Discover TRUE SUCCESS

Life

Life can be strange and hard to figure out.

I’d like to share this list of “Strange Facts” and here are some strange facts to consider:

· A duck quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why. (Well they do, but it’s so quiet we don’t hear it)

· Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating services are argumentative.

· Only 1 person in 2 billion will live to be 116 years or older.

· It’s possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

· A snail can sleep for three years.

· No word in the English language rhymes with ‘month.’

· The average lifespan of a major league baseball – 7 pitches.

· All polar bears are left-handed.

· Americans on average eat about 18 acres of pizza every day.

· It’s physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.

· Before this day is over, anyone who hears that it’s physically impossible to lick your elbow will try to lick their elbow.

If you don’t learn how to define success you might spend much of your life trying to lick your elbow.

Ecclesiastes 1:16–2:3 (CSB)

16 I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” 17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

18 For with much wisdom is much sorrow;

as knowledge increases, grief increases.

1 I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile. 2 I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” 3 I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to grasp folly, until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

Luke 12:15 CSB

15 He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.”

1 Am I defining the SUCCESSFUL LIFE BY THE CREATOR or CULTURE?

a God put Family first.

Genesis 1:27–28 CSB

27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

b. Do I Prioritize the important things?

you can earn more money.

You can get more degrees.

You cannot purchase more time.

Make sure the important things go in first!

“You CAN have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.”

Oprah Winfrey

Today, on Valentines Day you can find yourself put under a lot of social and commercial pressure to make a public display of being in the perfect romantic relationship.

“You CAN have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.” — Oprah Winfrey

Oprah is the epitome of her own quote, coming from a childhood of poverty and abuse to become one of the most powerful, wealthiest and influential women in the world, whilst constantly publicly battling her own weight issues. She is often praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others and several assessments regard her as the most influential woman in the world. By 2008, her yearly income had increased to $275 million. Forbes’ international rich list has listed Oprah as the world’s only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history. As of 2014 Oprah has a net worth in excess of 2.9 billion dollars and has overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.

“You CAN have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.”

Recognize that Good things can get in the way of the right things.

Learn to say NO to the good so you can focus on the GREAT.

Do you feel pressure to say yes and then feel conflicted?

Two areas the Lord may be calling you to say “NO”:

Two areas the Lord wants you to say yes.

Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon.

Well, my son turned ten just the other day He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on, let's play" "Could you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today" "I got a lot to do." He said, "That's okay" And he walked away And he smiled and he said "You know, I'm gonna be like him, yeah" "You know I'm gonna be like him" [Chorus] And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man on the moon "When you comin' home?", "Son, I don't know when" "We'll get together then" "You know we'll have a good time then" [Verse 3] Well, he came from college just the other day So much like a man, I just had to say "I'm proud of you, could you sit for a while?" He shook his head, and he said with a smile "What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys" "See you later. Can I have them, please?" [Chorus] And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man on the moon "When you comin' home?", "Son, I don't know when" "We'll get together then" "You know we'll have a good time then"

2. Do I simply attend or have I joined in a Community that grows me and encourages me in life’s journey.

Psalm 1:1–3 CSB

1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Personally

Publicly

Professionally

You need a people to love and serve with.

Write down the name of someone who has positively impacted you:

Lets take a moment and thank God for them.

At times we need a mentor. At times we need to mentor others.

2 Timothy 2:2 CSB

2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

At one point in your life, you need someone to pour into you.

But, once you’ve been poured into, you are called to pour out to others. Let’s say you were getting discipled by someone and you had weekly lessons, how far ahead do you need to be to take someone else on that journey. 1 week ahead.

We all need to learn. But we all need to mentor someone else to continue to grow and add value to our lives and others.

So the question is—am I helping other people grow?

Where have you been encouraged? Where do you need encouragement?

Where are you serving others or where can you best serve others?

there are givers and takers. The world always asks whats in it for me. The Lord asks who can I serve.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

What action or attitude do you need to pass on to someone you are inIt has been said you are the sum of the five people closest to you. Why? Well we are not God and we are finite. We have only so much energy time, mental and emotional capacity

We adopt the values and habits of those we hang with

Give me the music of the people and I will tell you.

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (CSB)

13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

3. Ask, Am I Investing in Eternity.

Matthew 13:45–46 CSB

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

Matthew 6:33 CSB

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Or you can do that by just deciding to live out your Christian principles, in the workplace, as talked about last week, and living with integrity. Recently, I have been reading an autobiography by Truett Cathey. Do you know Truett Cathey? He’s the man who invented Chik-Fil-A. Anybody ever had a Chik-Fil-A sandwich?

He didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich, you know that commercial they have on that. But they are closed on Sunday. Ever thought about that? Truett Cathey decided to close his business on Sunday,

even though Sundays are one of the largest shopping days and he risked a lot of money. So in his biography, he talks about that. He says—so why do we close on Sunday?

Here’s why he does that. He said—well, it started back in 1946 when I owned by first restaurant, a 24-hour coffee shop in Atlanta. After the first week, I determined that if it took 7 days a week to make a living, I needed to be in another business.

Two, it was my conscience that I had to live with. I just never could come to the idea of dealing with money on the Lord’s day. I became a Christian at age 12. That’s not to say that everything I have done since that time is becoming to a Christian. But I believe that the Lord has blessed us because we recognized Him on this special day called Sunday.

I don’t condemn a person for being open on Sunday, it’s just a principle for me, that I stand on for my business. Get this, this is where it comes into play. We find closing on Sunday attracts those people who give attention to spiritual growth and are family oriented.

The fact that we have Sunday closing helps us attract quality workers as employees.

Isn't that interesting.

The spiritual decision that he made actually made him a better company. He is able to attract better people because he made this spiritual decision to put other people’s growth ahead of his business growth. You see, everything in our society says that if you want to grow, it’s “me first”, and it’s “step on everyone you can”, “pay attention to what you want”.

But God says, if you want to be really blessed, it’s about putting the King and the Kingdom first. Then it’s about putting others first. It’s about serving others and providing an atmosphere where they can grow spiritually. And if you will live out those principles in your life, you are on the road to success.

And Chik-Fil-A is just one of many businesses that follows this path. You see, it’s good to serve others in way that you can but the best kind of service, that service that helps people grow and become closer to God. This was the driving desire of the Apostle Paul’s life. The Apostle Paul said—my goal is to help people grow spiritually because he understood that spiritual growth was an investment in eternity. Look at how he says it in Romans 1:11. At the beginning of one of his epistles to the church at Rome, he said, “I long to visit you in Rome so I can share a spiritual blessing with you that will help you grow strong in the Lord.” Would you underline that phrase—grow strong in the Lord. This is one of Paul’s measurements of success. He said that by helping others grow strong in the Lord. Let me ask you this—how much of your life are you investing in the growth of other people? How much time in your calendar, in your Day Timer have you set aside to invest in the growth of other people? You may say, rightfully—I’m a new Christian.

Life has now been explained to you.

Next steps:

Commit my life to God and ask Him to use me on Monday.

Let a mentor know how they impacted me.

Prioritize my ministry commitments.

Otherwise you might end up working at licking your elbow all you life.