Do You Want Success in Your Life?

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Do you believe that we're living?

Have you been?

You probably haven't.

You're probably like me.

I about quit watching the news about three or four weeks ago, just totally.

I was getting so discouraged.

So, I meant, you can't believe anybody anymore.

Nobody on the news.

I meant it's unbelievable.

And so I thought to myself, are we living in a day that there's a crisis?

Are we living in a country that is in crisis?

And we would all say, Amen.

Yes.

Unbelievable.

So, and here's the tendency.

The tendency is to say that, well, hey, it's worse than it's ever been.

Well, I've got news for you.

It's not worse than it's ever been.

Each in every generation and each and, hey, every country has been in crisis mode for years.

And there's always a time of crisis.

And I love Romans 15:4.

Romans 15:4

I love the Word of God.

Here we believe in teaching the Word of God verse by verse.

We don't believe in any other kind of teaching other than the Word of God.

And that's why in our Bible study Sunday school, you'll be going verse by verse, or chapter, at least chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph through the book of Joshua with Dr.

Warren Weirsby, who was a great professor and teacher of the Word of God.

So it's going to be exciting.

But here's why.

Romans 15 4 says, Paul's writing, and he says, whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience of the scriptures might have hope.

In other words, I love the Old Testament.

Very few preachers today even preach through the New Testament.

I meant the Old Testament, they preach in the New Testament.

But it's so exciting because the Old Testament lays the foundation and the groundwork, hey, that gives us instructions and directions on what to do and what not to do.

Can I get an amen?

It really does.

And we just finished the book of James, verse by verse, and we solve the parallelism with the book of James, with Proverbs, that James was the Proverbs of the New Testament.

So again, but it was able to be reinforced through the book of Proverbs all the way through the teachings of those five chapters.

And same as Joshua.

Joshua leads us through victory.

Joshua shows us how to have victory even in crisis.

And that to me is encouraging and hey, very exciting.

So as we begin, and next week we'll start the first chapter, and I'll do a little introduction.

But today I wanted, and I knew it was going to be Labor Day, and I knew we'd have a lot of people still taking that last time out.

So I didn't want to just jump into the introduction and then miss it too, because it's so important, and our Bible study starts next week.

We'll be right on course together.

But what I did want to do is to take one verse, probably the most important verse in Joshua.

It is the foundational verse that takes you all the way through the book of Joshua.

And most of you, or many of you, know it.

If you do not know it, you need to memorize it.

And it's Joshua 1.8, and it says, This book of the law, God's word, God's, hey, written word, God's inerrant word, God's breathed word.

By the way, let me just go ahead and tell you.

I believe that this whole Bible is inspired and written by God.

Amen.

It's no arrow in the book.

There's none.

And I've had people challenge me over the last 34 years of ministry.

And you know what I do?

I say, I'll tell you what, you find me a book, you find me a book that gives you 350 prophecies in the Old Testament that have been fulfilled verbatim, verbatim, verbatim.

And that does not validate the truth of this book.

Nothing else can or will.

But there's no other prophetic book that, hey, has that many prophecies that has been predicted that have been fulfilled verbatim.

In fact, most of those books, they have, hey, the prophetic utterances and predictions have not been fulfilled or they were lies.

And we know in Deuteronomy 24 that means that they were false prophets.

But this is God's book.

And the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.

But now watch.

But thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all, that little word all is very important, that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then shall thy have good success.

Now, if you were to underline two words in your Bible, and I do, I underline a lot in my Bible, there's two words there that are vitally important that you need to understand that even in a crisis, you can be prosperous and you can have success.

And I didn't get even oh me.

Let me repeat that.

I know we're all a little tired.

We've been going a whole week and revived.

All right, but now listen.

Even in the midst of a crisis, you can prosper and be successful.

Now, do you understand that there's the word success?

This is the only place in the Bible that it's used in direct relationship to we Christians.

It tells us how we can be successful.

Isn't that amazing?

Joshua has just taken over from the greatest leader ever known, and his name was Moses.

And now Moses is dead, and now Joshua has been, hey, picked by God because of his servitude and his loyalty, and I don't want to get into, I'm already starting to get into the introduction, but his loyalty to Moses and God.

Well, his loyalty to God first, and then his loyalty to Moses.

He was picked because of who he was: Joshua, Jesus.

And we see that he is now placed in the predicament of having to lead the nation Israel into the promised land.

Which they had been promised 40 years prior.

Twelve spies.

Joshua and Caleb came back and said, Yes, we can take the promised land.

Let's go.

God's given it to us.

And all of a sudden the other ten, Sister Fluffy Head and Deacon Potato Heads, decided.

No, woo, it's low.

Oh, yes, it's great.

The land.

Well, fruit, uh, you know, big fruit, all kind of stuff.

Uh, but there's giants.

Giants in the land.

We can't take it.

So you either have a can Christian or a can't Christian.

There's no in-between.

Either you're for him or you're against him.

Amen.

And I'm not a can't Christian, I'm a can.

Amen.

I think I can.

I think I can.

Well, with God, I know I can.

I know I can.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 137.

By the way, the Greek word for nothing, it's nothing.

Nothing's impossible with God.

So we see he takes over.

And God gives him the main, hey, ingredient for success in one verse.

There it is.

And the book of the law shall not depart out of the mouth.

One of the key sources of frustration today is the feeling of being a failure and not a success like everyone else.

Men who face what is called, are you ready?

A midlife crisis.

I don't think, I don't think.

Give me that.

I don't think I've gone through a midlife crisis.

I'm 62.

Now my wife may disagree.

But I didn't go buy me a big gold chain, put around my neck, and undo and undo.

And undo my and show my hair chest.

Now I've not done that.

I've not done that, but I did go buy me a 66 Chevelle.

But I've been in old cars all my life.

But anyway, a midlife crisis looks at their life and becomes very frustrated because they're halfway through their life or over half, and they look back on their life, and their goals that they had had for themselves, or the dreams that they had for themselves, they've not been fulfilled.

And they get discouraged.

They really do.

They get very discouraged.

They get defeated.

And we see they want to be successful at something.

They want to be able to say, I did this or I accomplished this.

And hopefully at the end of our time, we'll be able to say that.

God used me to accomplish this dream or this purpose that God had given me.

One of the greatest fulfillments right now.

And God has, over the last 35 years of faithful service to him, I've been able to see God just do so many things in my own life.

And Susan and I, as a couple's life, as we set goals and starting at Open Door Baptist Church, asking God to build a great church, then going to Liberty University, asking God for us to be an assistant and help Dr.

Falwell rebuild, or really not rebuild, but take Liberty University at that time out of a crisis.

It was in a crisis fixing to close the doors.

And now we see it's over a hundred thousand students.

Ma mamata.

To God be the glory.

Been there.

And then we left there and went to Tennessee Temple and then left there and came here, not knowing what God was doing, but being willing to go when he says go.

And then, but once God places you in a place, you got to think big.

You got to think, hey, you got to set the mark high because we serve a big God.

Amen.

It's kind of like the elephant and the little mouse.

They were crossing this bridge, and it was a rope bridge.

And man, that elephant got on that bridge and boom, boom.

And that little mouse is right there with him in the bridge.

It's just a shaking boom.

And he's going over that little mouse right under his feet, and they get to the other side, and that little mouse looks up at that big elephant, and he said, Wow, we shook that bridge, didn't we?

Amen.

Amen.

We serve a big God, folks.

D.

L.

Moody said, if we serve such a powerful big God, we ought to think big.

We ought to ask big.

We ought to do big.

Amen.

Amen.

Hey, God didn't give us 91 acres back there two years ago to just sit here and say, oh, look at our 91 acres.

He gave us that to fulfill his will and his purpose for this community right here in Little Chelsea and Westover.

Amen.

Harpersville, Children'sburg, all the surrounding little communities here.

God's got a big plan.

And the exciting thing is you and I got to get in on it.

So when you, hey, with your dreams and with your thoughts and your goals, you're going to be a part of what God is doing.

The pressure from the world to be a success is enormous today.

And one reason for the emphasis or pressure to be a success in the world is that we're living for the now.

Right now.

What can I have right now?

You know, for life.

We're not worried about yesterday, and that's good because it's gone.

Nothing you can do about it.

And we're sure not worried about tomorrow because we may not be here.

So we're living for today.

Well, the world takes that philosophy and it says, get all you can get right now while the getting's good because you may not have it.

And it's so warped, it's so opposite.

The world's definition of success from God's definition of success.

Or from the world's definition of success from the word of God's definition of success.

So opposite.

So opposite.

The world has no concern for eternal spiritual matters.

The definition that we're going to look at today will determine, hey, our outlook on life and our behavior by which we choose to live by.

See, what you think leads to what you do.

What you believe leads to what you become.

And don't ever forget that.

So what is the definition of success?

The title of the message.

Right here.

Do you want success in your life?

Or you could title it another way the conditions for real success.

Let's look at it.

Two viewpoints contrasted: God's view or man's view on the issue of success.

And they're opposite.

For this reason, we need to be sure that as Christians, we're following the right philosophy concerning the matter of success.

Failure to do so can leave us depressed, disillusioned.

Don't you feel that way with our government right now?

Aren't you a little depressed and disillusioned?

Huh?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It can leave us discouraged.

And it can leave us defeated.

Especially in ministry.

The church is at a low, hey, an all-time low in baptisms for the, hey, American church.

We have less baptisms last year than we've had since 1942.

That's unbelievable.

We have less people attending church in the history of the church in America.

82%.

Not even in church.

82%.

And a large percentage of those 82% claim to be Christians.

How can you be a Christian and not want to go to church?

Well, I don't have to go to church.

Yes, you do.

I'm tired of, well, it's your opinion.

No, it's not your opinion.

You need to be in church.

Not forsaking the offense, the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching.

You ought to get up on Sunday and can't wait to come to church.

David said, Whoo! I was glad when they said, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

Amen.

This is God's, hey, church.

It's God's house.

Amen.

That's what we love about this church.

It's not man.

We're building a New Testament church.

God's way.

Somebody said, You feed every week?

I said, Yeah, they did in 1 Corinthians, the love feast.

They went house to house, breaking bread together.

That's what we do.

We want to be, hey, just like the New Testament.

We don't want to be, hey, a man's church.

We want to be God's church.

Red, yellow, black, and white.

Everybody get it, you know what they get excited when they walk in here.

I've never seen a diversity of that kind of church.

Hallelujah.

What a testimony.

Amen.

And so the view of success is so important.

Now let's take these two views, line them side by side.

And let's say contrast number one: power versus submission.

Power versus submission.

The idea of this world is you're successful if you have power and influence.

God's idea of success is submission to Him.

There's a big difference.

The world says you need power and influence.

God says you need to submit to Him.

Romans 12, 1 and 2, presenting your body a living sacrifice, solely acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed, metamorphosis, by the renewing of your mind, meditating there day and night, that you may observe to do according to all.

That's written there.

Amen.

So that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, watch, and perfect will of God.

Powerful, powerful, powerful statement.

God did not call us to be successful.

Listen.

God did not call us to be successful.

God called us to be faithful.

Now, the results of being faithful is successfulness.

Amen.

Many times people will turn their back on the Lord if they become financially, financially, financially.

Thank you.

It's been a long week, folks.

Sorry.

Successful.

They feel they don't need him anymore.

Isn't it amazing how we pray that God, when we're dining out, we pray, God, we need to be put back on that rock.

We need a good job.

We need this.

And all of a sudden, God does it, and we start getting blessed.

We get in a job.

We get promoted.

We start making good money.

And then the next thing you know, we start missing church.

Jesus.

Or the next thing you know, we quit tithing.

Next thing you know, we quit doing this.

We quit doing that.

Because now we're thinking, well, you know, I'm pretty good.

I'm pretty sharp.

Look what I did.

Hello.

Amen.

We forget Deuteronomy 8.18, but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for hey, it is he that gives thee power to get wealth.

We forget that real quick.

And then all of a sudden the love of money becomes the root of all evil.

Did you hear me?

The love, not money, but the love of it.

And we forget Psalm 62.10.

If, hey, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

You know the best way to keep from, hey, ever being greedy or letting money control you, be a giver.

Just give it, be a conduit, it comes, you give.

And you know what I've learned over 35 years of wonderful marriage and service, Susan and I, the more God gives, the more we give, the more he gives again.

Luke 6, 38, giving it shall be given unto you.

Good measures.

Press down, shaking together and running over, shall men give back unto you.

See, we that's the way it works.

You give, somebody gives to you.

Then they give to somebody, and it just keeps going.

And if you ever cut that conduit off, then guess what?

You're in trouble.

Because now you start hoarding it.

And now the money becomes your God.

And so here's what he's saying.

Don't do that.

If success could make, hey, the heart swell like uh it does the head sometimes, the world would be a far better place.

Can I get an amen?

Listen to what he says in James 4, 7 and 8.

James 4, submit yourself therefore to God.

Resist the devil.

Watch this.

Flee.

Flee from him.

Flee.

And how do we do that?

By verse 8.

Look at what he says in verse 8.

Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you.

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your heart, ye double-minded people.

In other words, keep God the center of your heart.

Keep God the center of your purpose in life.

Success is what?

Faithfulness to God.

Say that with me.

Success is what?

Faithfulness to God.

Say that, faithfulness to God.

Success is faithfulness to God.

That's what true biblical success is.

Matthew 6, 24, Jesus said, No man can serve two masters.

Either he will hate the one, love the other, hold the one, despise the other.

Can't do it.

Can't do it.

Look at contrast number two.

Freedom versus responsibility.

This world is consumed with doing its own thing and having its own way, no matter how it actions affects others.

That's the world.

They don't care what happens.

Hey, people of the world will trample on you and not even think twice.

They'll leave you in the ditch and not even think twice.

Well, you know why?

It's not about you, it's about them.

It's all about them.

But the Christians, hey, responsibility.

As believers, we're to be, hey, to be concerned about our responsibility to God first, and then what?

To others.

Loving God?

Loving God?

Loving people.

Ready?

Loving God?

Loving people.

Is that not it?

By love, serve one another.

Galatians 5.13.

Jesus said in Matthew 23, 11, He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And 1 Corinthians 6, 19, 20 says, We know that your body, I love this.

Look into what he says.

We know.

Hey, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God?

Now watch.

You got to understand this.

You are not your own.

Hello.

As Christians, we're not our own.

That's what he says.

For ye are bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods.

Your body, your spirit as a Christian are God's.

You're not your own.

So the definition of success is to fulfill what God wants me to do.

Can I get an Amen?

Be faithful to what God wants me to do.

Then you're going to be successful.

Doesn't matter how much money you have, how much power you have.

Doesn't matter.

That's not success.

Never has, never will be.

Number three.

Gain versus giving.

The world feels that money is the criteria for success.

For this reason, it is to be gained at all costs.

Now, what's the difference here?

Gain.

That's all they think about.

Doesn't matter what it costs.

Doesn't matter if it costs me my family.

Doesn't matter if it costs me my children.

It doesn't matter if it costs me my church.

My goal is to get as much money as I can.

Because that means I'm successful.

Can I tell you something?

When you die, you're not taking one dime with you.

Hello.

Amen.

It's not going anywhere with you.

In fact, you're going to give it to somebody else.

In fact, Proverbs says that in Proverbs 13.

He says, hey, hey, you're going to leave it to somebody else.

Bless God.

You know what I told my kids?

They're not getting any money.

I'm going to do my giving while I'm living so I know where it's going.

Amen.

Amen.

And Susan and I have always, and we do, our investments are always been in property.

And I did tell them this.

I said, you know what?

We may leave you some property, but we're not leaving you any money.

First of all, we're going to give to God his work, and that's what we've always done.

And I said, me and Mama got a, hey, hey, the nest is free now.

Me and Mama are going to have a good time.

You know, all those years that she had to tend to you and wipe you, now she's going to tend to me.

And Mama and I are going to have a good time.

Hello?

I said, and Mama may decide to sell all the property and have another good time, long as it's not with another man.

But hey, have another good time.

I'll come back and haunt you, honey.

Hey, hey, you're going to have a good time, then she's going to come live with you.

Amen.

Just a thought.

My little sister Stephanie is just like me.

She said, oh, Dad.

I said, I'm not joking.

I'm not joking.

Amen.

But we see, we see that it's not the money.

Listen to Charles.

In fact, let me tell you, God's nature, here's the difference.

Hey, the world says gain.

Get as much as you can.

God's nature is to give as much as you can.

This is really where it separates drastically.

God says his nature is to give, he loves a cheerful giver.

Look at 2 Corinthians 9, 7.

Every man, according as he purposed in his heart, what?

So let him give.

Now watch, not grudgingly or compelled or felt guilty of necessity.

For God loves a what?

Cheerful giver.

Cheerful giver.

When the boy's home across the street's here and Deacon's here, when I say at the end, we take the offering at the end because we want that to be a part of the worship service too.

But Deacon says, I said, it's time for us to give our tithes and offerings.

He says, Amen.

Now he's the only one who says that.

Because see, you don't want, when somebody, you know, it's amazing.

You love me until I start talking about money.

And then you say, well, all the preacher wants is money.

No.

Hey, and by the way, God doesn't need your money.

He owns all the cattle on the hills.

Can I get an amen?

But God has blessed you so that you can have money.

And one of the ways that, and the reason he does that, so you can be a giver to carry on his mission in his church, in the community that God has placed you.

And that's what we do.

You see it every day, how we help people, what we do in this community.

That's another reason God's blessed this community in this church.

No doubt about it.

In my heart, I believe that with all my heart.

I really do.

That's why he's blessed me and Susan.

That's why he blesses many of you.

That's why he's blessed Serpro, being givers, givers.

Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 6.38.

Don't you wait, wait, wait, before we go to Luke 6.38.

Verse 6 says in 2 Corinthians 9, I didn't put it up there, but you need to hear it.

Put 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6 says, He that soweth, hey, sparingly, reaps sparingly.

2 Corinthians 9:6

But he that soweth bounfully reaps bounfully.

And then verse 7 says, a cheerful giver.

And verse 8 is powerful.

And you know what he says?

Because you are a cheerful, hey, bounce, bouncely giving, he says that all grace, verse 8, in that same passage, he says that God gives all grace for all things, for all sufficiency, that ye may complete the work of God.

You listen, when you give like that, you have God's full, all grace, all sufficiency.

Woo! I'm about to have a running spell.

What else do you need?

What else do you need?

I'd lots rather have all grace than all money.

Just a thought, amen.

Man, that's good, folks.

Somebody say that's good.

That's good, preacher.

That's good.

Luke 6, 38, man.

This is what Jesus said.

Give, and it shall be given unto you.

What?

Good measure.

Anybody want some bad measure?

Good measure.

Press down.

You know what that means?

It's just coming on you.

Shaking together.

Woo! Shaking you up.

It's just coming from all directions.

You can't hardly believe it.

It's opening the windows of heaven and pouring you out.

Oh, bless it.

Running over.

Woo! How would you like to have grace running over?

I'm gonna tell you, folks, listen, you whoo, you get plugged into that.

Oh, Katie Bardador.

Amen.

As my granddaddy used to say, hey, Danny Boy, when you get plugged into the 220, woohoo, you won't go back to the 110.

Amen.

Amen.

Getting plugged in, folks.

But you get plugged in by not gaining and hoarding, but giving.

Giving.

Giving.

That's so awesome.

Listen to what Paul said in Acts 20, 35.

It is more blessed to give.

This is powerful.

Than to receive.

Amen.

It's more blessed.

Look at what he says.

Having showed you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

Woo! How he said, read it with me.

It is more blessed to give.

And that's good.

Write this first down.

Listen to this.

Rockefeller.

Well, first of all, Charles Tremendous Jones said, listen to this.

Success is not a reward to be enjoyed, but a trust to be a minister.

Let me repeat that.

You didn't get it.

Charles Tremendous Jones, great guy.

Great Christian.

Success is not a reward to be enjoyed, but a trust to be a ministered.

You ought to write that down.

That's powerful.

Most of us, some of the younger folks may not know who Rockefeller was, the Rockefeller Foundation.

But Rockefeller himself said, I have made millions of dollars, but they have brought me no happiness.

When John Rockefeller was 53, his life was a wreck.

He was sick.

Hey, by the way though, hey, at 53, he was the richest man in America, but was one of the most miserable men.

He was sick physically, mentally, and emotionally.

There was no joy in his life at all.

But then his life was transformed when he decided to be a giver rather than a commun, hey, rather than a taker or a gainer.

He began to give his millions away.

The Rockefeller Foundation was formed and was dedicated to fighting disease and ignorance in the world.

He lived to be 98 years old and was a happy man because of his new definition of success.

Wow.

Proverbs 11:28 says this the liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that waters shall be watered himself.

Proverbs 11:28

Wow.

That's so awesome.

Proverbs 22, 9, he that hath a boundful eye shall be blessed.

Contrast number four.

Immediate fulfillment versus lasting achievement.

Immediate fulfillment versus lasting achievement.

Boy, is that not in America.

And how we see that is in the technology right now.

Now, on Sunday, you're not gonna get me on my phone until about two or three o'clock in the afternoon.

I just leave it in the car.

I just, I gotta get away.

It's amazing when your phone's sitting there and you hear that ding, ding.

Fulfillment.

In other words, I gotta talk to you right now, right now.

And when your wife puts the phone in the bottom of her pocketbook, and every time you call her, you get the answer machine.

You say, why does she even have a phone?

So she can get me, not me to get her.

Just a thought.

Poor baby.

But but but again, you know, we gotta, hey, it's instant everything.

Amen.

Instant everything.

Instant grits.

Instant coffee?

What in the world happened?

Hey, what we got along pretty good before the microwave.

Hello?

Well, I used to get homemade biscuits.

Now I get canned biscuits.

Can I tell you something?

The only good thing about a canned biscuit is to make fried donuts out of them.

Amen.

Dip them in a bunch of ice, and that's the only way.

Now we have Sam's biscuits, but now they are pretty good.

They're closer than Mama's cat heads.

Amen.

But but really, it's instant everything.

And this is what he's talking about.

We want it right now.

Fulfillment right now.

But let me remind us.

The motto of the world is live for now.

But let me remind you, many a family has been ruined.

If you lose your family to be financially successful or famous, you are not a success.

Can I get an amen?

Mark 8 36, for what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, loses his family, loses his business, loses his friends?

What has it profited you?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Nothing.

I was reading when I prepare, I read all kind of stuff, and especially when I'm looking for good analogies and examples.

Madison Avenue, I read a quote that they're talking about resurrecting the father image.

Listen to this.

Mal McDougal, chairman of the McDougall Company, a New York advertising agency, said this.

This is going to be interesting if it comes out.

We are redefining, we are redefining success.

The ultimate hero now will be the best dad.

Oh boy, listen.

The yuppie and macho man are dead.

In a cologne advertisement, a pinstriped suit man was shown carrying a baby instead of a briefcase, and the caption of the ad was Success is knowing what appointment to keep.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.

Psalms 127, verse 1.

Psalms 127:1

Number five.

Hey, the applause of men versus the approval of God.

The world puts a big premium on the crowd's approval.

Acceptance in the group is a must no matter what the group is doing, whether it's right or wrong.

How many times have we said, thank God for our youth program here?

Thank God for Rick and Heather and what they're doing.

Thank God for our children's program here with Renee and Sonia and Dale and Linda.

Thank God, thank God.

That, hey, do you understand peer group pressure in teenagers is unbelievable?

In fact, we're seeing now that it is the peer group pressure that is leading to a lot of teenage suicides.

I was in our awakening this week.

There's a pastor, I'm gonna be doing a revival at Antioch Baptist Church in Carlton, Georgia, right up the road, about an hour and a half, starting next Sunday night.

And uh, and his name's Tony, Brother Tony, and Brother Tony, when we were talking about suicide when uh uh Terrence Jones and oh boy, the message he preached Tuesday night, folks.

I wish we'd recorded it.

It's the most dynamic message I've ever heard.

It's phenomenal.

Just but he was talking about suicides there too.

But the thing was, and then Tony came back and told me, Tony said, we just had a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old commit suicide in Carlton, Georgia.

Peer pressure, peer pressure.

One hung themselves, the other one shot themselves.

Peer pressure.

Hey, not feeling successful, not feeling wanted, not feeling loved, not feeling anybody cares.

When we asked that question the other night under the pavilion, I said, is how many people here really believe nobody really loves you or cares?

You would have been shocked when you saw the hands go up.

And I rey reiterated right then, I said, Well, I'm telling you here, I know who loves you more than anybody else, and his name is Jesus.

When your mother and your father forsake you, the Lord will take you up.

Amen.

The Lord will take you up.

And then I said, and CCW loves you.

And we do.

We love you.

We love you.

We're not interested in your past, we're interested in your future, and God's got a fantastic future for you.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

He doesn't think evil of you, but good.

He thinks to make you successful, to be like him, abundant life.

That's who he is.

That's what he does.

So, the applause of men versus the approval of God.

Obeying the Lord and living a godly life as a Christian meets God's approval.

An upright man can never be.

Hey, do you know what?

An upright man can never be a failure in God's eyes.

Hey, you, hey, not any of us here want to be a failure.

Amen.

None of us.

You say, well, how can I keep from being a failure?

It's pretty simple.

Just live for God.

And you'll never be a failure.

Never.

Don't live for yourself, but live for God.

And you'll never be a failure.

And that's good.

Never.

What is really a failure in ministry or life?

What is a success in ministry?

Those are the two questions I ask myself.

God says when we obey Him, are faithful, serve others, love Him, trust Him, pray, pursue holiness in our life, and spread the gospel, we are a success.

Listen to what it says in 1 Corinthians 10 31.

Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

That is success.

Amen.

Now that'll take care of everything.

That'll take care of, hey, hey, whatever movie you're gonna go see, whatever music you're gonna listen to, hey, just remember if you're a Christian, Jesus is sitting right there with you.

Hello! You know what?

It's about time to rebirth.

30 years ago, 25, 28 years ago.

Because I love bracelets.

Jesus is awesome.

Okay, I gotta figure this out.

We gotta come up with Jesus is awesome and then WWJ D.

No, no.

What would Jesus do?

Yeah, WWG D.

The initial.

W J D.

That's my daddy's name.

J D.

What would Jesus do?

You walk in a R-rated movie?

What would Jesus do?

By the way, you can't walk in a R-rated movie and look down and say, Jesus is awesome either.

I can't even speed when I say, look down and say, Jesus is awesome.

I'll start to say something with that lady sitting in front of me and texting.

The other day she was texting and putting on makeup too, and the light changed, and she just sat there and I'd already said, Lord, please, I promised I'm not gonna blow at anybody.

And she just kept sitting there.

I started flashing my lights.

I said I wouldn't blow the horn.

I didn't say I wouldn't flash the lights.

She put her phone down, looked, smiled, drove off.

I said, God bless you.

God bless you.

Been there, haven't you?

Yeah.

Uh-huh.

1 Corinthians 1 31.

That according as it is written, look at what it says, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord.

Can I get an amen?

Contrast number six.

Being served versus serving others.

See, the ultimate status quo is how many people serve you.

You want to be successful?

How many workers you got working for you?

How many servants you got serving you?

Man, I'm the big wig.

You know, I got a hundred people working for me.

Woo! Man, I'm successful.

They do what I say.

Hey, when I say move, they say yes.

And when I say jump, they say ha ha.

Man, I'm successful.

I've reached my pinnacle.

Hmm.

Okay?

Wonder about that.

That's the ultimate status symbol.

Success is not a goal to be sought after by a byproduct of learning.

Hey, success is not a goal by being set by the amount of people that serve you.

God's success is the amount of people you serve.

Woo! Total opposite again, that giving, and now that serving.

To separate the men from the boys.

Jesus said, He that is greatest among you shall what?

Be your servant.

Matthew 23, verse 11.

Matthew 23:11

And now what he said, that's what he said.

And then Galatians 5.13, he says, For brethren, you have been called unto liberty.

And by the way, what he means by that, only use not liberty for occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

He said, You've been set free.

And he says, You don't, hey, hey, you don't have to serve anybody, but because of the liberty in Christ in your heart, you want to serve everybody.

That's the interpretation of that verse.

Wow.

Amen.

I don't have to serve my wife, but I should want to serve my wife.

Right?

Amen.

Honey, I didn't say an amen that time.

This is recorded too.

Yeah, I just thought about that.

Number seven.

Practice what you preach, preacher.

All right.

I understand.

Number seven, self-gratification versus self-control.

A person without Christ is constantly seeking things or thrills to fulfill the emptiness inside.

Why do you think people use drugs?

Why do you think people get high?

Why do you think people use alcohol?

Why do you think people do that?

There's an emptiness, folks.

You don't need a sedative when you got Jesus.

Amen.

And let me tell you something I've learned.

If you are spirit-filled, walking with God, serving him, giving him everything you got, you are as euphoric as you can be.

There's not any greater feeling, there's not any greater contentment, there's not any greater joy, I meant unspeakable than when you're serving God wholeheartedly in the middle of his will, doing what God's called you to do.

Amen.

Nothing to compare with it.

Nothing.

You can't describe it.

It's that good.

The need to be satisfied is enormous.

Success requires we be successful, though, in the right areas.

Ready for this?

We're to be successful in faith, character, wisdom, self-control, patience, gentleness, godliness, integrity, and love.

Having these traits is what true success is all about and what is really important and matters.

Woodrow Wilson put it this way: I would rather fail in a cause I know someday will triumph than to win in a cause I know someday will fail.

Wow.

Powerful statement.

Powerful statement.

By the way, Psalms 107, verse 9 says, He satisfies the longing soul, he fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalms 107:9

And let me tell you something.

We're living in a country in crisis, and the reason we're living in a country that's in crisis, there is no integrity.

There is no moral integrity in our government.

Hey, even in our churches, and it all trickles down.

Lacking integrity will destroy the prospects of any success in your life.

Listen to me.

You can't be successful and be a cheat.

You can't be successful and be a liar.

I found this illustration.

A Fortune 500 company was going to implement a rare decision of promoting a 38-year-old young man who was vice president of the company to president.

They had never done it.

It'd always been older men with more experience.

This man was an impressive businessman who wooed in all the board of directors.

Upon completing the final interview, they broke for lunch, and this young man went to a cafeteria around the corner of the building, a nice cafeteria where a lot of the board members and everybody ate.

So he went by himself and he was in line, not knowing that three or four of the main board members was behind him in line.

Three or four people behind.

And so as he's going through the line, he's picking up his cafeteria, he's picking up his plates in the cafeteria line with his with his uh tray.

And he gets to uh the bread.

He puts bread on his plate, puts it on his tray, then he reaches over to three cent pieces of butter to go on the bread.

And he gets two pieces of butter.

Six cents.

Two.

Puts it on his tray, grabs the two napkins, and puts over the butter.

Goes through the line, pays for his meal, goes and eats.

Comes back knowing that he's fixing to be the youngest president of this Fortune 500 company.

In the meeting, the president of the board of directors gets up and says, calls him by name, says, Not only are we not gonna promote you to the president, we are firing you.

Because of six cents.

Two little pieces of butter.

The president of the board of directors says if he'll steal six cents, he'll steal six hundred thousand.

What character is needed in the world today?

Can I get an Amen?

What character?

Now let me give you a recent example.

Now that was the one I read, but now let me tell you one that I was we we love to go to go to movies, a good movie.

Susan loves a movie.

I go because she loves it.

I really do.

I'm I could just care less, really.

I mean, I like a movie, but I just then go go car show.

But surprise, surprise, surprise.

I know, I know, I know, I know.

All right.

But I heard these young people the other day, we were in a movie.

We'd come out, and or no, I know what it was.

I'd gone into the restroom and I heard these teenagers saying, Whew, we we paid, we got in and now we can go see two or three free movies.

They paid to get in one, but they had planned to watch two or three.

Now I hope none of you have ever done that.

Or if you have, hello.

Susan I did that one time, because there's another movie I wanted to see, and it was started right already started.

We ran in, we watched the whole movie, but guess what?

When I walked out, I went and paid for the movie.

And the guy kind of looked at me funny.

I said, I watched another movie here.

Integrity.

And by the way, hey, don't you understand the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good?

Proverbs 15.3.

It means a lot.

A big.

And I gave you, 2 Peter 1.5.8, read it.

Read it.

It talks about, hey, and besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue.

You know what virtue is?

Goodness, moral character, moral excellence.

And to virtue, knowledge.

Hey, and to knowledge, temperance.

That means, hey, self-control, self-resistance, and to temperance, patience, endurance, fortitude, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Somebody say amen.

Contrast number eight.

Pushing versus patience.

Oh boy.

Mm-mm.

No matter who gets in the way, the world pushes ahead and stops for no one.

It is impossible to gain a foothold on success by acting like a heel.

It is those hill-like, impatient decisions that lead to blunders.

It really is.

But the patient man exhibits the traits of success because he can control himself and does not let his circumstances control him.

The successful man has learned, hey, he's learned to learn from his mistakes.

Can I get an amen?

He has.

Letting those failures, hey, he takes the failures and turns them into victory instead of allowing the failures to overwhelm him and causing him to quit.

Listen, famous, I love Winston Churchill.

The greatest graduation speech ever heard was by Winston Churchill.

Got up at Harvard and he got up and he said, I know you do not like a long speech.

You're ready to graduate.

He said, Here is my speech.

Never! Never never quit! Went and sat down.

Greatest speech.

No wonder it's the greatest speech ever.

But it was so powerful.

But Winston Churchill said this about success.

Success is never final.

Whew.

Did you get that?

Success is never final.

Okay?

Never final.

You're always going, you know, new goals.

But failure is never fatal.

Failure is never fatal.

Proverbs 24, 16, the righteous fall seven times, but they get back up again.

Failure is never fatal, and success is never final.

So you keep pressing, you keep marching, you keep running, you keep walking, the life of faith, faithfulness.

It's so important.

Most successful people started out as failures.

Listen to this.

When Benjamin Disraeli, a British statesman, attempted to speak for the first time in Parliament, the members hissed him into silence and laughed when he said, Though I sit down, the time will come when you will hear me.

He became the Prime Minister.

Henry Ford forgot to put a reverse in his first car.

Any of you drive a Ford?

Am I the only one driving a Ford?

Okay.

Would you, do you know who Henry Ford was?

Just a thought.

The editor of the Atlantic Monthly sent a book of poets back to a 20-year, hey, a 28-year-old poet with a very curt note.

Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.

The poet was Robert Frost, went on to be a very famous poet.

A conspicuous lack of success.

The student was Winston Churchill.

I got on my report card.

He talks too much.

Got that all the time.

Always got an elf in conduct for talking too much.

For three years I had my daddy convinced that that stood for fine.

Ready for this one?

This man had less than one year of formal schooling, failed in business twice, ran for public office, and was defeated eight times in a row before he was elected president of the United States.

His name was Abraham Lincoln.

Wow.

When J.

C.

Penney was asked, remember J.

C.

Penney's?

Susan's dad worked for J.

C.

Penny's for 25 years.

In one sentence, with a few words, it's possible.

Tell me the secret of your success in life as a businessman and as a Christian.

Without hesitation, J.

C.

Penney said, here's the answer in four words: Adversity and Jesus Christ.

Wow.

Adversity and Jesus Christ.

The successful man does not let adversity defeat him.

Amen?

Thomas Edison said, Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Wow.

Wow.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15, 58.

And then the last one and number.

Number nine, leading versus following.

Many men have been leaders of many, but unfortunately were not successful because the people they led were led in the wrong direction.

The example they set was the wrong example.

Being famous or popular does not mean you're a success.

Realize also what fame you may have will not last very long.

Out of the will of God, there is no such thing as success.

Let me repeat that.

Out of the will of God, there's no such thing as success.

In the will of God, there can never be any failures.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

Bob Jones Sr., who started Bob Jones University, a great Christian university in South Carolina, said this.

Success is finding the will of God and doing it.

Success is finding the will of God and do it.

Never make a plan without seeking God's guidance.

And never achieve a success without giving Him praise.

Amen?

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

And I close with this.

Ephesians 5, 1.

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children.

Wow.

What truths we've heard today.

What truth about success?

So the key this morning is, do you really want to be successful?

You've got one or two choices.

You can be successful the world's way, or you can be successful the word's way.

It's your choice.

It's my choice.

Which will it be?

Which will it be?

I'm telling you folks, after 34 years of wonderful marriage and serving God together, has it all always been, you know, all good?

No.

If anybody tell you, in fact, somebody said the other day, and and I I really had to catch myself to be not say something that minute.

I had a guy say, my wife and I have been married 40 years.

I said, man, that's awesome.

He said, but let me tell you what's more miraculous.

I said, what?

He said, we've never had a fight.

Now either he's lying.

Or he's not living in the same house.

Hello?

But then he paused and he said, But preacher, my wife and I have had many discussions that you could hear a couple of blocks.

Now that made sense, amen.

That made sense.

But let me ask you today.

Don't give up.

Don't give up on your marriage.

Don't give up on your job.

Don't give up on your family.

Don't give up on that prodigal.

We've all had them.

Whether they were our children, our grandchildren, our nephews, our nieces, we've all had them.

Don't give up.

Don't give up.

We got a chance.

You don't know how close you are to success.

Don't give up.

Anybody can quit.

Let me tell you, it's easy to quit.

But when you've done all you can do, stand, and when you've done all you can do by standing, stand.

We heard that from Randy Spencer last Sunday, right here.

Right here.

Powerful message.

Taking the authority of the power of God.

Amen.

Folks, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

Hey, hey, we win.

I've led, hey, I've read the last chapter, we win.

So let's start acting like winners and not losers.

Can I get an amen?

Can we give Jesus a clap offer this morning?

We're winners! We're winners.

We're not losers.

We're not losers.

Amen.

When I was at liberty all those years as Dean of the Seminary, one thing I can tell you about one of my main mentors, Dr.

Jerry Falwell, that I had 14 years of traveling all the world with him, preaching with him, learning from him.

I never heard him, not one time.

I'm telling you, not one time did I ever hear him be negative or down.

And I finally asked him, I said, Doc, how do you do it?

I need help.

He said, I said, do you not ever get discouraged?

I mean, you would, hey, listen, everything, the numbers are down in church, I mean, everything.

I hey, everybody's the news or the closing the doors at liberty.

He'll get in the pulpit and he'd preach like we had a million people out there and nothing's, hey, everything's okay.

It's not that if we don't make payroll this time, we don't get paid.

I mean, all kinds, you never hear it.

And I finally said, How do you do it, Doc?

He said, Because nothing's impossible with God.

Yes, I get discouraged.

Yes, but when I do, I go into my prayer closet, I go into my war room, and I get out on my knees, and I catch all my cares upon him because he cares for me, 1 Peter 5 7.

And I know that when I walk out of that room, when I walk out of that room, I know if God be for me, who can be against me?

Amen.

So that's what you do.

Let me remind you.

You know what I remind God every once in a while, and I hadn't had to do this a long time, but uh every once in a while I'd have to remind him.

I didn't ask for this job.

You call me.

You call me.

Now I need your help.

I need you to come through.

I need you.

Every time.

And sometimes I didn't understand it.

But he came through.

May not have been my way, but I it was his way, but I learned later his way was a lot better than mine.

So, what about you this morning, church?

Are you in God's perfect will?

Are you doing what God's called you to do?

That's the key.

That's success.

So if you're not, I'm gonna ask you to quit being, hey, hey, quit being discouraged, quit being dishearted, quit being defeated, and just start doing what God's told you to do.

And that failure can turn real quick to success.

Just that quick.

By saying a prayer and changing your attitude and changing your actions.

Can I get an Amen?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.