NORTH YORK CHURCH OF CHRIST

Roger Marcos
Jan 22, 2017

Introduction:

Success Is A Result of Who You Have. Indeed it’s the presence of the Lord in your life that make you a success! Why? because In Him we Live in Move and have our Being.

We're going to look at a famous person in the Bible who made an impact with his life to people - ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary tasks because they did certain things.

The point of my message is for us to see what God can do in our life and for each of us to take the steps necessary to accomplish the task God has set before us.

Today, we're going to look at Moses who I consider to be the greatest person in the OT. No one ever got the 10 Commandments except him. - He led the children of Israel out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt. And he wrote the first five books of the Bible - An amazing man!

Let’s begin by reading about him in Hebrews 11:23-27:

²³ It was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born. They saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's order.
²⁴ It was faith that made Moses, when he had grown up, refuse to be called the son of the king's daughter. ²⁵ He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while. ²⁶ He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.
²⁷ It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back.

Why did God choose Moses? Because Moses chose God.

Moses Settled Four Key Issues:

1. Identity - Who am I? v.24
2. Responsibility - What am I going to do with my life? v.25
3. Priority - What is the most important thing in life? v.26
4. Difficulty - How much am I willing to commit to what I'm going to give my life for? v.27

These are issues that every one of us has to deal with - Moses made the right choice in each instance and I want us to learn to make the same choices he did.

Today I want to give you four foundations for personal success. These foundations can make a great impact with your life beginning today and in the near future.

FOUR FOUNDATIONS FOR PERSONAL SUCCESS

I. DISCOVER WHAT GOD HAS MADE YOU TO BE.

Moses was born a Hebrew slave but he was raised as a Pharaoh's grandson in Pharaoh's palace which was the most opulent place in the world at that time.

Moses had an identity crisis - He had to decide: “Am I Jewish or am I Egyptian?

Am I a slave or am I royalty?”

The major consequences of his decision would affect the rest of his life.

If he chooses to say, "I'm Pharaoh's grandson,” he has fame, fortune, a life of luxury, a promising career, and is heir to the throne.

If he chooses to say, "I'm Jewish born of Jewish slaves," he'll be rejected, despised, thrown out, humiliated and will live the life of a slave forever.

But Moses refused to live a lie - He was a man of integrity, a man of character.

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be treated as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. - Hebrews 11:24

Consider this word "refused" - It means to disown, reject, to leave no door open. Moses insisted on being what God made him to be and no one could convince him otherwise.

Now What Application Does this Have for You and Me?

- God made you for a purpose - He wants you to be You.

- Success is to be yourself - Quit trying to be somebody else.

- Quit trying to be somebody you're not - Quit trying to conform: look like everybody else, drink like everybody else, talk like everybody else, by the same thing everybody else has - Be yourself - Discover what God made you to be.

II. ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY OWN LIFE.

God has given you the freedom of choice and the choices that you make will determine your future.

He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while. Hebrews 11:25

If you want to make an impact with your life, it's your choice, not mine.

You might say, “I’m not as close to God as I’d like to be,” but I don’t believe that.

You're as close to God as you want to be.

You read your Bible as much as you want to read it - You pray as much as you want to pray - It’s your choice.

God chose Moses as a baby but at some point Moses had to choose God. It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up. Hebrews 11:24

- A mark of maturity is when you start accepting responsibility for your own life.

- That's a mark of maturity - When you stop blaming other people.

- As a baby it was OK for Moses to live off of his parents' faith.

- But when he had grown up he had to make that decision on his own.

- He had to go God's way because he wanted to go God's way.

Three Facts of Life:

1. I Can’t Live Off of Other People's Spiritual Commitment.

You've heard people say, "My parents are Christians" or "My dad is a pastor" or "My husband/wife is a believer."

So what? You need a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

- Some of you are teenagers; it's time to grow up! Some of you are 40 and need .

- You need to quit living off the spiritual apron strings of your parents and get your own faith - When Moses grew up, he chose.

2. I Can't Blame others for the Direction of My Life.

Society says the exact opposite - It says "It's not your fault, you're a product of your environment. Blame other people for your messed up life."

- But you can’t blame other people for the direction of your life - It's your life.

- You can't control all the circumstances but you can choose how you'll respond.

3. No One Can Ruin My Life Except Me.

I'm free to choose my response. You might have had the worst upbringing possible, you might have suffered through an abusive situation, there might have been a horrible tragedy that you’ve been through, and I’m very sympathetic to all that.

- But as real and tragic as these experiences are, they will not ruin your life.

- The only one who can do that is you, but you have a choice to do differently.

III. ESTABLISH A VALUE SYSTEM FOR MY LIFE.

If you're going to make your life count you need to settle the issue of what is really important - Clarify it in your life. Moses clarified his values and priorities:

- (Moses) thought it was better to suffer for the sake of the Messiah than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the great reward that God would give him. - Hebrews 11:26

Moses thought this thing out and made a decision to do what was right.

He evaluated his options, considered them, and weighed them in the balance.

It is the same thing that each of us must do.

- We need to establish whether we are going to accept God’s value system or not.

- You need to sit down and seriously consider What in the world am I living for?

What Are You Living for Today? (Filling Tax)

Moses regarded what is important and what is not important. Most people have never done that and that's why they're failures at life. They don't know why they are, they don't know what they want to accomplish in life, and they don't know what's really important.

- You need to establish values in life, things that you can build your life on, the things that will be important to you.

Why? The fact is that if you don't decide what is important in your life, others will do it for you. The world is more than happy to pressure you into its mold and to promote its value system on you.

- We have a lot of Christians today who have bought into the world's value system. They're living that system without even thinking about it rationally.

What is ironic is that Moses, by the world's standards, had it made. He already has everything the world had to offer: He had power - He was heir to the throne of the most powerful country of the world at that time.

He had pleasure! He had possessions - The wealth of the world was concentrated in Egypt. Moses had it all but he walked away from it.

That's the kind of person Moses was and that's why he made an impact with his life. - He went against the flow.

Moses’ Value System:

1. God's Purpose Is More Valuable Than Popularity.

“God has a plan for my life. I'm going to lead these people to freedom.” He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He said, “I'm going to give up the prestige, the power, the popularity because it doesn’t last.”

Pride and prestige is fleeting - This year's superstars are next year's has-beens.

Moses said, “I'd rather fulfill God's purpose and do what He's told me to do than be in this place of power and prestige.” He wasn't impressed by popularity.

2. People Are More Valuable than Pleasures.

- (Moses) chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. - Hebrews 11:25 He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while.

I like this verse - The Bible always tells the truth. It says there is pleasure in sin - The Bible says sin is fun. Of course it's fun; if it were a bummer nobody would do it! But it's only fun for a season, for a short time - It doesn't last.

- Moses could have temporary pleasure being the next Pharaoh of Egypt or he could go do what God had called him to do and help the people who were in pain, who needed to be set free.

- He could have stayed there in pleasure and today no one would even have known Moses' name.

- But he chose the right thing, and we are called to choose the right thing to.

3.God's Peace Is More Valuable than Possessions.

-(Moses) thought it was better to suffer for the sake of the Messiah than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the great reward that God would give him. - Hebrews 11:26

A couple verses back he rejects the world's measure of success.

- Then he rejects the world's pleasure - Now, he rejects the world's treasure.

- He does what is right because God's peace is more important than possessions.

- He could have stayed in the palace of Egypt and had every possession he ever wanted - wine, women, and song.

- But he knew that no possession could give him inner peace.

- He would have been miserable not doing what God wanted him to do.

- Peace comes not from the things you own; peace comes from being in the center of God's will, being what God made you to be, and doing what God made you to do. - That's where peace comes from.

- What motivated this man? What Made him live this way?

- (Moses) was looking ahead to the great reward that God would give him. - Hebrews 11:26b

- Moses had perspective - he had the willingness to look at life through the perspective of eternity - he was not just living for the moment.

Are you looking at the here and Now or at Eternity?

Your values are determined by your vision - Whatever you're looking at is what becomes most important in your life. What are you focusing on? What are you looking at? What is most important? Are you focusing on things that are going to last, or things that won't last even 10 years much less for eternity?

Moses was a man of vision - He had eyes of faith.

IV. NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE GOAL

Moses kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. - Hebrews 11:27 It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king's anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back.

- You must visualize your goal, and focus on it - You constantly keep it before you. - Why is vision so important? Because the secret of success is persistence.

- And the secret of persistence is vision.

- Vision draws you on so that when you want to give up, you don't. You have your eyes on the ultimate reward. You know that Moses spent most of his life waiting?

- From the time that God gave Moses the vision, the dream of setting free an entire nation after 400 years of slavery to the time it was fulfilled and they were ready to go into the Promised Land was 80 years.

Could you wait that long and not give up?

- Moses spent 40 years in Midian just waiting for God to say "Start!"

- Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Do delays ever tempt you to give up?

- Have you learned the difference between "No" and "Not yet"?

- Have you learned that God's delays are not God's denials?

- One of the tests of faith is "How long can you wait?"

- You must keep your eye on the vision, the goal, on what counts in life so you don't get discouraged.

- I saw a poster with a picture of the sun shining through a rock that has a hole in it. - It says "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal."

- What are you looking at - the obstacles or the opportunities? The problems or the One who overcomes the problems?

- It's all a matter of vision, what you focus on with your life.

- That's the key to endurance and perspective.

CONCLUSION:

- What I’ve given you this morning are the four foundations for success:

1. DISCOVER WHAT GOD MADE ME TO BE
2. ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY OWN LIFE
3. ESTABLISH A VALUE SYSTEM FOR MY LIFE
4. NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE GOAL

Later you are going home: - I give you these because I want you to be successful in your life and I know that if you implement these four foundations into your life then you will be a success.

- Please take this home and consider what we’ve talked about this morning.

- See if there is some area where you need to grow, and then seek God’s help.

Make Jesus The Savior of Your Life!