FUMA1

FUMA 1- Making a difference   Jude 22

  Do you want to make a difference in life? Do you want to be just like everybody else? Hardrider- want to be more than that

No generation has ever faced the terrific future that you do. You have greater opportunities from learning, greater tools for doing things and a greater motivation for doing something constructive. But, as the motto of a large Insurance company reads- “The future belongs to those who prepare for it”.

  The real tragedy is that many today are sacrificing their future for a few minutes of sun now. Take the case of Esau in Gen. 25. Esau was the first son and as a result he was given the birthright. Birthright included many things. In a hastily spent moment he sold his birthright and it affected his whole family.

  Success isn’t automatic in this world. God is preparing you right now for later and the decisions you make now effect what you doing later.  Matt. 25:14-30. According to Jesus a successful person is one who makes every use of every God given talent. Talents in this story are bars of Gold or silver worth much money.  Talents represent opportunities to use our God given abilities. If we use our abilities and opportunities for His glory- then God says we are successful. How does the world base it definition of success- quite a difference from the world

I.                    Principals of Success

A.      We start as Servants before God makes us rulers

1.       God always starts a man at the bottom of the ladder. Remember Joseph started as a servant is Potiphar’s house. Later he became ruler over Egypt.

2.       Moses started out as a Shepherd and spent 40 years in the desert before God made him a leader of Israel.

3.       David was tending his father’s flock when told to go check on them. What if David has wanted, as many teens do today, to do as his brothers were during.

1.       Luke 16:10-

2.       David wasn’t above doing the chores at home, obeying his father and getting no seeming rewards for it.

3.       David learned never to resist the authorities in his life. That morning he took the sheep out to pasture, when told to go check on his brothers he left the sheep with someone so they wouldn’t get scattered. David learned how to serve others. Most of the frustrated adults today never learned to serve others.

B.      We start with a few things before God gives us many.

1.       God’s policy is can I trust you with this. Are you faithful with what he has already given to you? David started out with just a few sheep and later God gave him an entire nation.

a.       Charles Spurgeon- saved at 15, started passing out tracts immediately. At age 16, had his own Sunday School class, at 17, he was pasturing a small church with 40 members. At age 20, he was invited to pastor a large church in London England. The church has 200 members. Later he was preaching to the largest crowds in London.

2.       The way you handle school assignments today can affect your college career tomorrow.

C.      All of life isn’t fun-

1.       These men that we have talked about all suffered hard times in their lives.

II.                  A  look at Failure (Luke 15:11-24)

A.      Sometimes we learn more from failure than we do from success. If David is an illustration for success then the prodigal is an illustration of failure. The real difference is

Philosophy.

1.       The prodigal started out with much and ended up with nothing. Like many he wanted to get all he could and just play. He was only interested in Father give me. a.He knew much about prices but little about value. Success isn’t measured in dollar signs.

b.The things money can buy are worthless without the things money can’t buy.

                             2.    The prodigal started out as a ruler and ended up as a servant. What a faithful gang of friends he had until his money ran out.

                                    a. Disobedience to God’s principals always leads to failure and sorrow. You think you know a shortcut to success that shortcut always turns out to be the most expensive.

                            3.     The prodigal started with joy and ended with sorrow. When a person lives on substitutes and the substitutes run out the nothing is left but pain and sorrow.  

B.      Are you going to be a conformer or a transformer (Dan. 1:1-8)

A.      The first decision Daniel had to make was weather he was going to be a transformer or a conformer. Would he be willing to stand alone if need be? A conformer is a person whose life is controlled by pressures from without and a transformer is a person whose life is controlled by power from within.

1.       This was an excellent time for Daniel just to go along with the crowd. None of his family was near. He could really do as he pleased.

B.      Daniel chose that he wasn’t going to be conformed he was going to be transformed.

1.       Dan. 1:18-20

2.       Dan. 6:4,5,10,16,18,22,25,28-

There is a simple secret of being a transformer instead of conformer is the surrender of body, mind and will to God. Because Daniel fixed his heart on God, God honored this and made him a success. Where is your mind fixed today?