True Success

Introduction:

What is success according to your team? Is it scoring more points than the other teams? Winning a championship? Getting the most press coverage? These are all things we desire as competitors, but they’re not necessarily how Scripture defines success.

NFL quarterback Tom Brady, one of the world’s most successful athletes, once said, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? ... There’s got to be something more.’”

Application:

1. How do you define success?
2. How does God define success?

Bridge:

“What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?” (Matthew 16:26).

1. What does it mean to exchange your life for worldly things?
2. For what things do you exchange your life?

Connection:

1. According to Scripture, success means becoming more like Jesus in all that we do, including competition. That kind of success involves being the best God created you to be. Do you compare yourself to others or try to be more like Jesus every day?
2. Does your definition of success line up with God’s definition of success? Why is this so hard? 
3. Success comes through preparation. How can you prepare to be successful in your Christian walk?

Discovery:

Even after I’d achieved everything I wanted as a high school football player—a state championship, all-conference honors, a starting position—I still wasn’t successful.  I’d been measuring it all wrong. It wasn’t until college when my best friend and I dove into Scripture and started realizing that earthly success meant nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven that I finally understood true success. It was this: to seek out, know and follow His ways and to become more like Jesus in every way.

When all else fades and is forgotten—those titles, awards and championships—true godly success will last.

Memory Verse: “…think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” – Proverbs 3:6