Addicted to Success sermon video audio notes. Who needs drugs? Just be successful. Every time you complete a benchmark, you get an endorphin rush. You feel like a winner. Eventually, we become addicted to the goal until it’s one hundred percent when the big rush comes. You’ve heard of being a workaholic. Success becomes a habit. When success becomes a habit, life improves in ways we can’t imagine.
SETTING YOUR LIFE’S GOALS
By Pastor Delbert Young
Addicted to Success
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Addicted to Success sermon video audio notes
Scriptures: Jeremiah 29:11, Deuteronomy 8:18, John 4:31-34, Proverbs 24:16
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the PLANS I have for you,” declares the LORD, “PLANS TO PROSPER you and not to harm you, PLANS to give you HOPE AND A FUTURE.
God has plans/goals for us. Do we? Do you? Most people don’t and when they do, their plans and goals don’t align with God’s. I want to talk to us today about becoming addicted to plans, goals and success.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH, and so confirms his covenant…
The Hebrew word for wealth is chayil – a force, whether of men, means, or other resources. You and I have been given incredible abilities, resources, people, mental powers, etc. by God to experience a life full of wealth in every way – financially, physically, mentally, spiritually, family, socially, occupationally, and on and on, but we fail to use even a fraction of our abilities and mental powers. As we talked about last time, each of us has more potential in us at this moment than we can use in our entire lifetime. I believe every single one of us would agree with that statement. You know there is more in you than you use.
The question becomes, “What can I do to increase my potential using the abilities I already possess?” The answer is setting and pursuing your life’s goals. Setting goals vastly increases our mental powers over the average person. Setting and achieving goals vastly increases our life’s overall wealth in every area by utilizing abilities God has already given us. Your conscious mind and your subconscious soul function at far greater levels when clear goals are set and pursued. When you set and begin moving toward goals, you literally become more focused, more intelligent, more energized, and more motivated. You will go to bed with a focus and wake with a focus. Going after goals is like floorboarding the accelerator to our minds, souls, and lives. We accomplish far more after setting goals and speed past the average person.
Once Jesus was tired and obviously hungry.
He sent his disciples to get some food while he waited at a well. While there, Jesus had a conversation with a woman (Joh 4:5-28). It was a long and, interestingly, very fulfilling experience for Jesus. When the disciples returned, Jesus was no longer tired or hungry.
John 4:31-34 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I HAVE FOOD TO EAT THAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “MY FOOD,” said Jesus, “is to DO the will of him who sent me and to FINISH his work.
The New Living Translation says, “My nourishment comes from…” Hold on to that interesting thought. Finishing a goal means 100%. Jesus didn’t finish his work 90%. There’s a difference in doing 90% and 100%. I struggle here. I tend to get to about 90% and then move on to focusing on my next goal. Yes, I fight this constantly. Most people do, but there’s a reason goal-oriented people do this. We’re addicted to the nourishment. I’ll explain.
Jesus said, “My food is to do… and to finish.” The NLT says, “My nourishment comes from doing… and finishing.” My point is Jesus received fulfillment inwardly – food/nourishment every time he did something or finished something on the way to his Major Definite Resolute Goal. Every time you finish a task or goal, your brain involuntarily (subconscious soul) releases a small quantity of endorphins. Wikipedia says, the word endorphin “…consists of two parts: endo- and -orphin; these are short forms of the words endogenous and morphine, intended to mean ‘a morphine-like substance originating from within the body.'” It’s a natural morphine produced by the pituitary {pi·tu·i·tar·y}gland. We can become addicted to it such as a workaholic.
Endorphins give us a sense of well-being and elation.
We feel happy, peaceful, and sometimes elated and “pumped.” We watch athletes experience this on the big stage giving high fives, doing a dance, etc. We’ve done that. When we’ve finished a goal, we say inwardly or outwardly, “Sweh!” It’s a feeling of a happy, peaceful “chill.” Often, we will want to sit down, relax, and enjoy the moment, or we’ll be so pumped, we can’t sit down. We had the endorphin release.
Endorphins actually stimulate creativity and improve our personality. It’s nature’s wonder drug. The greater the task finished and the adrenaline rush, the greater the amount of endorphin released. It’s the soul’s (subconscious mind) reward for success and achievement. And, as you might suspect, we develop a positive addiction to the feelings the endorphin rush brings.
So, who needs drugs? Just be successful. Have you ever noticed how successful people seem to be on a perpetual high? In achieving goals, we should break down the major definite resolute goal into “benchmark” accomplishments along the way. These are “little goals” along the way to finishing the big goal like Jesus with the woman at the well on his way to eventually being taken up to heaven. This was a little goal, a benchmark, but notice how it pumped Jesus. It nourished him. It was food for Jesus. Also, it energized him. It was an endorphin rush.
Have you ever noticed how when you’re involved in certain things, time stands still?
You forget to eat. You forget to take a break, rest, or even sleep. When this happens, you are into your genius. This is what Jesus experienced and what we experience. We are experiencing food and nourishment that others know nothing about.
Every time you complete a benchmark, you get an endorphin rush. You feel like a winner. Eventually, we become addicted to the goal until it’s 100% when the big rush comes. You’ve heard of being a “workaholic.” Success becomes a habit. When success becomes a habit, life improves in ways we can’t imagine.
According to psychology, there is a reverse to this. The reverse is stress, anxiety, depression, and a bad personality. Much of the unhappiness, depression, and even anger people experience are because they have not been able to discipline themselves to follow through and finish an important task.
For example, you have an assignment or responsibility you are expected to do by a specific time, but you continue procrastinating finding excuses to put it off.
Time gets closer to when you are expected to have finished. Anxiety sets in. You begin to stress. Instead of a good rush of endorphins, you experience the opposite with stress, anxiety, and shortness of temper. It affects your sleep, your health, and your personality. You become grumpy. Finally, you settle in, push through, and complete the task, finishing on time. The rush comes. “Sweh!” All the negative feelings of stress, anxiety, grumpiness, etc. leave. You feel a great sense of relief and joy of accomplishment. If you could, you’d give someone a high five. It’s God’s way of rewarding us through our souls for everything we do toward accomplishing the goals He put us here to finish. It’s your food, and it’s your nourishment. Finishing goals are literally life-enhancing.
Nothing is more valuable to an organization than “Depend Ability.” Nothing you can do will bring you more recognition than having the reputation of getting your tasks and goals done on time with excellence. I feel this way about some of you. You’re my “go-to.” I know it will be done on time with excellence. Nothing is better than to be known as the “go-to” dependable person who will get things done and make it happen. Conversely, nothing’s more disliked by an organization and brings you a worse reputation than not finishing your goals and tasks on time and with excellence causing everyone else to stress.
We need to set benchmarks and deadlines.
A goal without a deadline is merely a discussion with yourself. There is no energy behind it. We shoot blanks in life with no real firepower. The more aware of your deadlines you are, the faster you will get it done.
What if you set a deadline, but can’t achieve the goal by the deadline? Set another deadline. Deadlines are simply best-guess estimates of when the task can be completed. You know if you’re trying, you will become better and more accurate at setting deadlines after finishing a few.
Have you ever heard the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is: “One bite at a time.” What’s your elephant? Any goal we set is accomplished one measure, one task, one bite at a time – benchmarks. Break your long-term goal down into bites. Perhaps monthly, weekly, or even daily bites. What’s your elephant? For example, maybe your elephant is saving money. Take bites. Every day, every week, every month save some money. If you want to become wealthy, begin saving a bite a day. Save $3 a day. That’s $21 a week, $84 a month, and $1,008 a year. You may say, “Well, that’s not much.”
OK, but what are you saving now?
As your income increases, increase your bite. In ten years without increasing, you’ll have $10,080 plus interest. You will begin noticing your increase and get your endorphin rush. You will become addicted to saving and finding ways to spend less and save more. In a few years, you will be out of debt and become financially independent. It began with a $3 bite, but you eventually ate the elephant. It was food and nourishment for you.
What if your elephant was to change your occupation, but you didn’t have the necessary job skills? So, what if, instead of watching television, or doing something frivolous with your time, you read, took a course online, or in some way prepared yourself to change your occupation? I did this. Many nights and weekends I sat in our bed with books all around me reading and preparing for the ministry. Back then, I had to take courses through the mail. It took me a few years, but today I do what I love, and I ate the elephant one bite, one course, one degree at a time. It is food and nourishment for me.
How many times would you guess people try to achieve their new goals before they give up?
The average is less than one time. Most people give up before they make the first attempt. To them, there are too many obstacles and difficulties. So, most of us will never even seriously attempt to set, achieve, and finish goals in our lives. People are afraid they will fail. Here is something I pray may encourage us. Did you know successful people actually fail far more than unsuccessful people? Successful people fail, pick themselves up, fail again, and pick themselves up over and over again before they win.
Proverbs 24:16 for though a RIGHTEOUS MAN FALLS SEVEN TIMES, he rises again, but the WICKED are brought down by CALAMITY.
Successful people fail seven times more than unsuccessful people. Failure is righteous to God if we get up and try again. That’s what successful people do – fail but get up. God calls that righteous when we fail, but get up. God calls it “wicked” when we allow calamity, obstacles, and difficulties to bring us down and keep us down. Unsuccessful people just stay down in their calamity. Unsuccessful people complain, find someone to blame, give excuses, and become complacent. Successful people learn what doesn’t work, so it’s not considered a failure. They find solutions, get up, and move forward a bite at a time. Even failure can become food.
Expect to fail many times, but see it as a part of the price you pay for the opportunity to be successful. Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” To successful people, failure is actually an opportunity to reset the goal.
You are a bundle of resources and abilities to create wealth, and you are capable of doing many things. You already have many skills, abilities, knowledge, talents, education, and experience. There are many jobs and tasks you can do, or learn to do, extremely well, but you know there is even more ability inside you to experience a wealthy life than you realize. Take the steps we’ve talked about in our series, and it will change your life:
(1) Create a 5-Year Fantasy.
If everything goes perfectly in every way, how does your life look in 5 years? Idealize where and who you want to be in 5 years – occupation, finances, family, health, socially. Decide you’re going to eat your elephant.
(2) Determine your Major Definite Resolute Goal.
What is the one thing required to get you there? Begin to render it through your senses, getting it into your soul – see it, smell it, hear it, taste it, touch it. Your soul is the gateway to your heart and once in the heart, it will become reality (Mar 11:23-24). See yourself eating your elephant.
(3) Discover your genius.
God formed and placed a genius inside you (Psa 139). Find your genius and unlearn limiting beliefs about yourself. Realize you really can eat this elephant.
(4) Become addicted to success.
Along with your Major Definite Resolute Goal, create benchmarks, or little goals, or bites to celebrate along the way. Get up when you fail. Each accomplishment will release endorphins bringing the rush of success, winning feelings, peace, and elation. Become addicted to eating your elephant – addicted to success.
Addicted to Success sermon video audio notes
Addicted to Success sermon video audio notes
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