Your Season To Succeed

to finish it off together today. And it's interesting because my brother asked me, has the series been a success? He's been deployed and so he hasn't been able to get a good Wi Fi connection and watch. He's in the Air Force, and this is a series successful? And it made me pause, and I didn't know how to answer it, because how do you judge something like that? How do you measure the success of a message or message series? Would it be like one book I read

said the sermon was a success if it sticks. There's a book I'm preaching. They said you need to make it sticky. Sermon's supposed to stick. I think that's duct tape you're thinking of. It's uh, because like some things are sticky, but they're not significant. I remember the macarena. That doesn't make it a life changing discovery of my life. I remember my first girlfriend's name. She didn't mean anything to me. So it's not necessarily meaningful because you memorized it.

Six eight eight four to two oh three is Danny fox Firths's phone number in case you want to call him. Here's my best friend in third grade. I remember his number. People are going to be blowing him up right now. I'm ynny. But it's got to be something more than memorable to make it meaningful. I mean, some of the most meaningful stuff in our life we can't remember. You ever tried to call the role of your kids' names and you can't pull them up, and so it's not

that you know. I thought about what makes a successful series. What would make it successful if people watched it on YouTube, then PewDiePie is the greatest preacher in the world. If that's what makes it successful, if it clicks, or how about this, if people enjoyed it, If they enjoyed it. So, if you have a comfortable workout, it was a successful workout. I just had a great workout what was great about it.

It was just very relaxing. Oh the thing you did it right, or a successful surgery, it's not measured by the amount of comfort. We didn't get the tumor, but we had a great time. It was really, really, really heartwarm. So when I thought about that was the success, I thought, how many people are asking that about their life? How many people are trying to measure? You know, the more it matters, the harder it is to measure. The stuff

that really matters is hard to measure. And so what we do we substitute out what we've been saying in this series, artificial measurements of things that are less significant or that are visible, because the things that are invisible, the Kingdom of God, it comes in a way that's hard to measure. And I don't think there's a person that I'm sitting across the counter from today. That's how I visualize it in my mind, like we're sitting in your kitchen, like I showed up, you poured me a

bowl of cereal, and we had this conversation. I don't think there's a person that would be across that counter that would say, in every area of my life I'm killing it. And I don't think there's a person that would sit across and say, there's absolutely nothing in my life that I feel successful at. But me, I'm really hard on myself. And it balances out because Holly is not hard enough on herself. And you're like, why would you say that about your wife? She would tell you

the same thing. She keeps me from quitting and I keep her from sitting on the couch all the time. Now, she's a very hard worker. But one thing that I really appreciate about her is she has the ability to encourage herself. She'll be like, I'm eating French fries because I rode my peloton, like it cancels out in her mind. Anyway, I want to close the series today talking about your definition of success because I think it's important and I think a lot of people secretly feel like they're failing,

even if people think that they're winning. And that's an interesting thing. Isn't it for people to think one thing, but for you to know another and to really really wrestle with this topic of your definition of success. The first thing we need to do is reclaim the biblical concept of blessing. There's a scripture that I memorized. I guess it was in college, and I don't have it

quite as sharp as I did back then. But someone says, blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree that is planted by streams of water. What's the next part, oh, which yields this fruit? I did not successfully quote the scripture. I guess which yields his fruit

in season? And whose leaf does not wither? Whatever he does prospers. And so you're like, by that definition of success, whatever he does prospers or works, I am not successful. But here's the thing about it. The psalm starts with a word that we translate blessed, blessed. It's how David psalms start, the ones that are pre particularly significant to him. He starts it with the word blessed, but it's not an English word. It's a Hebrew word, and it can

also be translated happy. And I thought that was interesting, because to be successful and miserable is not a blessing. To be skinny and miserable is not a blessing. Yeah, to be disciplined and miserable is not a blessing. On the other hand, we cannot discount the fact that Psalm one. I think it's the best definition of blessed. If you want, just like a good biblical definition of blessing, and you've

been wanting one all week. You've been walking around going what is the best definition of blessed in the Bible? Just don't know what it is. So if you want that definition, I think this is a good starting place. Blessed is the one who does not walk in the council of the wicked, who does not get distracted by the crappy value system of this messed up world. Now, it doesn't say that they don't have any friends who

don't go to church. I always thought the verse was like code for don't hang out with people who vape that weed. You know, that's my youth pastor interpretation. But when he said blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, I realize he's talking about whose voice you value, whose voice you value, and really, who gets to set your definition of success? How am I going to decide if a sermon was successful? I went on Facebook and read the comments, and that

didn't help. They were talking more about the holes in my genes than the holes in his hands? Where the nails? So silly? I mean, so who? And I want to use an investigative method for this. I want to start with who, and then I want to talk about what, and then I want to talk about when, and if we have a chance, I'll talk about where. Okay, who, what? And when? Of success? Who told you that you were naked? That's what God asked Adam in the garden when he

listened to the serpent. And I found out that whose voice you value determines your standard of success? Can I preach one more week on this topic? So if I judge my standard of success by by what someone else telps me, look, it's like I can always find someone to make me feel successful. I can always find someone to make me feel like a failure. There is somebody

on your row who prais less than you. There is somebody on your row that praise more than you, except Greg Weinberger's rowe Him and Autumn pray all the time. Do you ever want to feel bad about your prayer life? Talk to Autumn. But other than them, there is somebody on your row that prays more than you, and there's somebody that prays lefts. And what I'm afraid of is that we have a standard of success and we never even checked on who said it? All right, let me

try another way. It really convicted me to realize that if we judge success by current worldly standards, the ministry of Jesus was a complete failure when he left the earth. So Jesus came to bring a kingdom? Right? Did he do it? Before? You give me the yes? He did? Answer, which I appreciate, kind of depends which kingdom you're expecting him to build, if you judge it like how we judge our lives. Because the way we judge our life is we look to see who approves of what we're doing.

Or you know, we take a word like blessed, and David says, happy is the man, blessed is the man? He starts. All of his most significant sums that way. But we think blessing is a material thing, and sometimes it is I got a boat, I'm blessed Everybody who thinks a boat is a blessing never had a boat. All it does is break and get fake friends to call you want to use it. Okay, So if a boat isn't a blessed, what is it is? It is?

It is relative? Write this down. Success is relative. Success also creates relatives, people that you hadn't talked to in years, who call you to borrow some money if you ever get successful. But success is relative. And this is what Jesus knew. Jesus knew that success is relative to who, it's relative to what, it's relative to win, it's relative to war. And I think the reason Jesus was able whether the crowds were clapping for him after he fed them,

or whether they were leaving him. No, Jesus would preach a sermon, and here's how good he preached. They would walk away and say he had a demon. So, judging by standards of success from the world Jesus, this is how bad Jesus was at preaching. By our standards, he would preach a parable I preached on one of the weeks of this series. I don't remember if it was last week. When did I do the talent? Yeah, with one bag Billy. That was last week. Okay, so last

week I used one of his parables. You know what the disciples did after he got done teaching, They said, explain that to us. He was so good at preaching that his staff didn't even know what he had just said. By our definition of success, jesus message was a failure because he would not settle for the surface, meaning he would not build the kingdom that they wanted him to build. And I just wonder, is there's somebody in here who

is waiting for applause from the wrong person. Some of us are doing stuff to impress people who aren't even paying attention. And another thing about Jesus, he was so successful at what he did that his own people killed him for it. Judging by our standards of success. When Jesus went to the cross, which is the thing he came to do, guess what happened. Every one of his followers clicked unfollow except John. That's how successful he was.

And yet we take an earthly measure of success and try to apply it to a heavenly calling, and we wonder why we're discouraged and frustrated when we measure our success by the same stuff. The world measures success by and Jesz came along for each and said, bless or pores here that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed who are those who know they're empty? Blessed those who have some self awareness to know that I need God in my life. That is the definition

of blessing. Have you noticed how we do this? Though? We attach cultural definitions to biblical terms, and we take a word like blessed or success, you know successes. In the Bible. God told Joshua, I think it's Joshua one to eight. He said, I will give you good success. That's an interesting phrase. Must mean there's a bad success, A success that sucks, sucks, says, I can say it that way? Can I say it that way? You know

what kind of success sucks? The one that you project, but it's not real and you don't really possess it right when you need to appear a certain way. So what happens is sometimes we get so addicted to the approval that comes from others that we cannot receive the approval that comes from God. And that has to be an inner voice. Right, Jesus did the will of his father he knew the voice of his father. He did

not see it, he knew it at a deeper level. Now, we're living in a time right now where people want to be well known above all else. But there's a difference, and this is how I was thinking about it, tim between being well known and widely known. It's the difference between fruitfulness and famous. Okay, so well known is like, oh, okay, a lot of people know my name or I'm popular. But if you judge the ministry of Jesus by popularity, he was a failure at the moment that he was

fulfilling his purpose. And why that's encouraging to me is that being well known only requires that the God who made me has all of me, and that there's no part of my life that is off limits to him. And I just want to talk to you about this today because I'm meeting a lot of people who feel like they're failing and they do not even recognize how

much fruit they are bearing. Let that sink in. At the moment that a seed goes into the ground and it starts doing what it was created to do, to break apart, to change forms so that it can produce what was in it. At the moment of its greatest

realization of potential, it is broken and hidden. So that means that in my life, sometimes the greatest moments of my maturity, when God is really growing me and really using me and really making a difference through me, are going to be the moments where I feel like I'm breaking, the moments where I feel like I'm hidden. Obscurity is not the enemy. It doesn't matter if they know your name. It matters if you know what is inside of you. Blessed is the man who does not need the approval

of people, because I already got it from God. Already got it. It's already mine. I'm walking in it, I'm living in it, I'm bathed in it, I'm covered by it. I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Whether you're like me or not, how are you gonna judge if you're a good mom, whether your teenage daughter likes your decision making, you're gonna let the inmates set the curfew? Crazy.

I remember when Oprah lost all that weight. When I was a little boy, my mom used to watch Oprah and she came on and everybody clapp because she lost weight, and a few years later she came back and said, I was the least healthy that I had ever been in my life because of the way I lost the weight. But people will clap because you lost it. They don't care what it did to you on the inside. It's just we clapp Let me give you another verse. Now

give you another verse. Okay. In uh Luke seventeen twenty, Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God. I went straight from Oprah to Luke seventeen because I am dynamic like that. I am verse stil in this fulpan. So on one occasion, the Bible says, because Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God. In one translation, the phrase appears all throughout the New Testament twenty six times, and on one occasion, having been asked by the Pharisees, those were his enemies. Okay, let's

talk about that real quick. You think success is having everybody like you, then Jesus was a failure. You see what I'm We think success is just being able for everybody all the time to be able to get us. Well, they just don't get me. They're not supposed to get you. Only God can get you because you are dysfunctional. So the Pharisees. They didn't get Jesus. They didn't get what he came to do, they didn't get who he really was.

And so on one occasion they asked him. This was not a purely motivated question, I might add, they said, when they were inquiring when the Kingdom of God would come, I love the word of God watches Jesus or apply Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation by your standards of success. The Pharisees kept lots of laws, They memorized lots of Bible verses, like how do you know if you're a good Christian? If you memorize more scripture,

then the Pharisees would have been the most successful. But they were actually the ones who stood in opposition to what Jesus came to do. Some people think they're good Christians because they read the Bible a lot. Maybe they just like reading. So in the application of the scripture, growth happens, not the knowledge of it. Right, So how do you measure if you're more successful? You're growing in God?

It's are you yielding more of yourself to Him so that you can yield the fruit of the purpose that he planted inside of you. They're like, when's the kingdom going to come? And we all want to know that, We all want to know when is God going to do what I want him to do? Raise your hand. I'll stand here all day. Have you ever wondered, when are you going to fix them? Jesus? Or when are you going to fix it? Here's my favorite, When are you going to fix me? About to turn forty, that's

forty years in the wilderness of my weirdness? When am I going to be a normal person? Right? But Jesus says something, and I really want you to receive this in this last week of the series. He says, the Kingdom of God. You've got an external definition of success, but the Kingdom give me twenty one. People will not say here it is or there it is, because the Kingdom of God is within you. That's so good, and come on say it, say it, Say it from your diaphragm.

The Kingdom is within me. Now. The kingdoms of this world they're out there there, there, there. That's what they're marketing. When they market to you, they are trying to get you to hate here. Wow. Wow. The strategy of the enemy is to get you to hate you're here, right, and the way he does that. Some says he will yield his fruit in season, that that the tree that

God plants it will yield it's fruit in season. Always skid past the word is, But it may be the most important part of the verse because it means that if I spend my time being frustrated that I can't bear your fruit, I can only bear furdic fruit. Right, That's all I can bear. That's all I can be. All I can be if I can say it this way is the most fruitful verdict that I know how

to be. Now, my temptation is to see the fruit that you bear, or the life that you have, or the talent that you have, or the personality that you have. I usually don't want other people's lives. I want other people's personalities because they're chill. And I wonder what would it be like to have just a day where you were not so uptight like some of y'all's personality looks so tropical, so sunny. Wow, that would be so cool. Did you see how they just handled that? They didn't

even get upset. But there's a certain way that God wired me within me, he will be like a tree planted by the streams that will bear its fruit, will yield it's fruit. Help me preach this and tell the person next to you. Yield your fruit. Yield your fruit. Do your thing, make your mark, do your job, hold down your spot, stay on your post. If you're coaching, coach, if you're teaching, teach, if you're helping help, If you're a shouter, shout, yield your fruit. I might not be famous,

but I'm gonna be fruitful. God created me to produce a purpose. I feel freedom coming through this house. I feel freedom from the frustration. God said he wanted to set you free from the frustration of trying to produce somebody else's through. He's such a good apple tree until you see some oranges. It's just the word of God. She said. The kingdom is within you. He said, you'd

be like a tree planted by streams of water. Now, problem with the loves is we can't produce anything because we don't get planted anywhere, because it's not sexy to stay planted. Even preachers. Preachers do the weirdest stuff. How many sermons did I preach about Peter walking on water and never said anything about Andrew who stayed in the boat. All Jesus told them to do was get in the boat and go to the other side. Peter was the

one who needed a spectacular sign. Andrew was content to just stay in the boat in the storm because this is what God told us to do. And I'm looking for some people who will just go home and be a dad, and be a mom, and be a husband and be a wife. Oh, by the way, we live in a culture where you are not considered successful if you are still single at a certain age. By that standard, Jesus died a failure. He'd be like a tree planted by streams of water, streams, streams, streams. Isn't that what

they call it on feeds streams? To be planted by the streams of water produces the fruit that's already in. But the temptation to think when Jesus left the earth, he left behind some dysfunctional disciples. Can you imagine if your greatest protege was Peter. When Jesus trying to go to the cross and die like the lamb of God's silent before the shearers to pay the price for humanity sin, Peter was pulling out his sword, hacking off ears. Did

Jesus succeed in teaching his disciples? But you judge it too soon. You judge it too soon. Oh, I'm not really making a difference. The Bible says train up a child in the way that they should go, and when they are old, they won't depart from it. Hold on, let's take a moment. Everybody repeat after me, how old Lord? I just need to know, like an age, so I can pace myself in the process. But really, to judge your influence like that would be a shame because Pastor

Mickey's church only grew to two hundred. But here I am preaching to you, and he's the one who gave me a chance. So I want to ask the question again today, are you going to chase clout or are you gonna embrace calling? Because those are two different things. Those are really really different, and you just can't know. You just can't know. So bear your fruit in season. That's the win in season. I mean, what if this message today, What if somebody in Russia we translate our

sermons into Russian? Man, what if somebody in russ needs a message? I don't know if I liked it today? Hm? What if that's your reaction. How could I judge the success of a sermon. What if somebody who hears it in another language two years from now is who really need it? It It happens all the time, and I only share it because preaching is what I do. Whatever you do,

you know, you have your own version of this. But I'll tell you usually the sermons that I feel the worst about delivering it, And so when somebody will come back to me later and go, I was on the edge. Yeah, I told the Lord I'm gonna I'm gonna give it one more shot. I'm going on the elevation app And you know something really dramatic, you know, or or or or this is the crazy one. They'll be like, I wasn't even trying to watch a sermon and the YouTube Gods put a thing in my h feed that was

you preach it, and it was just what I needed. Now, if you judge it in the process of doing it, you interrupt the power of it. How can we know? How can we know what God is doing in your life? You're like, well, I'm breaking apart. That's what the seed does before it grows. That's what happens before harvest. Have you ever thought about that that Jesus was a failure by our standards of success when he left the earth,

and look what his faithfulness created. I'll speaking to somebody today who secretly feels like I'm failing, not everywhere in my personality. It's like you can't even enjoy the places where you're winning because you're so embarrassed about the places where you're losing. And I don't feel like I can really succeed in every area of my life at the same time whack them hole and at the game where you That's how my mind feels. It's like, I'll be honest, I never feel like a good dad when I get

finished preaching through the weekend. I never do because for the twenty four forty eight hours before I preach, I'm like a like a zombie. I'm just like I'm not really there, Like I try. I try. I mean, me and Graham we were wrestling this morning when I came in, So I try my best, but I don't feel totally present. So the devil is going to try to get me to feel after I finish preaching to you bad about what I couldn't do while I was trying to do this.

Does that ever happen to you. I don't mean to turn this into group therapy, but the issue with most of us is when we do produce something over here, it only causes us to feel worse about and especially if you have a secret thing that you struggle with, it tends to cancel out your joy over everything else that you produce. And so into this God speaks a word to those of us who feel like, you know, well, I just feel like I'm failing. I feel like I

can't do enough for everybody. You only are responsible to produce what's in you in this moment here now, the Kingdom of God is within you. And as we close our series together, I just want to know, does anybody want prayer today at any of our locations Matthew's Lake, Norman, University, City, Riverwalk, Orlando, Greenville, Greensboro, somebody watching epham online to say that that I want to be I want to be blessed like the Bible says blessed. I want to live in a place that

is happy with the life that I have. I want to live in a place where I'm planted by streams that actually nourish me. And I really want God's help because I feel like I'm failing most of the time. But I want God to bring forth the fruit that he put in me, and I will not live this next year frustrated over fruit that God never called me to produce. And I will not quit on the gift that He gave me because I do not see it in a sensational form. So I want to pray for you.

Stand up right now, right where you are, I want to pray for you. The Lord is working in this moment. He's always working, but he's working in this moment. He's trying to show you that when you get set free from the need for the approval of people, then you can receive the approval of God. Is so import that Jesus heard his father say this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased before he did his ministry that way, he didn't need their validation, he already had.

And we've just got to get this. I don't know if you can feel it in this series, but I'm I'm consumed by it. I'm serious about it. I need us to get this that it is not just fame and followers and all the fickle stuff. Someone says that the man who has planning. His leaf does not wither. It is something that remains. It is something that the world can't take away. Anything they can give, they can take. But if it comes from God, if it comes from within, if the Kingdom is within you, it will not be

taken away by your head. For the moment, I want you to turn your palms up to heaven as you lift your hands, and just receive from your Father what you need. In this moment, we all walk around wondering, like, am I getting it right? Am I good husband, good wife, good friend, good daughter? Just get in all these we get all this guilt fed by comparison. Then we compare ourselves to stuff that isn't even real, and we keep thinking, oh, one day when I get there. But God doesn't want

you to hate. Here. He taught his disciples to pray. Jesus taught his disciples to pray My kingdom come, that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's getting heaven here here here. Then God called Isaiah the prophet. He just Isaiah said, I'm a sinful man. I have unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. But here I am send me. That's all God wants from you. Man, Just stop scrolling through all these other images of what you think you're supposed to

be and yield your fruit. I feel the Holy Spirit on this that if you will yield your fruit in season, your lief will not with her. God wants to give you a peace that doesn't dry up with circumstances and does not change with the conflated tides of popular opinion. Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, lives in you, and you are enough in him. Give them what they need right now, God, you have it. I don't just give them what they need. What they need

in your presence. What they need is only found in your presence. We receive it. Lord God, would you speak to the one who, even this week, has been on this loop. They've been meditating on this thought all week. What I do doesn't matter, who I am doesn't matter. They just felt like that all week, and pray they'd get a new meditation in your presence today. They'd be planted by streams of water. You will, you your fruit. None of the things are in vain. God's word does

not return void. It can't return void. What God spoke over your life. It will bear fruit. So God, we release frustration, we release fear. We come to you today asking you for a new measure of success. In this moment, am I fully here. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus. But you just begin to worship him right now. With your mouth, just say thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you. I receive your presence. I receive your grace, I receive your mercy. Come on, with your mouth, just say I

receive it. Lord, I receive your love. I receive your words of affirmation, clothing, your righteousness. Lord. I am who you say I am, and I will accomplish the purpose that you intend for me to accomplish. Lord, I worship you. I worship you. You're a great God. Your name is great. You live in me. God, you are such a great God. You have blessed me so much. Blessed is the man. I am blessed. Somebody shot I am blessed. I am blessed.

I'm bless with every spiritual blessing in Christ. I'm blessed not because of what I have or who I know. I'm blessed because the limitless God dwells on the inside of me and from my belly will flow rivers of living water. I have the spirit of God. I have the wisdom of God. I have the joy of the Lord. It is my strength. I am blessed. I am blessed, I am ful, I am known, I am loved, I am significant, I am blessed. All the blessed people, clap your hands and give God praise for his blessings. We

praise you for your blessings. Lord. We praise you for your blessing, Lord, your blessing, your blessing. We praise you for your blessing. How will I know if it was a s says, did you bring forth what God put in you? That's the definition of success to me. That's

the definition of success to me. Kingdom Cloud, the spirit of Jesus Christ is upon this church, this ministry, and I just want to take a moment while we're in the presence of God to pray for somebody who needs to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ before you leave

this place today. This is really important to me. There are hundreds today who need to make that step across the line from thinking that a relationship with God is based on what you earn or good behavior, and you have never really surrendered your life to Christ, and I want to do that with you in this moment. So at every location, would you bow your head and close

your eyes. For those of you who have a relationship with God, I want you to pray with me in this moment for those who may be around you who need a new beginning, who need to be forgiven of their sin and trust Christ as savior. Today, with your head bowed and your eyes close, I want to tell you what the Bible says. That it is by grace that you are saved through faith. It's the gift of God. It's not of work, so that no one can boast.

And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And right now I believe this is your moment to place your faith in Christ. So, with our head's bout and our eyes closed, as a church family, for the benefit of those who are coming to God or coming back to God, repeat this prayer after me, Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I invite you in to take over my life. I give you everything. I believe you die that I could be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the count of three shoots your hand up. If you prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate you right now. Come on, Joe, let's celebrate thesef com Come on, let's celebrate these sessions

to follow Christ. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and us at Elevation Church. Thanks again

for listening. God bless you. M