just want your effort.

He he values it.

He's appreciative it.

He's grateful for it, but he wants your heart.

Paul Paul demonstrates this in his verse as he is the surpassing worth.

Paul understood it.

Paul got it.

The surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

It falls in comparison to everything.

And it reminds me of this question here that if everything else

faded away, would walking with God still feel like enough for you?

And it's hard because like I said, in our culture, in our society

today, we are so materialistic.

Yes.

Whether it's a relationship, whether it's a job, whether it's finances,

whether it's relat relationships, like with friendships, popularity, it's,

it's, it's ingrained in our culture.

And like I said, if it becomes so ingrained in our hearts that we miss

the faith, we never will understand the surpassing worth to knowing Christ.

You know, if you're new here, if you've been around for a while and

are still trying to figure out.

Is this worth it?

You know, is this, is, is, is is really knowing Christ as

surpassing of what worth it is.

Study the Bible.

Please, we beg you, we plead with you.

God is begging and pleading with you.

Not just me, not just those in this room, but all of us are because

those that are here today and have been faithful for many years.

I've had to wrestle with this, and I don't say this as if you're gonna

get it one time and it's, and you're set for the rest of your life.

There are going to be times where you're going to question, there are

going to be times where you're going to doubt, there are going to be times

that you're gonna wanna give up.

But when you go into the world and you seek it out and you see all

that, the world has to offer it, you will always left wanting more.

Yeah.

I want to, I want to give a quick shout out to Martine.

Martine, we are, we're so grateful that you are restored, brother.

We're so grateful, but.

It's, I, I, I feel so encouraged because when we were going through the, when I

was going through the pre-meeting today and I saw that it was a good restoration

and I was like this, like that is just an epitome to showing you that the world

is never going to be enough, that God is always calling people back to him.

'cause he knows that what he, what he brings to the table will

never leave us wanting more.

It's such an encouragement to know that what God leave, what God gives

us, it never comes back empty.

'cause we all want our lives to matter, let's be honest, right?

We all wanna leave some type of impact here, but deeper than the success is

the desire to be known, to be loved for who we are and not just what we do.

That's what Jesus offers, not just the task list of things

to do, but a relationship.

Now, I don't know if you guys are aware, but last weekend, um, an

18-year-old Cal State Fulton student passed away at Lake Havasu, uh, drowned.

It was apparently it was like a big storm and some waters rose, and

apparently he drowned, unfortunately.

And, uh, my dad had sent me, uh, like the, uh, the newsletter article about it.

And I, like, I read it and I was just like, I thought to myself, I

was like, wow, like 18 years old.

I remember myself being 18, being a freshman at Cal State full night.

I remember being in his shoes and I thought about all the things that I

wanted to do, the places that I wanted to go, the people that I wanted to

meet, like it, like I remember being in there, but to know that his life

got cut short because of that and he can't do any of those things anymore.

Sobered my heart to remember like, and, and, and, and I don't

mean to make that sound like a negative thing, but it is sobering.

Yeah.

It reminds us that this life is temporary.

In James four 14, it says, what is your life?

You are a mist.

That appears for a little while and then vanishes.

This is all we get, guys.

All we get, and like I said, and and, and also prayers for

our brother, bill Dilly, right?

Passed away this morning.

Guys.

Death is sobering.

It reminds us that what we live for here

doesn't matter.

We, if we live as what Paul says, is we live for Christ, then to die is gain.

So many people in outside this building and outside of the faith,

they, they live for, they live for the height, they live for it all.

They live for the glory, but when they die, they gain nothing.

To live as Christ Paul says, to live with in a relationship with Christ, that when

when you die, you get to be with him.

So guess what?

When we live, we win.

And when we die, we win.

There's no lose lose.

You lose your life now, so you save it for later.

We have to ask ourselves, are we chasing something that can vanish in a moment or

building a life that lasts for eternity?

To live this Christ.

To die is game.

To live this Christ to die is game man.

How powerful is that Scripture?

How powerful is that?

Reminder?

Don't waste your mist.

Don't wait for someday to walk with God.

Don't build your identity on something that can disappear, because in the

end, success is not what you build.

It's who you walk with.

If you walk with Jesus now, you will walk with him forever.

Right now we're going to transition into communion here, but I also want us to

remember the greatest act of faithfulness, the greatest acts of success and not

success by the world's standards.

Jesus was mocked, beaten, crucified, but was perfectly faithful to God.

He entrusted himself and his future to God.

Hebrews 12, two through three reads, uh, we'll go back to in a bit, but

let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross scorning a shame, and sat down

at the right hand of the throne of God.

The cross reminds us that real success is surrender.

Jesus gave everything not to earn love, but because he was loved.

Jesus is our true model of success and a reason for hope.

And if you ever ask yourselves, am I doing this right?

Look for Jesus.

This is a couple practical before I pray.

Um, I want us to create a trust inventory.

Not financially, of course, but one of that thing about all the things that God

has entrusted to you, like I've talk about your time, opportunities, relationships,

influence all those things, jobs.

Think about that, and then have a daily faithfulness check-in.

Ask yourself, am I responding faithfully to what God has given me today?

Regardless of the visible results?

Like I said, if we can remind ourselves every day of that, it lets us.

It keeps us humble, it keeps us rooted, and that golly, success,

like I said, is not about visible fruit, but in unseen faithfulness.

So as we take communion, let's remind ourselves, like

I said, of Jesus on the cross.

And his faithfulness.

Like I said, that when the world shamed him and scorned him, he

was faithful because he knew that his success was in God.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you for today.

Father, thank you so much for the time that we get to come before you,

God, and value, and, and just be in awe and reverence of who you are.

God, we are grateful that success comes from you and that the

eternal success comes from you.

God, we pray that we, we remain humble and grateful for all that

you have provided for us God.

And that we don't, we don't use that you what you've entrusted to us,

God, to make our own selves look great or for our own glory, but

God, we do it for eternal glory.

That is to be in a relationship with you, father, that we pray that each and every

one of our hearts, as we ask ourselves, are we doing this right, God, that we

look to Jesus as your son, as an example, and as we take this bread in this cup, we

remind ourselves of the greatest sacrifice that none of the success that we.

Desire to have spiritually would've come without him.

So we are grateful, father for this time, and as we reflect and we commune

together and do this in remembrance of you, I pray that we just have humble

and reverent hearts of knowing that where our true success comes from.

We love you, God.

We pray on your son Jesus name.

Amen.