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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Today we're going to look at the first of the Solomon Secrets, and that is to succeed more. Fail more. Don't look at me that way.
If you want to know what I'm talking about, turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 10 as we look at this success secret to succeed more, fail more. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You ever feel like you're standing on the platform of a train station watching opportunities pass you by? It's time to jump on board and take advantage of the victory God wants for you.
Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffers opens to the book of Proverbs for the first of 10 secrets to success. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David. On the heels of a remarkable holiday weekend, today we're stepping into a new study on pathway to victory.
It's based on the book of Proverbs and called The Solomon's Secrets: 10 Keys to Extraordinary Success in Life. You know, for some strange reason, Christians often equate success with selfishness. They view the acquisition of wealth as ungodly. or they assume that personal ambition is to be repressed. rather than cultivated.
Well, none of these assumptions are true. And in this series, we're discovering the true meaning of success in life as God defines it. To advance your understanding and to share this biblical wisdom with your friends and family, Pathway to Victory has prepared a number of helpful resources for you. First, I'm eager to send you an exclusive resource called Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs. This 44-page booklet contains practical insight written especially for the teens and young adults in your life.
It deals with topics like peer pressure. Envy, self-control, and advice on relationships. A copy of the booklet is my gift to you when you request it from ptv.org. In addition, I've written a comprehensive book in which I tackle relevant topics, from parenting and marriage to your vocation and money management, and much more. And when you give a generous gift today, you're invited to request a copy of my book, The Solomon's Secrets.
It comes with my thanks for your supportive pathway to victory. More about these opportunities a bit later. Right now, it's time to get started with the first message. Today, we're looking at Proverbs 10, verse 4. I titled today's message, To Succeed More, Fail More.
Did you know God does want you to be successful in life? That's not a heresy. That is a truth. God wants you to be successful.
Now, some people have twisted that truth to say that God wants everybody, every Christian, to be rich and free from problems. That's not true. But God does want you to experience success in every part of your life. We define success as experiencing God's best for every area of your life. Your family, your finances, your work, your relationship with God.
God wants you to prosper, to be successful in those things. If you define prosperous and success as experiencing His best. We saw that last time in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Now, the key to experiencing God's best in your life. is wisdom. Wisdom is the skill to live life according to God's plan. And when you apply God's wisdom to every part of your life, you're gonna be more successful than if you ignore God's wisdom. That's what the truth of God's word says.
And so over these next 10 weeks, we are looking at the book of Proverbs and discovering 10 nuggets of wisdom that will guarantee success in every part of your life.
Now, I call this pieces of uncommon sense. The wisdom we're gonna look at in Proverbs is uncommon sense because it goes against our natural inclination. You see, God's wisdom is different from man's wisdom. God's wisdom says the way up is down. The way to rule is to serve.
The way to live is to die.
So if we're going to be successful, we've got to learn a new way of thinking that comes straight from God's word.
So, over these next 10 weeks, we're looking at what I call these 10 Solomon Secrets for Success. And today, we're going to look at the first of the Solomon Secrets, and that is to succeed more. fail more. Don't look at me that way. If you want to know what I'm talking about, turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 10 as we look at the success secret: to succeed more, fail more.
Thomas Edison once said, Most of life's failures. Are people who didn't realize how close they were to success? before they gave up. And of course, what Thomas Edison was talking about was this quality of persistence. Did you know most people think the reason people, some people, are successful in life is because of family connections, inherited wealth, talent, or good luck?
But the Bible says no. What really makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful people in life is this quality called persistence. What is persistence? I want you to write this down on your outline. Persistence is the courage to continue pursuing your dream in spite of unexpected setbacks, undeserved criticism, and unrelenting hard work.
Let me say it again. Persistence is the courage to continue pursuing your dream in spite of unexpected setbacks. Undeserved criticism. and unrelenting hard work.
Some of my favorite words about persistence. comes from President Calvin Coolidge. Listen to what Coolidge said. Press on. Nothing in the world can take place of persistence.
Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not.
The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are overwhelmingly powerful.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking, is this just more of this positive thinking mumbo jumbo? No, it is a very biblical concept, the idea of persistence. Let me give you three examples in the Bible of persistence. First of all, consider in Joshua chapter 6, the story of Joshua.
Remember, we talked about Joshua during the springtime, and we said that God had given Joshua a promise, a dream, and that is inheriting the promised land. He said, Joshua, I'm going to give you and the Israelites this land, but you are going to have to fight for every square inch of it.
Now, the biggest obstacle between Joshua and his dream was this fortified city called Jericho. Nine-acre city. It had a big wall around it. That was the obstacle that Joshua had to overcome. And so God said to Joshua, Now, Joshua, this is what I want you to do: I want you to take your men out, and you're going to march around the city once a day for six days.
And then on the seventh day, you're to march around the city seven times, and on the seventh time, blow the trumpet, shout, and the walls will come down.
So Joshua and his men went out day after day after day. I'm sure they got tired of hauling that armor around in the hot Palestinian sun. They got tired of the residents of Jericho standing on the wall making fun of them. Yet they did it day after day.
Now suppose on the final day, Suppose on the seventh day After about five times, The Israelites have said, We've had enough of this. There's not even a hairline fracture in the wall. We've got to come up with plan B. Had they not gone around that wall the seventh time They would not have experienced God's success in their life. Remember Edison's comment: most of life's failures are people who didn't realize how close they were to success.
before they gave up. Persistence. Or think about the story in 2 Kings chapter 5 of Naaman. Remember Naaman? He was the captain of the Syrian army who was infected with leprosy.
He wanted to be healed, so God sent his prophet Elisha to give Naaman this message. And Elisha said: if you want to be healed, Naaman, you've got to go down to the Jordan River, and you've got to dip yourself not once, twice, but seven times in that river. And after the seventh time, Your skin will be healed.
Now, that took a lot of humility for Naaman, a mighty man, to go down to that Jordan River, muddy Jordan River, and dip himself. But he did it because he was desperate for healing. A little bit later, we're going to have an invitation. We're going to invite you to come and trust in Christ as your Savior. And you're saying, well, I don't want to walk down an aisle.
I don't want to have to do that. Until you really understand your need for healing, you won't be willing to humble yourself and say, God, I need Christ as my Savior. Naaman was desperate for healing. And so he went down to that muddy Jordan. He went down once and twice and three times.
Imagine after the sixth time, he had looked at his skin and said, I'm getting nothing but waterlogged. I'm giving up. He would have missed God's healing. But 2 Kings 5, verse 14 says, after the seventh time, When he came up out of the water, his skin looked like that of a baby, the Bible says. Persistence, continuing forward in spite of setbacks, criticism, and hard work.
Or thirdly, consider the words of Solomon himself. Remember, Solomon was the wisest, the wealthiest man who ever lived. Listen to what the book of Proverbs says about persistence. I could give you dozens of verses. We only have time to look at a few.
The synonym in the Bible for persistence is diligence. Look at Proverbs 10, verses 4 and 5.
Solomon says, Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent, the persistent, makes rich. For he who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully. You know what foolish people think? Foolish people think that opportunities in life are like trains. There'll be another one along in a few minutes.
No reason to get excited when an opportunity comes. There'll be another one. No, the wise person, the diligent person, takes advantage of opportunities while he still can. Proverbs 12, verse 24 says, The hand of the diligent, that is the persistent, will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor. Or Proverbs 20, verse 4.
The slugger, that is the lazy person. He doesn't plow after the autumn, so he begs during the harvest and has nothing. One more. Proverbs 21, jot this down, verses 25 and 26. The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work.
All day long, he is craving while the righteous gives and does not hold back. All right, Robert, you might be thinking, I understand that persistence is a biblical quality. I understand that it may be the key to success, but how do I develop persistence in my life? Man, I'm so glad you asked that question. You did ask it, didn't you?
It doesn't matter because I'm going to tell you how you develop persistence in your life. Do you desire to be successful in your business? Do you desire to be successful in your family life? Do you want to have greater financial stability in your life? Do you want to improve the most important relationship of all, your relationship with God?
The key is persistence. And here's how to develop persistence in your life: six keys to developing persistence. Write them down. First of all, understand the value of persistence. Understand the value of persistence.
Most people. Most of you watching on television right now. You really don't understand the value of persistence. You think, like most people, But the reason some people are successful is because of family connections, wealth, giftedness, just plain luck. Yeah.
Will you notice in these words we just looked at from Solomon, the contrast that Solomon draws is not between the gifted and the ungifted, the lucky and the unlucky, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich and the poor. The contrast. is between the persistent person The diligent person and the lazy person. That's the difference. The persistent person is the one who is successful.
Napoleon Hill was the original positive thinking guru, and early in the 20th century, he wrote about a study he had performed over a long period of time of the two most successful people in his day. Do you know who the most. Successful people in America were in the early 20th century, they would have been Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. They would have been like the Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs today. Napoleon Hill had a chance to study the lives of Edison and Henry Ford, and he came to this conclusion about the reason for their success.
Listen to this carefully. I had the happy privilege of analyzing both mister Edison and mister Ford year by year over a long period of years, and therefore the opportunity to study them at close range.
So I speak from actual knowledge when I say that I found no quality except persistence in either one of them that even remotely suggested the major source of their stupendous achievements. Will you let those words sink in for just a moment? What is it that made these men successful? Napoleon Hill said it wasn't their giftedness, wasn't their luck. It was their persistence.
I want you to understand. that God has given you every tool you need already. God has endowed you with every gift. You need to be successful in life. All you have to apply is this invaluable quality of persistence.
Persistent people, first of all, understand the value of persistence. Secondly, if you're going to be persistent, you have to learn to let go of the past. Persistence means letting go of the past. At 83 years of age, the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright was asked a question by a reporter. The reporter said, Mr.
Wright, what is your greatest architectural achievement? Wright responded. The next one. That's what persistent people do. They refuse to look backwards, they are always looking forward.
You know, the writer of Hebrews said the same thing. In Hebrews chapter 12, listen to what the writer of Hebrews said. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. The Bible compares living the Christian life to a foot race. The goal is to win the approval of Christ.
But if we're going to run this race successfully, we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We have to keep looking forward instead of looking backward. And he says to be a successful runner, you have to lay aside the sin and the encumbrances that so easily entangles us. You know, a successful runner understands if you're going to run successfully, you have to run as light as possible. It might be 33 degrees outside, but you don't wear an overcoat if you're a runner in order to win the race.
You want to go as lightly as possible. And so the writer here is saying if you're going to live life successfully according to God's standard, you have to lay aside anything that would weigh you down or hold you back. And he mentions two things here that will weigh you down. One is sin. Sin will weigh you down.
Now we know what he means by sin, don't we?
Some of you are experts in sin. You know what we're talking about here. You lay that aside. But then he says, beyond sin, we have to lay aside encumbrances.
Now, an encumbrance is anything other than a sin in our life. We have to lay aside anything that is going to hold us back. And nothing will weigh you down in your life any more than being focused on the past rather than focused on the future. Think about a runner who's running. Nothing will slow that runner down any more than if he starts looking over his back over ground that's already been covered.
A runner needs to look forward. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek series, said: We travel in the direction in which we are looking. Persistent people learn how to refuse to look at the past. What do I mean looking at the past? First of all, it means refusing to look at past failures.
If you're going to persist and be successful in life, you've got to let go of past failures in your life. One of my favorite stories about Thomas Edison was written by his son. His son said that his dad had been working for 10 years on developing the nickel-alkaline iron battery. He'd invested everything he had in the development of this battery. On one freezing night in December of 1914, Edison's plant erupted into flames.
It was such a large fire that fire trucks from eight surrounding cities were called to put out the blaze, but they were unsuccessful. The fire destroyed everything. Thomas Edison's son says, I remember that night watching my father's work go up in flames. I wondered, first of all, if he were still alive. And then I wondered, even if he survives the fire.
Will this just break him emotionally where he can never work again? And he said, as I was sitting there watching these flames and wondering about the fate of my father, I looked on the horizon and I saw my father running toward me and yelling.
Son, go get your mother. Tell her to bring her friends with her. They'll never see a fire like this again. The next morning. The son said.
The next morning, Thomas Edison called all of his workers together. As they sat on the ash heap of their ruined lives, Edison started making assignments. He said, Nabill, I want you to go out and try to lease up any equipment you can find. And then he said, John, I want you to go out and I want you to see if there's any plants that we can rent and start the project over again. And on and on and on he went making the assignments, and almost as an afterthought, he said, Oh, and by the way, does anybody know where we can get some money around here?
He will refuse to be paralyzed by his past failure. There's some of you right now, some of you watching this service. You are paralyzed by some failure in your past. It may have been an unwanted divorce. An undeserved termination.
An unfair lawsuit. If you're going to be successful in experiencing God's best for your life, you have to let go of those things. I saw a plaque one time that read, Yesterday ended last night. A successful person, a persistent person, lets go of past failures. We have to let go of past failures.
Sometimes we have to learn to let go of past successes as well. Moving forward and not looking back means not only not looking back at failures, sometimes it means not looking back at past successes and being paralyzed by them. There was a very famous painter here in Texas whose first painting. It was a painting of an oak tree. It was a magnificent picture.
It won all kinds of awards and accolades. But the painter was so overcome by what these people said about his painting of an oak tree. Every other painting he painted from that time on had an oak tree in it somewhere. He couldn't let go of his past success in order to move forward. And that's true for you.
There ought to be a time if you've accomplished a big project that you ought to rest and you ought to celebrate what you've done. And by the way, those of you who lead a company, You lead a team at your business. Boy, this piece of advice is invaluable. If your company has achieved a great success, make sure you take time to celebrate that. Celebration is a key to rejuvenation.
But I'll tell you something else celebration does, it brings closure to that past success.
so that you and your team can move forward. Nehemiah illustrates that principle in Nehemiah 12. Remember, he rallied the people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. And in Nehemiah chapter 12, after they had finished that great project, Nehemiah said, Now we're going to stop and we're going to have a gigantic party. We're gonna party hardy for a long time.
Now it wasn't because everything had been finished, there was still more work to do in Jerusalem, but Nehemiah understood the importance of celebration. Take time to celebrate. Take time to acknowledge you and your team's success. Thank God for it. But then get ready to move on to the next chapter.
The book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom for our times, and there's much more to discover as we move ahead in this series called The Solomon's Secrets: 10 Keys to Extraordinary Success in Life. Although we're just getting started, I'm pleased that so many of our listeners have already contacted Pathway to Victory to request the book I've written on this topic. It contains an entire chapter on the issue we discussed today, as well as nine other practical subjects, such as how to keep your cool when things get hot, and the ABC's to be financially free. When you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'd like to send you a copy of my book, The Solomon Secrets. It comes with my thanks.
Most listeners don't realize that Pathway to Victory is required to pay many of our radio stations in order to broadcast these daily visits, and your financial support helps us defray those expenses. Single one-time gifts are gratefully received, but many are finding it quite convenient to sign up as a monthly giver so that their gift is automatically processed each month.
However, you choose to give, you can have the confidence of knowing that you are helping sustain and even accelerate the impact of Pathway to Victory. Thanks so much for your support. Here's David to tell you more. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory, You're invited to request a copy of Dr. Jefferson's best-selling book, The Solomon Secrets.
Here's our toll-free number, 866-999-2965. Visit ptv.org or text ptv to 78800. And when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you this month's teaching series also titled The Solomon Secrets on DVD Video and MP3 format audio disc. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or make your request online at ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail right to P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas. 75222. I'm David J.
Mullins, inviting you to join us again Tuesday for part two of the message titled. To succeed more, fail more. Here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
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