Success
by Kevin Allen
March 23, 2025 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Isaiah 53:2-3, Joshua 1:8, John 1:11, Matthew 8:20, Joshua 1:8, Proverbs 4:7, 1 Corinthians 1:20-21, Jeremiah 10:23, John 3:27, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Hebrews 11:5, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, 2 Chronicles 26, 2 Chronicles 26:5, 2 Chronicles 26:16, James 1:22-25

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--success
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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today I'm going to go to Isaiah 53 to read two verses of scripture and then also Joshua the one and I want to read these verses some in the room May kind of scratch your head as to how they go together but I'll I'll do my best to try to give to you what I feel like the Lord laid on my heart today I want to talk about success success Isaiah 53 is a hard chapter to read in fact is it's rare that I read that chapter that I don't find myself being overwhelmed with emotion Isaiah 53 talks about the Messiah that's to come and it talks about the suffering that he's going to go through and when I realize as I read those words that it's talking about what he did to take my place when I when I think about it through that

lens it is something that's it's just hard for me to comprehend why he loved me so and it reads like this the first or the second and third verse of 5 says for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him I know this is hard because we think about Jesus and we see things that have been done to portray an image or a picture of him and there's always that beautiful image that is there but that's not what the word of God says it says there was nothing physically about him him that we would have been that we would have been attracted to Joshua one excuse me let me finish number three he is

despised and rejected by Men A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him it's hard to think about Jesus being despised Joshua 1 ver8 the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success for just a little bit I want I want to talk about success but not success the way man defines it but success by the way God desires it to be is it okay if I pray one more time God I thank you for the moment we're in right now and for the words that we

just read it's it's your word and your word is Anointed but right now Lord I ask that you would anoint our minds and our hearts to receive it so that we can apply it in our lives that your purpose and your plan for this day would be fulfilled in Us in Jesus name we pray and amen I like to be a part of things that are successful I like when plans come together I like when I know that I'm on a winning team and when I'm not it frustrates me and I'm quite sure that I'm not the only one in this room that probably feels somewhere close to what I just described is anybody like losing no anybody like having losers around you like man where's this preacher going well that's okay sometimes there there are losers there there have been times

in my life when I've been a loser and I dare say that there's been a time in your life when you have been on a losing team or have done something that causes you loss right it's a part of life but when I've been given the choice and an opportunity and you remember being in school and they were picking teams and you knew by the first couple of people that were picked you're like boy if I want to be on that team if we going I get an opportunity like you know you try to look your toughest and you're you're strongest and when they come time picking because you knew which team you want to be on and how many times did that not work out for you or when you're like me you were the last one picked sometimes that's hard

in life we have an enemy the word of God talks about it as an adversary Peter described him as the devil and he walks around seeking whom he may devour because you and I are trying to follow after God when I think about what he does to me there are two methods to what he tries to do two ways that he operates and they're on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to how he works with our emotions have you noticed that sometimes the enemy likes to work in our emotions yeah he does one of those is when the devil will come and convince some of us that we are special when we are Elite we are A Cut Above we are super spiritual and that that basically God should be happy that we're on his side now you may be

saying well that's that's never happened to me I don't know if you really think about it for a minute there there's probably been an opportunity when you have felt about yourself a little bit better than you should have been been a little bit more confident than maybe you should have and the enemy loves to zero in on that and tries to fan that flame so it'll burn bright so that you become develop a mindset that it's not healthy that that's one of his ways so that's on one end of the spectrum is when you're good everything's great you're you have the ability you have the right God should be happy that that you're here and a part of what's going on and it's a dangerous mindset it's an attitude that we have to keep in check but I'm not

going to talk about that end of the spect so much today because I feel like his very favorite ability or his Ploy that the enemy comes in is he loves to pounce on us and accuse us of failure he loves when we seemingly do something wrong to just weigh down on us and let us know look look you messed up you made a mistake you should have known better you're no good you're not a Christian God can't count on you look how you failed time and time again loves to catch those moments when we you know catch our pinky toe in the corner of the coffee table at night when we're trying to go get a glass of water and the way that we react and the thoughts that we have or someone cuts us off in traffic or we're dealing with that coworker

because we all probably have a coworker right that they come around you're like oh here we go sets the day up there's those moments when we behave and act in a way that we knows not best and we catch oursel but yet in those moments the enemy seems to just leap on us and try to continue to pour pressure and weight of how wrong we are the Bible says that he is an accuser of the Brethren and this can be a very difficult thing to process because there's nothing that seems to zap and take away our spiritual energy quite like feeling like you're a failure that you don't have the ability to succeed in life and I've seen people to live for God and come in year after year and be faithful to the house of God and faithful to the Commandments of God

and faithful in their relationship with God but because the devil has convinced them that they don't really have it they end up feeling like they're constantly failing this mindset that seems to settle in there that that there they're just never going to live up to the standard that needs to be held and that's why often times you see people after many years walk away from God God and you talk to them and they will make statements like well I just I don't feel like I can ever ever be good enough I want to go ahead and just just tell you this you're never going to be good enough neither am I it's an impossibility you and I are sinners that the grace of God has given us the opportunity to be saved from the sin that is there

but we're still wrapped in flesh and ladies and gentlemen as long as we're breathing air we're going to fight flesh every day it's a reality it's it's a truth that every day I have the potential to make a huge mistake every day it's there every day sin's sin's crouching at the door just waiting on me to fall again and when that happens man the enemy just comes in like a flood rushes over and just pounces and tries to condemn and keep us controlled by fear of failure am I speaking to anybody today that understands even a little bit about what I'm talking about how that that has kept at times me back from becoming all that I supposed to be because I'm afraid I'm just not good enough I'm not but thanks be to God that he

was good enough and that he is good enough and that and that what he did at Calvary takes care of all my failures and all of my mistakes and all of the times when I didn't do what I was supposed to do that that precious blood is shed at Calvary covers over those sins it doesn't give me a license to live any way I want but when I make a mistake I can have assurance that when I ask for forgiveness that he is faithful and just to cleanse me from all of that unrighteousness how thankful are you for the blood of

Jesus it's success I feel strongly we need to spend some time today establishing what success is and our problem is that most of us here good good people godly people we have succumbed to the temptation of letting the enemy Define what success is because he speaks the loudest by any definition of success that I've ever read that man comes up with anyone that you come up with an answer whether you look in a dictionary you look online by any of those accounts when I look at the life of Jesus Christ I would have to say by those definitions he was a failure think with me logically think with me about his ministry think with me about his life three and A2 years of the most intense personal evangelism that the world has ever seen and at the end of it all he had was 12

and one of those was the devil and 10 of the remaining 11 turned and ran and Tuck tailed at the first sign of adversity do we think that was success by man's definition by looking up what is defined by us success we'd have to look at that at the end they ran away even even Jesus said in John 1:11 he came into his own his own received him not excuse me that was John said that about him Isaiah in the text that I read to you sets up a picture that is there with even a little bit more specific detail that they not only rejected him but it says they despised him he comes to reach for a world that in turns rejects what he's trying to do by human standard of success would you would you say he was a success

you know the end of the story so don't go to the end go to where he was go to the life he lived go to the moment that was there would you would you say it was a success I don't think we would we wouldn't draw that conclusion based off of purely the life that was there we would have to come to the conclusion that he was a failure even Jesus said this is where I was going Matthew 8:20 foxes have holes and birds of the air has Nest but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head at the end of his life the only possessions he had they're gambling for it at the end at the at the foot of the cross he has nothing he has nothing right we know in this world in which we live in

this culture this society that we're in the North American culture that we are we are the sum total of our of our of our stuff that we' have acquired the relationships and the degrees and the Acquisitions that have that's what we look at you know where what kind of house we're in where our kids go to school what kind of car we drive what kind of clothes we wear what name brand we all of these things play into the culture he had nothing what little he had was stripped and taken away from him would we say he was successful Joshua 1:8 I read to you the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth we shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it for if you will make

your way prosperous and then you will have good success this is the only instance the word success is in the Bible only only one and from this beginning of this message today I feel like it's important that we understand something please listen to me that I'm trying to set something up today success is different than Prosperity success is different the word that is translated success in this verse of scripture is a Hebrew word which speaks of understanding and Prudence it's only used this one time in the entirety of scriptures it's right here in this verse we know there's many instances and a lot of wisdom that is there but to understand and comp comprehend what does God mean what is what is his version what is his desire how do I know I'm successful Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom

and with all thy getting get understanding it's not enough that you just have the wisdom but do you understand what it's there for do you understand the importance do you understand why you have the knowledge and to me it's like mathematics you know we you can know that five divided five is one that's great but do you know how you come to that knowledge do you know how to set the problem up you know to me and when I went through school as long as I got the answer right why did it matter how I got there but it does matter it matters because there's going to be more than just one problem you work through you got to know the method you got to know the rules you got to set yourself up so that the next time there's another problem that

may have differing numbers or differing parts or differing pieces that you still know the principle how to settle the problem and I got a first row seat into so many people's lives who they know the answer but they don't know the equation you ask them the question and they'll spit the answer out but then you ask in a different way and it confuses them because it never took time to figure out how to put the equation together to me there's a difference between success and prosperity it has everything to do with understanding how I take the word of God and I set it up inside of my life so that when problems come my way the devil doesn't have an opportunity to say well I'll come at them this way and they seem to have an answer so I'll come around this way because

maybe they don't know this answer because I promise you he is seeking ways to cause you to stumble in your life and if you only have an answer but you don't know the equation I promise you there will come a day when you will fall success is applying it in my life every day the key accomplishment in our pursuit of the word of God is learning and understanding not just memorizing memorization is great there's a whole lot of people that know the word of God they don't live it it's not just knowing it it's applying it in your life every day applying what's there the way it works often times is things that we see in the spiritual have a correlation in the natural so often we see and in this case it's no different what is there you'll see learning will accomplish one

of two things it will either give you understanding or it'll make you conceited and there's a whole lot of conceited Christians that don't understand what God's asking of them in their life they don't understand it they have knowledge man they can spit it out I've had many encounters good good respectful Encounters of individuals who are able to spit out words that from from the scripture but they were they were merely hanging on to verse and chapter of this and verse and chapter of that they didn't take the time to wor to learn the entirety of what scripture's trying to do to unfold it it's not look you don't pick this up and in three months and one year have a complete Bible Understanding I've been living my life 30 plus years I've devoted studying this book and I'm still finding new

things and new facets inside the word of God it's a principle that you must apply in your life every single day and Y can become arrogant about it I can become conceited I can take and I can take this word and I can put you in your place but that is not what I'm called to do there's only two ways you use this to make you fall more in love with Jesus or to make you fall in love in love with your neighbor any other reason this has opened up is out of order anybody Gets In a Pulpit to try to put somebody in their place they are out of order we're supposed to make you fall in love with Jesus and fall in love with each other all the rest of the stuff will take care of itself if you love him and you

love your neighbor on these things hang all the law and the Commandments that's the word of God and understanding it and then trying to apply it in your life it's two different things learning will accomplish this if you want it to or it will drive you to the wrong end of the spectrum and there's a lot of people that haven't yet figured this out that's why the Bible says it pleased God to choose the foolishness of preaching the world looks what I'm doing right now and thinks I'm crazy and I am a little crazy you got to be a little crazy to follow Jesus y'all May disagree with it I'm telling you if you're really going to follow him the world's going to think you're crazy because you walk away from the cultural norms and there going to be the relationships you're going to walk

away from there's going to be things that you're going to sacrifice if you're truly going to follow him the world's going to think you've lost your mind and you have lost your mind you're gaining his see God chose the foolishness of preaching it's not enough child of God to be able to give mental Ascent to the Oneness of God you got to understand why it's important that you know about the Oneness of God you need to understand it's not just enough to understand about Jesus name baptism but why it's essential that you go down that watery grave in the name of Jesus you can you can you can speak in tongues but if you don't have an understanding of what that represents inside your life you're going to miss the point this is not just having an experience erience this is a life radical change

when you stop and you drop what you had intended for your life and you pick up what his purpose and plan is for your life only when you come to that realization can you fully embrace all that God has for you the rest of the stuff is just playing it it's just playing the part you know I can play the part of a football player but I'm not I can play the part of a doctor but I'm not quit playing Christianity you're going to be sorely disappointed when you come to your end it's not about playing it's not about just having verses memorized it's not just knowing that I know I know the I know the Life Class stories I know the sunay Sunday school class stories know all that stuff but if you've never applied it in your life it's all for not

and I'm afraid one day there's going to be some people wake up and realize that they've completely missed the point of living for God 1 Corinthians 1:2 where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world for after that in the wisdom of God the world was by wisdom knew not God but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe that world translated foolish here comes from the root word absurd the absurdity of preaching the absurdity of putting us all together there's something about preaching I'm sorry it just lies in the face of conventional wisdom there's something about when when an anointed Minister Gets behind a pull pit and begins to preach the word of God with an anointing on them that they have the

ability to reach down inside of man and grab a hold of all that stuff that they're that they're wrestling with and give an opportunity for the light of God to shine into their life I know I know I'm preaching to the choir on this that there that the vast majority of us in this room have been in services like what we're in today whether there's an anointed word that gets preached and all of a sudden you didn't even realize you needed to be convicted but as you sat there a sudden it's like God has just shined a light on you and you're like how does that man know everything I'm dealing with in my life I promise you as the preacher we don't know what you're going with we're just trying to be obedient to where God's directing us but he knows what you're

facing he knows where you are he knows what you're living through and I can't tell you how many countless times I've had Services were at the end of the message people come to me and say man you were you were plowing right down my road you were right where I was you said this and you said that and half the time I'm like I don't think I said that and I'll go back and listen and I did say that and it was nowhere in my notes it wasn't even in my mind but God was using what what I was doing it was making myself available to be to be his vessel in this moment and God uses those things to reach you where you're at God chooses the foolishness of preaching to reach out to where we are it's God's choice and where counseling fails

and I believe there's times that we need to be counseled and when music fails and there's nothing like Apostolic music and where psychology fails and I thank God that we have men and women who have have an understanding of the human mind and emotions where where the threat of judgment and Eternity fails something about preaching just works it just works and we need to see that God is setting us up for Success according to his definition the first fact of success that we read about it to me is in Jeremiah 10:23 oh Lord I know the way of man is not in himself it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps I'm going to read it again from you I'm going read it in the in the NIV version because I think it puts it in a little bit better

language for us today it says this NIV Lord I know that people's lives are not their own it is not for them to direct their steps now I'm just going to I'm just going to I used to say I'm going to drop the plow down and dig a little bit right here you either believe that or you're doomed for failure in my opinion it is not for me to direct my paths it is not it is for him to direct my paths it is for him as the word of God says to order my steps it is for me to discover where that is it is for me to discover what his purpose and his plan is for my life as this church has heard me say so many times they're probably sick of me saying it but I'm not sick of saying it

I belong to him I belong to him and the greatest day in my life is when I discovered what my purpose was what what my purpose was what what what it is he designed for me as this is the part I say over and over again when you were being formed together in your mother's womb God was purposely putting in you things that he was going to use to draw out of you for his kingdom and there's so many gifted and talented people that are in this room I know the vast majority of you and I see the life you live and I see the abilities that you have many of you have business minds and you have special skill sets and abilities and you have this intellect and I'm watching you use it in your life and it's

being used as a provision for your family and I believe all that stuff is well and good but don't discount the fact that the reason you have those things is so that you can be a blessing in the Kingdom of God in the kingdom of God that's why his desire is that's why you have that Talent that's why you have that ability and I'm telling you you're missing the boat if you're not Steward in it for the kingdom of God you may be successful by the world's definition but if you're not using it for his kingdom and His glory you haven't yet to understand what he says is successful how good are you doing ordering your life we need to let God direct our path let him guide I'm going tell you right now I tried it for a while and I'm not very good

at it I can act like I'm good at it but let's be honest we all act like we can do good some things really well but when we get down to doing it like I like to play golf but I have yet to be able to with confidence say that I'm a golfer I think it's more adequate to say that I'm a hacker I go out there and hack away at that little ball and I don't know it doesn't look like it should be that hard to hit that little ball you think as big a guy as I am that I should be able to just Crush that thing and make it go where I want to go but brother DJ I'm telling you what I don't know that I've ever played around that I didn't have to go back to my car

and in the quiet repent and ask God to forgive me of the things that I mentally thought about that I should have never thought about how I just wanted to destroy that thing and break my clubs and act like a fool so here's the deal though I got a good-look set of clubs and I got nice golf shirts nice golf pants nice golf shoes I even got a golf glove got good-looking teas I can buy the name brand stuff and I can go up to the first tea box and up until that moment I mean I'm a golfer I am anybody look around like man that guy probably plays go look he's got name brand this and name brand that I know I know how to scuff everything just right so it looks like you use it don't act like you don't do that

and everything is real good until I RAR back to hit that first ball and from then on it's evident I'm not a golfer yeah so we know how to look the part now I talked about something funny but let's talk about living for God yeah I know it really bothers me that there's a whole lot of people that that just look like they live for God they look like they live for God they look like they look like the that from Human perspective and eyes that they're successful I don't know I don't know something bothers me see another aspect of this is the fact that we have to understand it's not man's job to direct our steps it's it's to grasp what John the Baptist said in John 3: 27 a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from Heaven see

God does not need us but he desires us he was God before us he didn't need us but he desires us that should make us happy that he wants me he wants me he desires me God can use men and women he desires to do that I'm I'm thankful that he does I thank God that I have a pastor in my life you heard me say that right that I have a pastor in my life because I believe every man and woman needs a pastor I thank God for my pastor I got to have somebody that I'm accountable to I hope you like your pastor he's a good-looking guy when I think about what God did and what God has done I think of the stories in the Bible and I think about how important it is that there's a man in your life I

think about what God did when he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt he used a man he didn't use a committee he used a man now that man obviously got overwhelmed when he got out there and thank thank goodness he had a great father-in-law who looked at him and said you're about to lose your mind you better have some help but there was still a man that was in charge to me when I think about success and think about how we have to handle these things when I look at the life of Moses he was humble he understood his purpose he was obedient to follow after God I also think about what Paul say in 1 Corinthians chap 1:26 for you see your calling Brethren that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are

called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are Mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are dep despised God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence see I'm still talking about success this verse is problematic did you catch it no flesh should glory in his presence anything else is problematic any ambition of recognition is going to get you in trouble now you can be recognized you can you somebody can tell you you did a good job and that you've done well with that there's there's nothing wrong with that but you shouldn't desire it it's

the desire of those things that get you in trouble it's the desire of the praise that that gets you in the same condition that the devil was in before he got kicked out of heaven that get built up in yourself look at what I am look who I am I deserve some of this praise you got to be careful when when all of a sudden that comes into play and isn't it amazing how much we like that CU my grandfather used to say my poppy he used to make this statement even the even the lowliest dog in the pack likes to have his head scratched every now and then yeah that does I like having my head scratched I like I like it when someone passs me on the back I'm not asking for that all right I'm not saying come up and

tell me anything but when you do makes me smile it's it's natural but how you process that are you craving it are you Desiring it because you got to be careful in those moments because it says no flesh should glory in his presence so if my flesh is being lifted up it's taking me out of the presence of God that's right no flesh is going to glory in his presence it becomes problematic when we look at the Bible and it says that Enoch walked with God and was not he didn't die don't ask me to explain it I don't know 30 plus years of studying this book I still can't explain this I don't know that the Bible says it was there it says that Hebrews 11:5 by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found

because God had taken them for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased God what did he do he pleased God no no no no no what do no he pleased God no no no no no pastor Kevin what did he do he I don't know I don't I don't know if he's wealthy or poor we're not giv the information I have no idea I don't know if he was talented I don't know what kind of position he held in society I don't know if he attended church if there was even Church like thing that was going on back then I don't know he very well been he very well may have been an abject failure by man's definition but I know this he pleased God he pleased God fact when you get down and you look at the

word that's being translated there it said that he with the literal definition of that word please is to gratify completely all I can tell you is that he made God happy he made God happy is your life making God happy or is your life making you happy what are you living for are you living for your success are you living for those pats on the back are you living for your friends and your neighbors man look at this guy he's got it together he's got off a St I believe we should try I believe we should do our best I believe we should do everything as we're doing it unto him but we got to be careful about where your motives come in because I'm telling you I've seen so many good men and women end up struggling in life because they got

consumed with the wrong success success is different than prosperity it's different it's there's a difference that is there and I believe that God's people should be successful I believe that we should be prosperous but not according to man's definition you got to keep it in check because the enemy he's going to use every method he can to try to get you to stumble and try to get you to fall so I ask you again is your life pleasing to God the Bible tells us that Noah found Grace in the eyes of God what was this did he have a lot of money did he did he have a lot of money he probably did in order to build that boat but I guarantee you if the boat was built he was broke what did his friends think about him they thought he was a cuz

he's building a boat for rain now I say it sarcastically because it had never rained before yeah and you and I sometimes we forget that element in the story he's trying to explain rain he's trying to say all I know is there's going to be liquid stuff come from the sky and they're like oh yeah Noah's building a boat cuz it's going to rain yeah but those same folks are banging on the door when the rain's coming who is successful who is successful this is this is meant to kind of step on your toes a little bit because we all We All Fall prey at times to the peer pressure of culture and Society we all at times if we're truly selling out and living the life that God's called us to live we're going to face some adversity we're going to face some some

moments we're going to have some come to Jesus times when when we're going to have to make a decision am I going to continue to follow after what I realize God is Desiring for me or am I going to break away because I don't want to look be looked down upon as some of those that's one of those he's one of those fanatical Christians he's one of you know those Pentecostals like he didn't he didn't drink the Kool-Aid now like he's gone I know I know that people talk about I've been this my whole life you know there there's a time my time when I was young when I was a teenager the people ask where you go Church time be like I go to what was that again how to my as I said last week it's cool to speak in tongues now it's

cool to jump and Shout it's cool to do all this stuff so you got to be careful because just because we have some acceptance doesn't mean that we get to lighten up on where God's leading us where he's directing us because I promise you there's still a division between who it is that God's called and where it is he's leading us to it was Jesus who said straight is the way and narrow is the gate it was Jesus who said straight is the way and narrow is the gate you got to be careful when you're stuck up in the broad path that was free what in my notes the Apostle Paul said this 1 Corinthians 21 and I Brethren when I came to you did not come to you with Excellency of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God for I determined

not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified I was with you in weakness in fear and in much trembling and in my speech and in my preaching we not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of the power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God I mean come on this is Paul this is Paul I mean he studied at the feet of G this is Paul who who went to the religious Elite schools of the day this was Paul who understood the Torah backwards and forwards he was he was head of his class if he was probably the wisest Theologian of his day and he comes and says I didn't come to you with that why because you realize if I

come to you that way you're going to believe in my knowledge and not in the power of God if anybody had a right he had a right he said I I'm not coming to you that way the Bible talks about how the problems I think about King Saul it says that when he was little in his sight he did great things for God when he became big he took matters into his own hands last story I have for you I think about Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26 says when he 16y old who became king of Israel 2 Chronicles 26:5 says he sought God in the days of Zachariah who had understanding and the visions of God and as long as he sought the Lord God sought the Lord God made him prosper a that awesome I don't know about you but I don't know how

you read that verse you'll get excited seek God you prosper seek God is good he had this understanding but if only it stayed there same chapter same chapter we go from verse 5 to verse 16 but when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his Destruction for he trans rest against the Lord his God by entering the Temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense do you know what his great transgression was he didn't feel like he needed a priest anymore he knew best he didn't need a Preacher Brother Campbell he didn't need it he like I got this God's been with me I've done some things you see my resume and he went in to take and fulfill a role he was never called to fill he was strong in his heart because he perceived himself to

be strong he perceived himself to be superior he no longer needed a preacher he no longer needed a pastor he became a priest he removed himself out from underneath in any Spiritual Authority in his life this may sound harsh I'm getting ready to close if you don't have someone in your life who has Spiritual Authority over you I worry about you if you don't have somebody who has the ability to walk up to you and say where are you at right now I know you're physically standing in front of me that's not what I'm asking about I want to know where where are you spiritually what what are you doing where are you living are you doing what you know you're supposed to if you haven't given somebody Spiritual Authority in your life I really believe you're in trouble now here's the deal I

know this and I've said this before and I don't mean it I really mean it with a very with a very humble heart I don't have any pride and arrogance in this I don't I'm I'm nothing I really am I tell yall guys the all time I'm not that smart I'm not I'm nothing I'm not I'm just trying to fall in love with Jesus every day trying to be obedient to him but here's what I know God has put me in this position for a reason and I do my best to feel it I do my best I do my best to be obedient to God I'm I'm still a man and I got flaws my wife's right here right there you're not there there you move seats on me that one she'll tell you I'm I'm not perfect not

even close to perfect to some of you to some of you I am your pastor and you let me speak in your life we talk about things we talk about where you are we talk about where you're going we talk about things you have going on in your life we talk about decisions you're making big things are there and I pray for you I pray earnestly for you and there are times that God gives me a direct word and I call you and I tell you this is what I feel like God's laid in my heart you let me Pastor you and there are those of you today in this room that I'm just your preacher it's all I am I'm just a preacher and when I say when I say things that you like you'll amen me if I say things that

you don't have convictions about you'll settle me I'm just your preacher and here's the thing if I'm just your preacher rarely do I have the opportunity to speak into your life you become like Hezekiah you have this version of what you think success is but you don't understand success is bringing yourself under submission it's bringing yourself into obedience it's under this message today I told Brother Elkins go over I said this is this may be a big flop I don't know I just feel strong to preach it the world has its version of success and then God has his but the world's definition of success Jesus would have never made the top 10 no way no way brother the Canon every follower he had fell away from him there in the moment when it counted they walked away they turned back only

one stayed there at the foot of the cross just one had nothing nothing monetary to speak of nothing that we would have said hey he had this stock and he had this portfolio and he had this even his family struggled to relate to him but we know the end of the story we know that he went through those things and he stayed committed to what was right and he stayed committed to the cause and thanks be to God that he did because now I have the ability to be filled with his Spirit to have remission of my sins that I have that that that power living inside of me why because he stayed committed to the call that was there and he knows he was successful I don't know who I'm speaking to today I don't know who I'm reaching for

in this in this in this audience today but I'm here to tell you you got to settle some things in your life you got to settle some stuff success is an interesting word one time it's in scripture one

time as I end I end to leave you with this verse James chapter 1: 22 says but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror for he observes himself and goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was but he who looks into the perfect law of Liberty and continues in it and is not forgetful here but a doer of the work this one will be blessed in what he does we need to look into the word of God and ask what is it you're saying to me this isn't just something you run to when you get yourself in trouble maybe the better way to think about this is this I dare say the vast majority

because there's always an outlier but I dare say that the vast majority of us at some point today before you got here between you waking up and you get in here you looked in a mirror at least once some of you have been looking in a lot why why do you look in the mirror well because sometimes you need to adjust something right sometimes you don't realize you got one of those danglers in your nose

something in your teeth those of us who have a little hair we try to put it you know somewhat right so you how many how many willing to say you looked in the mirror at least once a day we have here brother James tells us that you need to look here you don't need to just hear it but you need to do it CU if you hear it it's like you look in and you walk away and it's like you didn't even pay attention that's basically what it's saying is you glanced at the mirror yeah I'm good I'm good but to be a doer is to open it up and to truly reflect and say God show me show me where I got to make changes show me where I got to make changes as I close this out

today I ask you to stand with me I don't ever want to come into this sanctuary and feel what we felt feel the presence of God and not stand in awe and wonder of what's going on I don't want to be so familiar with it that it never affects me so the musicians are coming and they're going to sing A Chorus and I hope that you realize that God is here God is here and his desire is for you to be successful and to prosper but not according to man's terms but according to his so as I get ready to close this out I'm going to give an opportunity for anybody that wants to come to just ask God help me see help me see what I need to do help me see what I need to change God give me the ability to draw

in closer to you so that I don't get so caught up in things that it matter not that I miss the Eternal that you're trying to do through me let's pray God I love you I thank you Lord for this moment we're in right now thank you for the truth that is in your scripture God it says except your spirit draw we can come but I feel you drawing in this moment right now I feel that Spirit pulling at us asking us to examine ourselves to be not just hearers of the word but to be doers in what we do I pray God that you would begin to help us make the changes that we need to that we could see with our own eyes the areas that we need to make a change of in our life give us an opportunity to draw in

closer to you so that we can become all that you need us to be in Jesus name this altar is open we're going to pray for those that come that God of do something in their lives if you do