Reading Plan
If you’re looking to dive deeper into what the Bible says about this topic, here’s a suggested Reading Plan, one passage per day for a whole week, based on the sermon:
- MONDAY: Matthew 5:1-16 (try the J.B. Phillips version)
- TUESDAY: Luke 8:1-15
- WEDNESDAY: Psalm 84
- THURSDAY: Genesis 3:1-11
- FRIDAY: Mark 3:20-35
- SATURDAY: Proverbs 3:13-18
- SUNDAY: James 1:12-25
eGroup Discussion Questions – Great for personal reflection/journaling, too!
Sermon Notes: “Kingdom Clout, Part Five” ⤵️
Preacher: Steve Furtick
Passage: Psalm 1:1-3
Title: Kingdom Clout, Part Five
Series: Kingdom Clout
Date: February 9, 2020
Sermon Notes are taken during the 9:30 Experience at the Columbia Campus.
- How do you judge the success of a message series or sermon?
- Sticky doesn’t mean significant
- Memorable doesn’t equal meaningful
- Most views on YouTube? (Pewdiepie would be the best preacher)
- Most clicks?
- If people enjoyed it? (Does that work for workouts? Surgery?)
- What if we thought about life that way?
- Sermon success: The more it works, the harder it is to measure.
- Definition of success:
- Reclaiming the biblical concept of “blessing”
- Psalm 1:1-3 (below)
- “Blessed” is a Hebrew word that means “happy”
- To be ________________ and miserable is not a blessing.
- To be successful and miserable is not a blessing.
- To be skinny and miserable is not a blessing.
- To be disciplined and miserable is not a blessing.
- Blessed = not distracted by the world’s crappy value system
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3, ESV
- “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11)
- The voice you value determines you standard of success
- I can always find someone to make me feel successful/miserable
- When we hear something positive/negative, we never even check on who said it
- We think a blessing is a material thing (sometimes it is)
- Success is relative (also, success creates relatives)
- It’s relative to what, when, and where
- If we judge the ministry of Jesus by earthly values, he was a complete failure
- They said Jesus had a demon (Mark 3:22)
- Jesus’ followers didn’t understand what he was saying (e.g., Matthew 16:11)
- Are we waiting for applause from the wrong person? From someone who’s not even paying attention?
- Jesus was condemned to death by his own people (Mark 15:13-14; Luke 23:21; John 19:6,15)
- All of his followers clicked “unfollow” except John [and the women] (Matthew 26:56; John 19:25-27)
- We attach worldly definitions to biblical words
- Success v. “suck-cess”
- If we’re addicted to approval from others we can’t accept the approval of God
- Difference between fruitfulness and famous
- We all want to be well-known (i.e., famous)
- God knows me well even when I’m not well-known by lots of people.
- Some people who think they are failing but they are actually really fruitful
- The seed is broken and buried and hidden
- Obscurity is not the enemy
- E.g., Oprah lost lots of weight and she was applauded, but she said she was unhealthy inside.
- Luke 17:20-21: “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.'”
- Success is not measured by how many people like you.
- How do you know if you’re a good Christian?
- How many Bible verses you’ve memorized? How often you read the Bible?
- The Pharisees would be the top but they were an obstacle to Jesus and the kingdom.
- Success is yielding more of yourself to Jesus to allow the purpose planted inside of you to grow.
- “The kingdom is within me.”
- When the world markets there, they’re trying to get you to hate here.
- Psalm 1:3: “It’s” — Yield your fruit.
- You are free from the frustration of trying to yield someone else’s fruit.
- You are planted by stream of water (isn’t that another name for feeds? Streams?)
- Are you going to chase clout? Or embrace calling?
- Bear your fruit in season. That’s the win.
- “Whack-a-mole” success is where you are successful in one area of life but you feel like a failure in another.
- You’re only responsible to produce what’s in you.
- Jesus heard his father’s validation at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 3:22 “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”)
- He didn’t need anyone else’s.
- Anything the world can give, they can take away.
- But what God gives you the world can’t take away.