everybody loves a success story story is even better when someone overcomes hardship poverty in difficult circumstances Brock pie went from being the last pick in the NFL draft to starting quarterback in the Super Bowl sadly for the San Francisco 49ers legally blind and autistic Cody Le Rose to Fame after being a contestant and then the winner of the 14th season of America's Got Talent really Katherine Johnson Dorothy vaugh Mary Jackson three African-American women who worked at Nasa in the 60s overcame racism and sexism they made significant contributions to the Space Program pav the way for women and African-Americans in science Aeronautics Space exploration and technology and you might have seen the movie hidden figures Everybody Wants To Be A Winner you don't plan to fail if the choice is between success and failure you prefer success and if you succeed enough times no one is sure exactly how many times it takes then you are a success right we spent the last nine weeks setting Joseph Joseph was his father's favorite son he had a beautiful coat to prove it his brothers uh didn't think much of that they hated him and finally decided to kill him and finally at the last moment instead of killing their brother instead they sold him into slavery he was sold he was resold finally ended up as a slave in Egypt from their life was filled with ups and downs Joseph was a faithful servant put in charge of a high official's household then that official's wife falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her and he was thrown into prison for years through a miraculous set of circumstances Joseph was released from prison and elevated to become the number two man in the nation of Egypt the most powerful country in the world and at the end of all that everything he went through Joseph was able to look back and say you intended to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what's being done now the saving of many lives how did Joseph make it through everything and still keep that perspective what about Joseph made him a success it's not oversimplification to say that the secret behind Joseph's success was he was faithful faithful in the big thing things faithful in the little things faithful in prison faithful in the palace Joseph was faithful in every area of his life you have a lot of different roles in relationships church family business school husband father wife mother boss friend coworker and you want to be a success at all of them those different roles aren't isolated they overlap to make it even more difficult you almost always have a challenge in one of those areas when one of those areas is messed up it affects all the other areas if there's trouble at work it affects your marriage your family your ministry if there's trouble in your marriage it affects every other compartment of your life what would normally not be a big deal at church or your job suddenly becomes overwhelming if there's trouble with your children it affects your job your ministry your marriage your spiritual growth if you're struggling with your health it affects your moods your reactions your family your performance at school it touches almost every area of your life I teach our team when someone is acting like a critical negative jerk don't be too quick to judge because they may have something going on in one of the other compartments of their life what you see or the attitude you experience may be the Overflow of an entirely different problem when I teach leaders one of the most commonly asked questions is Rod you do so many things you have so many different roles how do you move back and forth between them without being overwhelmed I used to answer just do what's in front of you whatever is currently in front of me I try to give it my best but I've learned a better way to say it our responsibility is to be faithful in the moment each moment I'm not a great counselor that's well chronicled I am too honest too quick which is not what you're supposed to be in counseling so I'm famous for people come talk to me once and they never want to come again and I get that but it's part of my job I can't completely avoid so very often when I'm talking to somebody at the top of my notepad I write these four letters f i t t m and looking at that reminds me my responsibility is to be faithful in this moment now I write it you might like a different reminder so we prepared some graphics for your phone your tablet or your computer if you want those you can tap your phone on the circle in front of you to access them you see faithful life is a big overarching concept either you're faithful or not when what you should be asking is what does it mean to be faithful in this moment and ask that question in every moment in every area of your life a faithful life is made up of many faithful moments faithfulness is being faithful right now in this moment you can't be faithful in a moment that hasn't happened yet you can't be faithful for something that's going to happen tomorrow you're not responsible to God for next week you're responsible for this moment to be faithful in this moment God has given you and trusted you with couple months ago I got back from South Africa uh about noon on Saturday after a 15-hour flight I was jet lagged and exhausted and we had our first service in just a few hours when when church was done I was spent all I want to do was take a shower and go to bad but when I got home I heard from two different people in crisis and I sat outside and spent 30 to 40 minutes with each of them on the phone now that's not what I felt like doing it's not what I wanted to do but I asked myself with these people I care about what is faithfulness what does it look like to be faithful right now in this moment my definition of faithful is doing what honors god with an attitude that pleases God Faithful is doing right for Right Reasons with the right attitude someone at work is flirting with you you have a choice what does it mean to be faithful in that moment if you shade the truth it will help you advance in your job what's faithful in that moment you're tempted to look at pornography are you going to be faithful in that moment or are you going to fail cheat on the test make a good grade but what's faithful in that moment everything's going wrong can you still be faithful you just got a big insurance settlement are you going to tithe on it or are you going to decide well that's too much money to give Will you fail or will you be faithful for the follower of Jesus success is to be faithful it's difficult to think about being faithful for a lifetime but you don't have to be faithful for a lifetime you just have to be faithful in this moment and the next moment success is being faithful one moment at a time if you are faithful in each moment you will be faithful for a lifetime you will reap the Earthly rewards of faithfulness as well as the Heavenly rewards and the ultimate success is to stand before God and to hear him say Well done thou good and faithful servant success is not how much money you have it's not what car you drive it's not about positions or possessions or attention or followers you can have stuff God wants to bless you I'm not against stuff but that's not what makes you a success God's definition of success is faithfulness you look and you see what looks like a perfect family they live a perfect life they kids kids are always perfect even their dog is perfect they get all the breaks they have money a beautiful home nice cars you look at all that and you say that's a success but many times they're not a success at all regardless of how it appears they're not a success because they're not faithful no I understand they think they're a success but one day they will stand before God and they will long to hear him say Well done good and faithful servant and on that day all that stuff won't matter they will stand before God and regret every moment and every decision when they weren't faithful so the obvious question is how do you determine what's faithful some situations it's pretty easy to decide do you cheat on your spouse easy decision you know what Faithful Is do you view view pornography do you tie 10% of your income to God whether you obey God with your money is a faithfulness decision do you choose to put others first or you fail or be faithful those moments are relatively easy the choice between failure and faithful is obvious but on a day-to-day decision by decision basis how do you determine what's faithful and what's failure I want to give you grit series of 10 questions to ask yourself in each moment when you leave the ushers will give you a card with these 10 questions once you put it somewhere where you'll have it quick and when you have to make a decision real fast read and work through these questions ultimately you'll you'll have these memorize where you can work through them quickly when it comes students I want you to really listen uh to this part because if you'll ask these 10 questions you will avoid many of the mistakes your parents made and you'll be able to one day look back and say I've been faithful number one how can I please God In This Moment what action will please God what attitude will please God what can I say or do that will bring glory and honor to my heavenly father the faithful decision always pleases God if you know what want to know what pleases God read his word the Bible our guide book for living and work through the rest of these questions number two what is my assignment what's your assignment from God what's your assignment from your boss what's your assignment from your Spiritual Authority what is it you're supposed to do or accomplish in this moment few years ago I was speaking at a district council for the first time a district council is a large Gathering of preachers from a whole state gathering together for an annual meeting it's considered an honor to speak if you grow up as a preacher it's one of those things you think one day I'm going to be up there anyway my assignment that night was to Inspire and challenge pastors to do more for Missions and to have a heart for the world I was sitting in the crowd waiting my time to speak and at those meetings they do a lot of stuff up front I mean we work through our services pretty fast our average service is about an hour and 5 minutes at those meetings they're usually not even to the speaker at an hour and five minutes so there's a lot of time to think and I was just my mind was wondering and I started thinking wow if I do well here if I really nail it I'm going to be invited to speak in other states I'll be a popular speaker all over the country I might even have to get a jet this is it this is my chance to impress to be somebody I've got to wow these people I don't know what made me think that way at that particular moment I'm not proud of it and don't like admitting it it was an ugly ego-driven moment but thank God it was still 45 minutes before I spoke so I began to think through these questions and I got to number two what is my assignment and I bowed my head I said God please forgive me for thinking about advancing myself instead of your kingdom help me be faithful in this moment and accomplish the assignment you've given me thank you for your conviction keeping me from failing and I walked up instead of focusing on impressing them I fulfilled my assignment now could I have impressed them maybe maybe God invited other places you might have seen that as s success but I would have known different it would be failure because I didn't accomplish my assignment your assignment from God likely hasn't changed he is an assignment for you and we have all kinds of ways to rationalize other things as our assignment but you know you know what he's called you to do number three if I'm not faithful what are the possible consequences internally I mean even if everyone else knows how will you feel if you're not faithful you know how that feels when late at night you're on your computer and you look at pornography no one knows it no one's going to catch it but you know what will happen to others how will they feel if you fail how will it affect your family how will affect your church how will affect the people that you're trying to invite to church number four if I'm faithful what are the possible rewards what are the possible rewards of faithfulness shortterm longterm what what's the payoff for being faithful in this moment number five what example am i setting for those who follow me your children your grandchildren your students the people you teach lead and Mentor what example will you set for them with this decision number six is my attitude right can you not only do the actions of faithfulness but can you have the attitude of faithfulness I want to do the right things for the right reason with the right attitude because if your attitude is wrong the joy is gone you can still do it but there's no joy students you're experts at this you are experts at doing what your parents say but making it very clear that you think they're stupid for saying it right you have the look on your face you give me that look now I love it when you give me that look CU whatever made you give me that look I just do more of it because I think it's funny uh but your parents it gets on their last nerve whether it's eating your broccoli or cleaning your room or doing your homework or turning your phone off you do it but you make it obvious that you're mad and adults you're not much better you do the same thing when it comes to paying your taxes or at work you do what you're assigned to do but then you talk bad to your co-workers God tells you to give you do it you're not happy about it honeydew lists you do them but you're not happy how about this guys going to an event with your wife not a boat show the Opera or a holiday [Laughter] house or you sit down to watch a football game and she says can I watch TV with you and you say yeah and she turns it to the Hallmark Channel you might sit there to keep peace in your home but you make it very obvious that you don't like it you sigh and whine number seven I had a whole lot of other things but it was just going to be me confessing to stuff and I don't want to so that's that's what let me just pause right there marriage advice that's why you have two TVs okay it is better to have two bad TVs than one good TV because when the Razer back game is on and and love Oregon style is on too you don't want to watch this same Hallmark movie you want to watch the football game okay that's free right there if you've been thinking about getting married write it down number seven what do I want to remember about this moment it's a powerful question when you look back whenever that is what do you want to remember you think back sometimes many years you remember moments of failure and you when you made the decision not to be faithful and you remember moments of faithfulness when you overcame Temptation for many of you looking back on the past is the reason you keep failing to be faithful you think back the last time you you used or the countless moments you messed up and you think well one more time won't make a difference you rationalize sin and Disobedience instead of being faithful your Unfaithful past blocks you from being faithful in the moment but when you chose to follow Jesus everything changed Paul wrote therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has gone the new has come he gave you a new life and a new start don't throw that away make the decision to be faithful now so one day you can see the results of your faithfulness number eight how do I want this moment to be remembered by others this is a question of legacy two kinds of moments will be remembered in your life faithfulness and failure I want my sons to think back on the difficult moments of life and remember their dad being faithful I want our students one day to look back on on my life and I want them to remember that I was faithful how do you want this moment to be remembered question really helps me several years ago someone had made a sizable investment and really disappointed me walked away from commitment I was hurt even a little angry didn't make any quick decision I waited a couple days I worked my way through the questions and finally in spite of what he did I made the determination to help him in a significant way and to bless him my son Parker at that time he's probably 10 years old he found out and he was puzzled and so driving home from church one Wednesday night he said dad what are you doing why are you helping him why would you do that after what he did and I sense it was a moment that would be remembered by my son I said Parker I decided a long time ago to do right and I can't let his wrong change my decision to do right I can't let his failure change the code I Liv by if I do that I'm no better than him faithful in that moment will be remembered by my son number nine what message will my faithfulness send to others you don't live or make decisions in a vacuum people are watching your failure or your faithfulness send a message ask yourself what kind of message am I sending several years ago Pastor Tyler and Emily decided to do some landscaping and Cindy went with them to Lowe's and if you're a parent you know no matter how old your kids are you always end up paying for stuff it's just part of it if if you're like wondering when does that change I don't know I mean my kids are in their 30s so I'm still paying for stuff Cindy went with them she paid for some of it and Tyler paid for the rest of it and later that night they were looking through their receipts and they realized neither one of them paid for the mulch or the stone Tyler said Dad I'm a thief so the next morning he went back to low I wish I would have been with him he said uh I accidentally took too much Mulch and Stone yesterday and didn't pay for it and and I won't pay for it just the person at the register and they didn't know what to do they called the manager and the manager came and Tyler went back through the thing you know I thought I thought my mom paid for it she thought I paid for it but really I stole it and and so I won't pay for it and they did not understand why would someone would come back the next day to pay for something they successfully took for free and so finally they gave in and let him pay but only at a discount they were stunned that Tyler came back he sent a powerful faithful message to all the workers at Lowe's your faithfulness sends a message about the faithfulness of God and the validity of your faith if you want people to experience that God who change your life send faithful messages not failure messages number 10 how would Jesus handle this moment it's become a cliche what would Jesus do but it's scriptural here's what Paul said Philippians chapter 2 your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus pretty high bar who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grass but made himself nothing to the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross when they beat him Jesus was faithful when they pushed pushed the crown of thorns on his head he was faithful in that moment when they nailed his hands and feet to the cross Jesus was faithful and with his final breath one more time he was faithful in the moment now in that moment the world saw him as a failure he's done he was a fake phony he's dead and gone but God sees success different Jesus was faithful in the moment and the verse said say next verse 9 therefore because he's faithful God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father how do you succeed in life one faithful moment at a time I taught this to a group of leaders in I was done someone said well Pastor R how do you recover when you've blown it when you failed you made the wrong decision in the very next moment be faithful and in the next moment be faithful you can't undo the failure decisions of the past but you can be faithful today and faithful tomorrow in each moment success is a sum total of being faithful in each little moment faithful in difficulty faithful in Triumph faithful when you have a little faithful when you have a lot faithful when everyone is looking faithful when no one sees faithful when it's fun faithful when it seems just like a bunch of hard work faithful when you're making great gains faithful and you're not every moment every decision every choice with your money your words your actions ask yourself is this the faithful decision and make your life goal to be faithful in each moment you'll learn to work through it pretty quick and before you make a big decision before you make a little decision ask yourself what is being faithful right now Lord help us because we do want to hear you say Well done good and faithful servant that's our goal all of us help us in this moment right now to be faithful and in the next moment to be faithful and to stream together enough faithful moment moments that one day we hear you say Well done Lord I pray especially for our students who have um decisions in front of them every day and pressure and culture pushing on them rather than just be driven by whatever everyone's doing or everyone's saying I pray that they would be Counter Culture and make the decision to be faithful In This Moment be faithful to you in Jesus name amen