Pursuit of Success  Defined As: Money Status Career Car House Travel

Pursuit of Success  Why? Media programs us to think this is the way to be happy. Commercials, marketing, bill boards. If you have ……., it will make you happy. Happy Meal Syndrome

Pursuit of Success  Why? Covet: (grocery store 9,000-30,000) “..nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Cor 6:10 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have” Heb 13:5

Pursuit of Success  Why? Covet : Examples Elvis Presley Lottery Solomon “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind” Ecc 1:14 “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” Ecc 2:11 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” Ecc 2:10

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for I have climbed highest mountain I have run through the fields Only to be with you Only to be with you I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city walls These city walls Only to be with you But I still haven't found what I'm looking for But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Pursuit of Success  Why? Envy: Examples King Ahab American Dream “Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.” (Ecc 4:14) “envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal 5:21

Pursuit of Success  Why? Envy: Examples “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy” 1 Cor 13:4 Quotes: John D. Rockeffeler: (How much more?) Henry Ford: (happier as mechanic)

Pursuit of Success  Truth about pleasure:  Become selfish  End up alone  Never satisfied  Want more (Lay’s chips)  Temporary “A man to whom God has given riches, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he might desire, yet God does not give him the power or capacity to enjoy them” Ecc 6:2

Pursuit of Success  Decision Time: Left or Right? “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mt 6:24 Mammon : (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in). “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Gal 6:8

Pursuit of Success “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mt 6: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jn 10:10

Pursuit of Success So, can make money make you happy? Yes…. If you give it away. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35

Verses on Priority You shall have no other gods before Me (Deut 20:3) I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God (Is 44:6) You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve. (Mt 4:10) Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment (Mk 12:29-31) If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple (Lk 14:26,27) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt 6:33)