SUCCEEDING IN LIFE

Text: Philippians 3:12-21

Preacher: Dr.Charles Amoateng

Message

We learn much more about success — life –from models than we do from manuals. So who is our model? The Lord Jesus Christ is, of course. But next to Him, the most successful Christian who ever lived would have to be Paul. He made his life count.

Paul’s Pattern for Successful Living

EVALUATION: Face my faults.

Paul, at the end of his life, says “I don’t have it all together. I haven’t arrived. I’m not perfect.

I’m still growing.” Successful people never stop growing. Rather than saying “Look how far I’ve come,” I have to say, “Look how far I have to go. Transparency is a mark of emotional maturity. Successful people admit that they have not arrived, that they have a long way to go. The question you ought to ask yourself is, “Where do I need to change?” Take a personal inventory.

ELIMINATION: Forget the former; let go of your past.
13 “This but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.”

My past is past. I let go of my guilt, grief, grudges. I let go of the past so I can get on with the present.

Success involves learning to forget. (Isaiah 43:18 )To forget, actually means, don’t let the past affect you anymore. Don’t let it control you or have power over you or manipulate you.

Two things you need to forget if you are going to follow Paul’s pattern:

1) Your failures

2) Your successes.

III. CONCENTRATION: Focus on the future.

Successful people are goal oriented. They focus on the future. Paul has a single priority. The question we ask ourselves is,What am I living for? What is my goal in life? What’s most important? If you don’t know where you’re going, nobody else does. Focus on the future.

DETERMINATION: Fight to the finish. Persistence.

The principle of determination: Absolutely nothing worthwhile in life happens without effort. The great people in life are just ordinary people with extraordinary amount of determination. They don’t know how to quit. They keep on keeping on. They never give up. . How do you keep on keeping on when things get discouraging? Be persistent and be teachable. (Acts 20:24, 2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Two Promises:

Galatians 6:9 ” And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Philippians 1:6 ” Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”