There are only two things in life that make the difference between a
success and a failure:
1.
Knowing the right answer.
2.
Applying that answer to the problem.
Failure
will be the result of either of those two being absent in life. Sad to say,
many fail not because they don’t know the right thing to say or do but because
they fail to make themselves do it.
You’re
at a new place in life. The next season and indeed the rest of your life will
be totally dependent on what you know and what you decide to do about what you
know.
Luke 15 NKJV
11 ¶ Then He said: “A certain
man had two sons.
12 “And the younger of them
said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So
he divided to them his livelihood.
13 “And not many days after,
the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there
wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14 “But when he had spent
all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15 “Then he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine.
16 “And he would gladly have
filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him
anything.
17 “But when he came to
himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and
to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 ‘I will arise and go to my
father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
you,
19 “and I am no longer worthy
to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to
his father.
From
the beginning to the end of the Bible, God attempts to teach us a few life
lessons. This evening I would like to offer 3 of those life lessons to you.
1. Stop thinking so much about today and Start
thinking more about tomorrow.
a. The Prodigal son was
only thinking about the party he could have if he had access to his daddy’s
money.
b. As time goes by from
here on:
i. Weekends will look less
like an opportunity to party and more like an opportunity to rest, relax and
catch up on life.
ii. Primary
relationships will begin to look less like a Saturday night date and more life
a Monday through Friday life.
c. It’s called growing
up … don’t be the person who never did.
2. Choose a career in which you want to invest
a. Independence is not
a career and it pays no benefits – ask the prodigal son …
b. Invest your time,
you talent and your treasury
i. Make a living
ii. Make a life
iii. Make a difference
c. Work cannot be accomplished
at a distance
i. Find something you
want to get close to
ii. Settle in on a
reason why what you do is worth your life.
1. The value of your
job may be in the product you make
2. The value of your
job might come from what the income allows you to accomplish
3. Perhaps it is the
opportunity the job affords to be a witness
d. Life is not about
how much you have but how much you give
e. Life is not about
how much you know but how much you teach
f. Life is not about
how much you take with you but what you leave behind
Allow
me to paraphrase something that President Ronald Reagan said: Leadership is not about how much you can do but rather how
much you can get others to do.
3. Dance with the ones that brought you
a. Just like we can
easily see in the account of the prodigal son from Luke 15: Someone paid for
you to be here today … you owe them. In the case of the prodigal son it was his
father.
b. What do we owe the
ones who brought us to the dance we’re
enjoying?
i. Honor
1. Recognize and Appreciate
the investment they made in you. They don’t expect a thank you, but you should
nonetheless be thankful.
2. Realize that every
struggle you face and each success you embrace affects them too.
3. Make them proud …
Only you can make their investments pay off.
ii. Respect
1. Listen to their
counsel
2. Don’t be
disrespectful concerning those you owe
a. We are never too
poor to pay respect to those to whom we owe our lives, our fortunes and our
families.
b. Wealth, success, age
or stages of life will not exempt us from owing our lives, our fortunes and our
families to others.
c. You were once only a
seed … someone paid for you to be here tonight. Respect them and their
contribution.
iii. Relationship
1. You will begin to
make so many new relationships
a. Smart people
b. People like you
c. People you want to
be like
2. Just don’t forget
the old relationships
I
want to pray over our graduating seniors for 2019 and ask God to guide, guard
and prosper each one of them as they embark on this next season of life.
