The Best Person You Can Ever Lead Is You: Habits of Success

Sermon outline

Success is a mindset: lead yourself well first, then build the habits of successful people by taking tough jobs, paying your dues, working behind the scenes and standing for what is right.

1. Recap: manage your emotions, your priorities and your energy

   Managing your emotions means knowing how to display them and how to delay them, because acting or speaking too quickly closes doors on your future. Successful people are highly focused, so stop dealing with life in general terms. List the main things in your life, such as God, your family, your sanity, rest and exercise, and don't let others drain your energy away from them.

   “When you focus, you will attain the things you focus on.”

2. Recap: manage your thinking

   Create a place and time to think, and dream big about how you can create, go higher and be a blessing. In the kingdom you climb up by pulling others up, not by pushing them down, and as their pastor he wants the church to succeed and prays for their families, businesses and professions. Become conscious of the Word, be careful who speaks into your life, and plan before you act.

   Illustration: He tells people to have a 'thinking chair' for their time out to think and dream, and says he is excited when cars are dedicated outside and people buy houses.

   “Your mind will give you exactly what you put into it.”

3. Recap: manage your words, your actions and your personal life

   Your tongue is like the rudder of a ship, so stay within the bounds of the Word and impact people positively. Guard your heart from the devil's negativity so the Word can take root and bear fruit like the seed on good ground; he trusts some will yield a thousandfold and says it is God's will for you to be rich, wealthy and healthy. Put your personal life in order and lead yourself well, and your credibility will speak for itself.

   Illustration: A thousand times a thousand is a million, so he sees many millionaires in the church, and says God told him to preach a series on why every Christian should be a millionaire.

   “The best person you can ever lead in your life is you.”

   • James 3:4
   • Mark 4:8

4. 1. Successful people take tough jobs

   Having dumped old baggage at the recent meetings, he now gives ten things to practise, starting here. Instead of complaining about the boss who gives you hard tasks, see that God is training you and developing the leader within you. Problems are part of every day, and tackling them teaches resiliency, tenacity and problem-solving skills that increase your value.

   Illustration: People phone wanting to resign because there are too many problems at work; his answer is that this is why they are there. He quotes an old, non-biblical proverb that the willing horse gets flogged, because the boss knows he can depend on you.

   “God sees you as a problem solver.”

5. 2. Successful people pay their dues

   Successful people are willing to pay the price for the organisation as well as for their own promotion. Move from 'my parking bay, my desk, my bonus' to 'our company, our vision', and bring the same attitude into church: it was the pastor's vision, but now it is ours. Success is not only money in your account; it is a mindset and an attitude.

   Illustration: Years ago he preached a message on the 'nose up attitude': when a plane's nose goes down you know you are in trouble, but nose up it flies straight and on course.

   “Success is a mindset.”

6. 3. Successful people work in obscurity

   Many want the limelight and take credit for other people's work, but successful people work behind the scenes, and God watches and promotes them in due season. Wanting the limelight is pride, while the kingdom attitude prefers others. His dream is to see others preach, grow and succeed more than he does, because as spiritual parents the pastors fail when the people fail and succeed when they succeed.

   Illustration: No parent would throw a party with candles and a cake because their child failed at school or work; pastors feel the same about their spiritual children.

   “One of my dreams is to watch other people preach better than I preach.”

   • 1 Peter 5:6
   • Proverbs 16:18
   • Romans 12:10

7. 4. Successful people succeed with difficult people

   People at the bottom and middle of an organisation seldom choose who they work with, and difficult people will not disappear from family, work or church. Instead of running away, learn to solve issues with them and even to like them, because everybody adds value.

   Illustration: It would be ludicrous to pray for God to get rid of all the difficult people, because to someone else he might be the difficult one.

   “Difficult people are not going to disappear.”

8. 5. Successful people put themselves on the line

   To distinguish yourself from your colleagues you must take the risk. When nine people want to go one way, be the tenth who stands up as a principled person and does what is right, whatever they feel. The edit ends here, halfway through his ten points.

   “Irrespective of how they feel, you stand up and do the right thing.”