Sermon Tone Analysis

Jesus and his disciples give us a radically different view of success… Pursing true success and building for the future is really about knowing Jesus and being invested in his kingdom.

But, for me and I’m sure for the rest of us, kingdom investments don’t come naturally to us.

We live in a culture of instant gratification

The demand for instant results is seeping into every corner of our lives.

Retailers are jumping into same-day delivery services.

Smartphone apps eliminate the wait for a cab, a meal, or event tickets.

Movies and TV shows begin streaming in seconds.

But experts caution that instant gratification comes at a price: It’s making us less patient.

Researchers are warning that we are becoming more and more impatient and which makes it even more challenging to be invested in things that require waiting.

One expert says, “We’re not wired to think about the long-term anymore,” - Phil Fremont-Smith of ImpulseSave

Things that are really valuable take time, So when our default response is immediate gratification, it is very difficult to overcome those urges and be patient and wait for things to come over time.

“If we are going to make progress in living a life of true success, if we’re going to really be invested in God’s kingdom then we must learn to think of our lives in terms of eternity”

(Article) we are becoming more and more impatient and which makes it even more challenging to be invested in things that require waiting .

But, for me and I’m sure for the rest of us, kingdom investments don’t come naturally to us.

We live in a culture of instant gratification (Article) we are becoming more and more impatient and which makes it even more challenging to be invested in things that require waiting .

- instant gratification (Article) we are impatient and find it difficult to invest in things that require waiting .

- instant gratification (Article) we are impatient and find it difficult to invest in things that require waiting .

“If we are going to make progress in living a life of true success, if we’re going to really be invested in God’s kingdom then we must learn to think of our lives in terms of eternity”

“So If we are going to make progress in living a life of true success we have to think of our lives in terms of eternity”

It is a narrative that plays out over and over in the lives of people today - we strive after and pursue things that we think will bring us success - investing huge amounts of energy, time, talents and resources only to come to point usually though some tragedy or storm in life - where we discover that we had built our lives on the wrong things…

(10Years Ago) Hurricane Ike - devastated the town of Gilchrist, Texas.

- - Ike’s storm surge flattened all of the roughly 200 homes along the coast - except one.

The yellow house at the beach was build differently by different building codes - it had a different foundation — supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns — The owners put time and effort into building thier house anticipating the future storm…

all of which doesn’t seem very su

We began this series with one of Jesus’ parables about a Rich man who had attained what many would consider financial success - he was a very successful farmer - but he used what he had for investments that were self centered and very temporary.

He is called foolish - he looses his soul - he has not invested in the things that would truly fill his soul and lead to a truly abundant life and future...

We began this series with one of Jesus’ parables about a Rich man who had attained what many would consider financial success - he was a very successful farmer - but he used what he had for investments that were self centered and very temporary.

He is called foolish - he looses his soul - he has not invested in the things that would truly fill his soul and lead to a truly abundant life and future...

We began this series with one of Jesus’ parables about a Rich man who had attained what many would consider financial success - he was a very successful farmer - but he used what he had for investments that were self centered and very temporary.

He is called foolish - he looses his soul - he has not invested in the things that would truly fill his soul and lead to a truly abundant life and future...

It is a narrative that plays out over and over in the lives of people today - we strive after and pursue things that we think will bring us success - investing huge amounts of energy, time, talents and resources only to come to point usually though some tragedy or storm in life - where we discover that we had built our lives on the

Hurricane Ike - September 2008 (10Years Ago) in Gilchrist, Texas.

- - Ike’s storm surge devastated the town, flattening all except one of the roughly 200 homes there.

The couple’s yellow house at the beach was build differently by different building codes - it had a different foundation — supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns — was the only house on Gilchrist’s Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.

- Self centered (Paragraph from Soul Care)

- Self centered

- instant gratification (Article)

Hurricane Ike - September 2008 (10Years Ago) in Gilchrist, Texas.

- - Ike’s storm surge devastated the town, flattening all except one of the roughly 200 homes there.

The couple’s yellow house at the beach was build differently by different building codes - it had a different foundation — supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns — was the only house on Gilchrist’s Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.

In a similar way, The way we go about building our lives and pursuing God’s kingdom NOW will either produce things that will count for eternity or things that will eventually be wiped away…

The Apostle Paul, one of Jesus early disciples writes about this in :10-15 lets take a look at it

instant gratification

Pursing true success and building for the future involves being ‘rich toward God’.”

Being rich toward God is really about knowing Jesus and being invested in his kingdom.

So when we hear that pursuing true success is really

Pursuing true success requires us to think in terms of being part of God’s family and to think of our lives in terms of eternity.

Today we want to think about success using the analogy of a building…

By being invested in the common good and benefiting others.

By contributing to and building up your local church family.

By having a one-minded commitment to contribute to the progress of the Gospel

Story of the 3 little pigs - they all build houses - but only one house can stand the storm...

today we want to think about success using the analogy of a building…

Ike’s storm surge devastated the town, flattening all except one of the roughly 200 homes there.

The couple’s yellow house at the beach was build differently by different building codes — supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns — was the only house on Gilchrist’s Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.

The couple’s yellow house at the beach was build differently by different building codes - it had a different foundation — supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns — was the only house on Gilchrist’s Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.

Corinthians - is a letter written to a church that had all kinds of problems - there division in the church - they were fighting over different views - they had taken sides claiming to follow different teachers - so Paul who had planted this church just a few years earlier writes this letter to challenge and correct the way they were living and pursuing God’s kingdom… Chapter 3 …

Pursing true success and building for the future involves being ‘rich toward God’.”

Being rich toward God is really about knowing Jesus and being invested in his kingdom.

Which means wisely using what we have to do good in this world.

“True success is far deeper and more comprehensive than financial success or enjoyment of this life.

True success involves being ‘rich toward God’.”

Being rich toward God is really about knowing Jesus and being invested in his kingdom.

By being invested in the common good and benefiting others.

By being invested in the common good and benefiting others.

- wisely using what we have to do good in this world, to be invested in benefiting others.

to be invested in the good of others.

By contributing to and building up your local church family.

It is very difficult with the day to day pressures of life to value investing a portion of our resources in the future.

The future seems far away, and investing in eternity can be even more difficult.

Pursuing true success involves thinking of the future as far more than just retirement and investments, and personal achievements.

So Pursing true success involves wisely using what we have to do good in this world, and because being rich toward God is about investing in God’s kingdom,

of others and because being rich toward God is about investing in God’s kingdom,

By contributing to and building up your local church family

By having a one-minded commitment to contribute to the progress of the Gospel at home and throughout the world.

-it is includes contributing to and building up your local church family

- Every foundation is build to support a specific house - God’s Kingdom has a specific foundation…

By having a one-minded commitment to contribute to the progress of the Gospel at home and throughout the world

And all of this is part of God’s plan to bring the light of gospel - the good news and transforming power of Jesus - into every dark corner of this world.

Which means pursing true success includes ‘investing in the progress of the Gospel’ - or the mission of the church.

This is something we’ve looked at before....

Problem with all this talk about true success is that it seems the opposite...

How can our work in this life count for eternity?

- Every foundation is build to support a specific house - God’s Kingdom has a specific foundation…

Paul makes it clear that there is only one person we are to follow - Jesus Christ.

He is the way the truth and the life - not Paul, not Apollos, not Ciaphas /Peter.

Which the people this letter is written to should understand because the people Paul is addressing are believers in Jesus - people who are already forgiven of their sin, who already belong to God’s family, who already are part of God’s eternal kingdom...

Paul here is not teaching here about how someone get’s saved or goes to heaven - So what is he getting at???

Because Paul calls himself a ‘Master Builder’ who laid down a foundation -with a warning to be careful how we build on this foundation- - so what is going on here?

BE CAREFUL HOW YOU BUILD -

going on here?

BE CAREFUL HOW YOU BUILD - The way we go about building our lives and pursuing God’s kingdom will either produce things that will count for eternity or things that will eventually be wiped away…

By the grace given me - I laid down a foundation… that phrase ‘by the grace given me is the same phrase Paul uses in to describe his unique role in revealing God’s plan for his church… The foundation Paul laid down did not come from Paul - it was a gift of God’s grace - it came from Christ… Paul often says things like what he says later in Chapter 11 of 1 Cor - when he writes ‘For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you’

We need to understand that God want’s us to live successful lives - as believers in Jesus …In the passages we’ve looked at so far in this series - “Jesus said that God takes pleasure in giving us His kingdom!” God is described as ‘richly providing everything for our enjoyment” !

we are told that God gives each of us spiritual gifts and abilities to use for building up his family and contributing to the progress of the gospel - every passage we’ve read says something about God giving to us.

And here again Paul is explaining that God has given what we need to be truly successful —

(Acts) It was Paul’s practice that after some people had believed in Christ - to gather them into community and carefully lay out the basic teachings of Christ for living as his people, his church in this world — this is what Paul means by ‘laying a foundation’

(Acts) It was Paul’s practice that after some people had believed in Christ - to gather them into community and carefully lay out the basic teachings of Christ for living as his people, his church in this world — this is what Paul means by ‘laying a foundation’

If the foundation is Christ - it is all of Christ - who he is, what he’s done, and his teaching - his commands… what the early church called ‘the teaching’

preservation of the ‘didache’ over the centuries