Successful People Will Fail || State Road Church Of The Nazarene

1968 Olympics was a guy by the name of John Stephen

Akwari who was a Tanzanian runner and he was

signed up to run in the Olympic marathon and

maybe you know this story maybe you don't so

he shows up and early on in the marathon Akwari

fell severely injuring his leg and he had every

reason to quit, but Aquari didn't quit. So hours

after the race had ended, I mean literally hours

after the race had ended, long after the medals

had been awarded, the stadium had completely

emptied out. Aquari limped his way across the

finish line to the stunned applause of the few

remaining spectators who were still there. When

he was asked why he kept going, he simply said

this, my country did not send me 5 ,000 miles

to start a race. They sent me 5 ,000 miles to

finish the race. It may look heroic, it may sound

inspiring, but for most of us, success doesn't

feel much like a finish line. It feels more like

a treadmill. It's loud, relentless, and exhausting.

The world rewards results. but God rewards faithfulness.

Almost won't finish the race. So the problem

that we have is that we live in a world that's

obsessed with starting fast, finishing first,

and looking good while we do it. Everyone said,

amen, you already know that. That's not news

to anybody, but that's the world that we live

in. And we've been taught that success means

having more, doing better, being seen. staying

ahead and if you're not at the very top of whatever

it is that you're talking about then we start

to ask are we even winning at all from the time

that we were kids we were ranked scored and compared

things like grades followers stats awards likes

achievements and we begin to measure ourselves

and everyone around us by a standard that's very

loud flashy and external but what happens when

you're faithful but overlooked. What happens

when you try hard, but you still fall short?

What happens when you don't have the resume,

the recognition, or the results? We begin to

ask, am I failing? Am I behind? Is there something

wrong with me? Is my life even making a difference

whatsoever? Quietly, success turns from something

that we pursue into something that weighs us

down. enter a little man, a wee little man, in

fact, by the name of Zacchaeus. If you want to

follow along, you can. His story is found in

Luke chapter 19. It's the first 10 verses, Luke

Luke 19 · chapter mention Luke 19:1–10

chapter 19, verses 1 through 10. And here in

Luke chapter 19, we're introduced to this wee

Luke 19 · chapter mention

little man. A wee little man was he by the name

of Zacchaeus. And that passage tells us a few

things about Zacchaeus. It tells us that he's

rich and powerful. And so far you say, okay,

I get it, this is why we're talking about somebody

who is successful, right? He's a great picture

of success because he's rich and powerful and

the Bible tells us that he was hated. Well, there

goes the picture of success, at least in our

culture, but here's the clincher. Verse nine

tells us that he wanted to see Jesus. So he climbs

up a sycamore tree. You guys know this song,

right? Zacchaeus was a wee little man. A wee

little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore

tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the

Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree

and he said, Zacchaeus, you come down. I'm going

to your house today. Yes, I'm going to your house

today. I think that Jesus must have missed the

memo. Like in our house growing up, we told our

children all the time, you are not allowed to

invite yourself to anybody else's house. You

just don't do that. It's unacceptable. It's uncouth.

But Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house.

So he climbs the sycamore tree. He's rising above

the noise and the obstacles. And you know what

happened. Jesus stopped. He called him by name.

He invited himself in and begins a conversation

that would change Zacchaeus' life forever. One

decision, seeking Jesus, led to transformation

and success, at least in God's eyes. The world

didn't see him any differently for climbing that

tree. In fact, all it did was confirm their mockery,

but Jesus saw him, and that changed everything.

So what about us? Let's be completely honest.

Most of us are not climbing trees. I doubt any

of you have on your schedule for today. You know

what? I'm gonna find the tallest sycamore tree

that I can find and I'm gonna climb it. I doubt

that's on your plans for the day. So if we're

not climbing trees, what we are is stuck in the

crowd. So let's talk a little bit about how we

settle for less. We settle for less Having excuses

just like Moses did you like you know his excuse,

right? So God shows up and says hey Moses I'm

gonna use you to lead my people out of captivity

and he's like, but I don't I'm not a good speaker

He has all these excuses and we settle for less

by having excuses like Moses and we fear fear

failure Just like Peter did and we want the results

without the climb We surround ourselves with

people who drain our faith. We stop it almost

almost obedient almost surrendered, almost faithful,

but almost won't finish the race. Proverbs 14

23. If you're looking for a verse that you're

like, okay, this is my verse for the week, I

would suggest this would be a good one. Proverbs

14 23. In toil there is profit, but mere talk

tends only to poverty. Look at your neighbor

and say that's good. That's good. In all toil,

there's profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

Said another way, if you looked it up in the

Phil's paraphrased version of the Bible, the

Phil's paraphrase, not a translation at all,

but a paraphrase, if you looked it up in the

Phil's paraphrase, it says this, if you put in

the work, I mean if you commit to the climb,

it's gonna pay off. It may not be today. You

might have to wait for tomorrow, but sooner or

later your hard work, your toil, your tenacity

always pays off. But in the end, your talk will

do nothing. You might recognize a guy by the

name of Frank Sinatra. Before Frank Sinatra was

a household name, Frank Sinatra, believe it or

not, there was a season that he was just another

singer like every other person, every other singer

on the planet and he was fighting for attention.

One night he finds himself in a noisy nightclub

and people are talking over top of the music

and they're doing their thing and Frank Sinatra

is desperate to be heard. So that night in this

noisy nightclub he jumps up on the table and

begins to sing at the top of his lungs. The crowd

fell silent, not because of his voice, but because

of his courage. That audacious act helped launch

one of the most legendary music careers of all

time. So following that night, news began to

spread about this crazy guy who gets up on top

of the table and sings at the top of his lungs

and it went from being a noisy nightclub to Sinatra

singing in front of a packed house every night.

and people would come and they weren't talking

over top of him anymore. Within a few months

Sinatra would be offered a chance to join Tommy

Dorsey's orchestra which gave him national exposure.

Later Sinatra was talking about that moment where

he made the choice to jump up on the table and

he said this, he said success is the best revenge.

So here he is trying to make a name for himself.

He's just trying to be heard over the noise,

and he says, you know what? I'll do to get people's

attention. I'll jump up on top of the table and

start singing. Success is the best revenge. So

success must be deserved. Success takes risks.

Success requires effort. And success always has

this element of a refusal to quit. Sinatra climbed

on the table for applause. Zacchaeus climbed

the tree for transformation. One drew a crowd.

One drew Christ. And that's really the difference.

Here's the truth that we've been missing. What

if we've been chasing the wrong definition of

success? What if real success doesn't make headlines,

but it makes heaven smile? God doesn't measure

your life by speed or status. Here's how he measures

your life. In case you're wondering, God measures

our life by faithfulness. Scripture does not

say, well done, good, and famous servant. It

doesn't say that. It does not say well done,

good, and first place servant. But what it does

say is well done, good, and faithful servant.

Galatians 6, 9 says this, let us not grow weary

in doing good for at the proper time we'll reap

a harvest if we do not give up. The world rewards

results. God rewards faithfulness. Almost won't

finish the race. My first couple of marathons

and half marathons, I'm ashamed to admit this,

but it really is true. And a few of you have

run with me so you know that I'm telling the

absolute gospel truth. So like Danita would ask

me, she's like, are you prepared for this? I

think, I don't know, but anyways, so I really

had two goals in my first several marathons and

half marathons. Here they were. Number one is

I wanted to finish. I did not want to, it's not

cheap to run a marathon. I don't know if you

realize that, but it's not cheap. I'm not even

talking about just the event itself. Those aren't

cheap. You're talking probably at least $100,

maybe $200 for the event itself. And then you

have to... pay for all the stuff that goes along

with it. So you've got a big investment in it.

And I did not want to be the guy that's got $500

invested in this thing. I don't even finish.

So I wanted to finish and my only other goal

was to not die. I'm telling you the truth. So

and then I like I did a little bit of time. Kevin

and I did these together. We did some triathlons

to the Y and it was a blast. I had a great time

doing it. But I'm thinking at that point, I could

easily get up, I could put my shoes on, and I

could go run 10 miles at any point. Not a big

deal. So I'm like, I can do that. And I could

get on my bike, and I could ride for 50 miles.

And I'm like, that's not a big deal. And I'm

like, how hard can it be to swim? That's a stupid

question. So I'm like, I can do this, right?

So I went for my first day of swimming. I swim

one lap, and I'm like, I'm going to die. That's

all there is to it. So I would joke with lifeguards.

I would say, every time I would see them, I'd

come in and work on swimming. I'd be like, I'm

here for drowning practice. So when I'm doing

the triathlon, I had two goals. I wanted to finish

and not die. That's the only thing that I cared

about. I did not ever picture myself winning

the race. The reality is, not only did I not

win the race, I got beat by girls. Every time

that I competed, I got beat by girls. And sometimes

there are times that you're like, OK, of course

she's going to win. Like the triathlon, the lady

who won the entire thing, she was probably, I

don't know, 22, 23 years old, something like

that. She was a college swimmer. She's going

to beat me. That's all there is to it. So I mean,

look at me. I'm not going to beat her. It's just

all there is to it. I never pictured myself winning.

I just wanted to finish, and I didn't want to

die. And since our world defines success very

differently than God does, I think it would behoove

us to consider what does success look like in

his eyes. If that's the only one that really

matters, and that's the standard that we need

to meet, what does success look like in his eyes?

And here's the first one that you probably did

not think would make the list, but it does, and

we need to talk about this. So in God's eyes,

successful people will fail. Did you know that

Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections before becoming

one of the greatest leaders in U .S. history?

So by the world's standards, he failed eight

times. Proverbs 24, 16 says this, for the righteous

falls seven times and rises again. Well, Abraham

Lincoln, it took him eight. But anyways, so the

righteous, Proverbs says, they're going to fall

down seven times, but here's the thing that keeps

them righteous, is that they get back up, they

rise again, even after they fail. Successful

people will fail. Matthew 14, 29, great passage.

I'm going to give you a couple of verses, probably

three of them. Matthew 14, it is 29 through 31.

He said, come, it's Jesus. Walking on the water

Peter's in the boat So there's this exchange

that happens between them and Jesus is speaking

He says to Peter come so Peter got out of the

boat He walked on the water and he came to Jesus

and when he saw the wind he was afraid and began

to sink and he cried out Lord Save me Jesus immediately

reached out his hand took hold of him saying

oh you of little faith. Why did you doubt? So

Peter walked on the water until he looked away

and in that moment of looking away he failed

And Jesus questioned him about his doubt. The

word that's used there is destazo. Everyone say

destazo. Destazo. It's where we get words like

distracted. And here's what the word means. So

when he starts to sink, Jesus saved me, he reaches

out and grabs a hold of him. He says, oh you

of little faith, why did you doubt destazo? The

word that he used there is not It's not really

about doubt. What the word literally translated

means is, why are you double -minded? It's where

we get the word distracted. So Peter didn't sink

because the wind was stronger. He sank because

his focus shifted. Doubt isn't always about disbelief.

Sometimes it's about being divided. It's about

having divided belief. So Peter failed, but he

didn't stay down He became the rock of the early

church success in the kingdom of God does not

mean that you will not fall flat on your face

But what it does mean is that you refuse to allow

that to be the final word you get back up on

your feet and you keep moving forward So if you

want to be successful in the eyes of God today,

I'm just gonna tell you right now you're going

to fall down You're gonna fall on your face Just

refuse to allow that to be the final word. Okay,

you fell down. Get back up. Get on your feet,

keep moving forward. That's the way that God

defines success. Proverbs 13, 18, whoever heeds

correction is honored. I think that's part of

what was going on with Peter. If you heed correction,

you're honored. So you're gonna fall down. And

it's possible that when you fall down, someone's

gonna give you some correction. Heed their correction.

Get on your feet. Keep moving forward. You're

all familiar with the Navy SEALs. So in the part

of the Navy SEAL training, which all of the special

ops community, all of their schools, you can

watch all of this. It's all available online.

You can watch it on YouTube or whatever platform

you're on. You can watch their training stuff,

and they're all intense. So it doesn't really

matter who you want to talk about. Every last

school is incredibly intense, and there is not

an exception to that, but specifically the Navy

SEALs. They have this thing called Hell Week,

and actually most of the special ops community,

they all have something like that. But the SEALs,

they endure freezing ocean swims, zero sleep,

brutal physical demands, and yet we understand

that many of them quit. But here's the secret

with... Not only the Navy SEALs, but really all

of those special ops community, but we're talking

about the SEALs. The SEALs never go alone. They

use this thing called the buddy system. And you're

probably familiar with this. So when your body

gives out and your mind says, you can't do this,

you have a buddy there, and your buddy says,

yes you can, we didn't come this far to quit.

Those who isolate drowned. Not just in the water,

but in their doubt. Jesus understood this well

when he was going to heal Jairus' daughter. He

clears the room out of all the doubters and surrounded

himself with only the faithful people. In this

case, you can read about it in Mark chapter 5,

Mark 5 · chapter mention

it's Peter, James, and John. Everyone else gets

kicked out and Peter, James, and John, they're

still there and Jesus then heals his daughter.

So Jesus is perfect theology, right? If you agree

with that, go like this. What does that mean?

If you can find it in the life of Jesus, It's

allowed to be in our life. It's acceptable. That

should be the standard that we use. If it's in

Jesus' life, it should be in my life, right?

If it's not in Jesus' life, it shouldn't be a

part of my life. He's perfect theology. So Jesus

is modeling something here in Mark chapter five,

and here's what it is. So like when we read Mark

chapter five, this is what we should take as

the takeaway. We should say, I should do this

because Jesus is perfect theology. Jesus... dismiss

the doubters and fill the room with faith. You

want to know what you should do this week? You

should dismiss the doubters and fill the room

with faith. Especially if you're in a difficult

spot, get rid of the doubters. Don't hang around

with them anymore. Send them packing. Fill the

room with faith. He didn't just heal Jairus's

daughter He protected the environment of faith.

A couple scripture verses for you to think about.

First Corinthians 15 33 says, bad company corrupts

good character. So here's what's going to happen.

You're either going to make the choice to dismiss

the doubters or you're going to be right there

with them. Galatians 6 2, carry each other's

burdens. Hebrews 3 13, encourage one another

daily. Bottom line is this, we need to surround

ourselves with people who pray when we're too

tired, who believe when we're tempted to doubt,

and who will not allow us to ring the bell and

tap out. People who, when we're tired and we

want to quit, will say, listen, you didn't come

this far to quit. We need a buddy like that.

Winston Churchill, which is the name that we

all probably recognize, was a super important

part of World War II, was almost forgotten, almost

finished, but he wasn't. Why? And the answer

to that is because he had a buddy. And there

were several of them that you could point to,

but the one who probably stands above the rest

was his wife, Clementine. Clementine was the

one who would encourage him not to quit. After

a particularly tense stretch in leadership, she

wrote this to Winston Churchill. You are not

as kind as you used to be. I see the strain wearing

you down. Rest, recharge, and return. Britain

needs your courage." And when the world needed

courage, Winston Churchill stood up. In a famous

wartime speech he wrote, it's probably one of

his most well -known wartime speeches, and I

don't know what it is about really that entire

era and really before that. It's like, I'll listen

to presidential addresses, Eisenhower, Like that

era and back, I'll listen to them. I'm like,

man, this is just so brilliant. And just the

way that they communicated was just amazing.

So this is Winston Churchill, great communicator.

And this was the speech, never give in, never

give in, never, never, never, never in nothing,

great or small, never give in. He didn't settle

for almost. He finished strong. So what about

us? How are you going to finish? Galatians 5

-7 says this. It's a great verse. Paul's talking

to the church in Galatia and he says this, you

were running a good race. Who cut in on you?

Second Timothy, I fought the good fight. I finished

the race. I've kept the faith. Here's the point

in all of that you haven't missed your moment

God doesn't reward the fastest starter But it

rewards the faithful finisher the world rewards

results God rewards faithfulness almost Won't

finish the race So here's the good news Here's

the grace in all of it if you if you will God

defines success differently We already know that

He defines success not about being noticed, but

by being known by God. He defines success not

by climbing over people, but climbing toward

Jesus. You've heard me say this before, but it's

true. Your desire to please Him pleases Him.

God doesn't just reward the result. He rewards

your reach. He rewards the effort that you put

into the climb. He defined success not by perfection,

but by faithful pursuit. Just this week, Joel

and I were having a conversation, actually, while

we were painting this wall. Didn't that wall

look amazing? Like, when you came in, how many

of you noticed, like, man, that looks different?

How many of you have no idea what I'm talking

about? God bless you, that's awesome. So look

around, something's different than it was just

a week ago, but something's different. So Joel

and I were working on that wall, and while we

were doing that, we were having this conversation.

I'll probably owe him 20 bucks for this. I probably

owe 20 bucks for this. So we're having this conversation,

and the conversation went like this. So God described

David as a man after his own heart, right? If

you're with me so far, go like this. That's what

God said about David. Doesn't matter what anybody

else thinks about David, that's what God said

about David. And there's an important thing for

us to consider. That's a good takeaway for somebody.

So if we were going to talk about keys to success,

one of the best things you could probably do

is just say, forget what anybody else thinks

about you. Who cares what they think about you?

I mean, seriously, why do you care what they

think? It should really only matter what God

thinks. So God looks at David and says, David's

a man after my own heart. And so Joel and I are

kind of fleshing that out together. He's like,

you know, so David wasn't perfect. And that's

good theology so far, right? I mean, David made

some huge blunders. And we're still talking about

him 2 ,500 years later. We're talking about the

blunders that he made. So I mean, they're pretty

big. They're cosmic proportion. So he wasn't

perfect. Well, then why in the world would God

say, here's David, a man after my own heart,

if he's not perfect? Because God doesn't reward

perfection. He rewards pursuit. David was relentless

in his pursuit of God and wanting to get back

up on his feet and keep moving forward. Did David

fall on his face? You know that he did. But he

didn't allow that to be the final word. He got

back up on his feet and kept moving forward.

So how do we do that? Like Zacchaeus, here's

how we do that. Like Zacchaeus, we climb. Like

Moses, We let God speak through your weaknesses.

And like Peter, we step out even when it feels

risky. You guys want an incredible verse? I mean,

the verse by itself is incredible, but when you

understand what it says in the original language,

like, man, that's just absolutely phenomenal.

So Proverbs 12, 11, it's a phenomenal verse,

even if you read it just in English. So if you

read it in English, it says this, whoever works

his land will have plenty of bread. It's a good

verse, right? I mean if you work your land you'll

have plenty of bread. How many are like that's

a good verse? So in the Hebrew language because

obviously Proverbs was written in Hebrew So if

you read that same verse in Hebrew, it sounds

a little bit different So it says whoever works

his land that parts the same Whether you're talking

Hebrew or English whoever works his land will

have that that parts all the same But here's

where it changes in English. It says plenty of

bread But it does not say anything about bread

in Hebrew. In Hebrew, what it says is saba lekem.

Anyone who works his land will have saba lekem.

And I can tell you're blessed. You're like, that's

incredible. So if I work the land, I'll have

saba lekem. Woo! That and two dollars will get

me a cup of coffee at McDonald's, right? If you

work... If you're faithful to work the land,

whoever works land will have sabaleca. So here's

what sabaleca means in Hebrew. Whoever works

the land will have sabaleca, deep satisfaction.

Is plenty of bread probably included in that?

Can you have deep satisfaction if you're hungry?

Probably not. So sure, plenty of bread is included,

but Deep satisfaction, so much more than that,

right? So if we, whoever works the land will

have sabba lecum. They'll have deep satisfaction.

God doesn't offer surface level success. He offers

fullness. That's what awaits everyone who says,

I'm going to climb. I'm gonna reach for Jesus.

I want to see Jesus. I'm not gonna allow the

noise of the crowd or the distractions to keep

it from happening. I'm going to climb. Whatever

it's going to take for me to get to the place

that I see Jesus, that's what's promised to us.

That's what awaits. Saba Lekom. Deep satisfaction.

It's available to whoever will work the land.

Whoever says, you know what, I'm going to climb

today. I'm going to find a sycamore tree if I

have to, but I'm going to get above the noise.

I'm going to get above the distractions. I'm

going to see Jesus. The moment that he sees me

doing that, Saba Lekom. deep satisfaction. So

what do we do with all of this? Six points. You

say, well a good sermon has three points. Whoever

said this was a good sermon? Have you never heard

me preach? Six points. Here they are. Number

one. Like Zacchaeus, take the step that everybody

else wants. Number two, obey. Like Moses, trust

God's voice more than your own fear. Number three,

step out like Peter, even when it feels like

you're going to sink. number four work like the

farmer trusting that toil brings about a harvest

so that our toil remember the first that we talked

about that our toil always pays off when we're

tenacious and we say i'm not going to quit it

always pays off it may not be today you might

have to wait for tomorrow but it always pays

off so be like the farmer that trusts that His

toil brings about a harvest, that when I work

the field, when I do what I need to do, that

it brings about sabba lekkum. That's what the

Bible says. Not just plenty of bread, but it

brings about deep satisfaction. Number five?

One, two, three, four, five. Number five, stick

with your buddy. Let others hold you up. when

you're tempted to quit, you need somebody in

your life who will say to you, you've come too

far to quit. I'm not going to allow you to quit.

If you have to fall on your face, that's fine.

But you're gonna get on your feet and you're

gonna keep moving forward. This is not going

to be the final word. It's not gonna end like

this. And number six, finish. Like Churchill

said. Never, never, never give in. Success isn't

about status, it's about surrender. It's not

about being seen, it's about being shaped. The

world says stand out, God says stay faithful.

The world rewards results, God rewards faithfulness.

Almost won't finish the race. Today, maybe you're

worn out. Maybe you're discouraged. Maybe you're

wondering if you've fallen too far behind to

catch up. Well, I've got news for you. You haven't.

God hasn't called you to be the best. He's called

you to be faithful. You don't have to finish

first, but you do need to finish. And the only

way that we finish strong is with Jesus. So don't

settle for almost. Don't settle for almost faithful.

Don't settle for almost obedient. Don't settle

for almost successful. Finish the race. Climb

the tree. Jump on the table. And keep going.

And trust that God will meet you every step of

the way and trust this promise. that when you

do what you need to do, when you work the field,

when you climb, that what's been promised to

you is Saba Lekom. That he'll bring you deep

satisfaction.