How to Be Successful

How to Be Successful

By Michael Galloway

In the past several weeks the name Steve Jobs has been on the news quite a bit. Steve Jobs was the Apple Founder, and CEO that was largely responsible for a great deal of the technology that we have today. Steve Jobs has been idolized by the media because he was very successful in what he did. It has also been interesting to me that at the same time that the media has sensationalized the death of Steve Jobs they have also given a large amount of attention to the protests on Wall Street. At the same moment that they have been memorializing Steve Jobs, a very successful entrepreneur, they have been encouraging the protests on Wall Street that would like to punish success, and be given something for nothing. This has brought the question into my mind. How can we become successful in life? The Bible tells us how to be successful. Many organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous use Biblical principles as they instruct individuals on how to be successful. I believe that many of the financial problems in our world today could have been averted if the principles found in the Bible had been applied. Notice several principles of success that God’s word tells us (this is by no means an exhaustive list).

1)      If you do not work, you will not eat! 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Think about how different our world would be if this principle was engrained in people’s minds!

2)      Don’t be lazy! Proverbs 13:4, Matthew 25:26.

3)      Be Honest!  Proverbs 11:1, Revelation 21:8, Luke 16:1-8

4)      Have Self-Control! Galatians 5:22-23

5)      Be a good steward with your money! Matthew 25:14-30

6)      Don’t oppress the poor! Proverbs 22:16

7)      Don’t muzzle the ox! The worker deserves his wages. 1 Timothy 5:18

8)      Realize that money isn’t everything! Matthew 6:19-21, 1 Timothy 6:8-10

The ultimate measure of success will not be judged by the amount of money that you have accumulated but instead by the life that you have lived. Everyone will face death at some point, it doesn’t matter if you are a Steve Jobs, a President of the United States, a “normal” citizen, we will all face death. When death comes the only thing that will matter is have I been successful spiritually? The ultimate success will be living your life to where one day you will have a home in Heaven!

Gospel Meeting? Part 2

Gospel Meeting?

Continued from last week….In several weeks we will be having a gospel meeting here in Elizabethtown. The dates for the gospel meeting will be from Sunday, October 23^rd- Wednesday, October 25^th. Our guest speaker will be Mel Futrell. I can remember that a man who is now a gospel preacher told me that he wouldn’t be a Christian if it wasn’t for gospel meetings. He tells the story that he was invited to a gospel meeting and it changed his life. As we look at the attitude that we should have towards our upcoming meeting I believe this story bears keeping in mind. Last week we looked at the importance of attending our gospel meeting because of the knowledge that would be presented. This week I would like to present some more attitudes that we should have in regard to the gospel meeting.

Evangelism: Matthew 28:18-20

The second reason I hope that you will be excited about our upcoming gospel meeting is the evangelism opportunities that are there. You might be thinking…”but gospel meeting don’t work anymore, nobody gets converted from them.” If that is your attitude about the upcoming gospel meeting, I would encourage you to ask yourself this question: Why? I believe part of the reason is that we don’t invite others like in years past. I would encourage you to meet this challenge: Ask one person to come for each night that we have the gospel meeting. Note that my challenge is not to bring one person but to ask them. After all we must ask them before we can expect them to come. If everybody asks the individuals from our community, there will be some who don’t want to come, but there will also be those who do come. If we can get those from the community to our meetings I believe that they will have the opportunity to hear the gospel proclaimed, and then we can see the fruits evangelistically of a gospel meeting.

Elders: Hebrews 13:17

The third reason I would urge you to have an excited attitude about our upcoming meeting is the elders have decided this will be a beneficial thing for this congregation. Hebrews 13:17 tells us that we should have confidence in our Elder’s decisions and submit to them. We have wonderful elders here in the church at Elizabethtown, and we should submit to them and support the wonderful programs that they set up for the benefit of the congregation.

To be continued….

The Steve Jobs Mentality

The Steve Jobs Mentality

One thing that has absolutely amazed me over the past several years is how far technology has come along. We have gone in just the last decade to PC laptops and desktops to the rise of Apple where they have put out iEverything (which include iPads, iPhone's, iPod's, iMacs, and probably more that I am not thinking of). It is absolutely amazing the fun, useful, and sometimes not so useful things that can be done with this technology. As I have read several articles in the past day, I have realized that these things would not have been possibly without the dedication and commitment of Steve Jobs to the company he created. I believe there are some lessons that we can learn from Steve Jobs:

1) Success takes Work. If Steve Jobs had been lazy and never worked, I don't believe Apple would be what it is today, or really the world of technology. What about Christians? What if we never worked? What would the church be like? Or maybe the better question what would happen if we truly went to work. I believe the possiblilites would be limitless, just as Apple proves to us quite frequently. 2 Thessalonians 3:10

2) Success takes Time. Steve Jobs didn't build the iPod, iPhone or any of the other i's in a day. In fact he didn't even build Apple in a day to what it is now. Success takes time. As children of God we won't convert an entire community within a day. Yet one individual at a time can build the church very well. Matthew 28:18-20.


3) Success takes Commitment. In the 1970's and early 80's, Steve Jobs helped found Apple. Jobs along with several other came out with the old Macintosh computers, as they marketed one of the first successful personal computers. I think it is interesting that from the mid-80's until 1997, Steve Jobs wasn't a part of Apple and it didn't do very well. However, once Jobs came back and joined Apple it flourished. It needed commitment and ideas from Jobs to be successful again. When we think of Christianity the church will not successful be able to function as well as it can until there is commitment from the people that make up the church. Can the church function without everyone committed? Yes! However imagine the possibilities if the church was completely committed as Jobs was towards the end of his life. Imagine everything that could be accomplished! Matthew 6:33


Steve Jobs left every organization several lessons on how to be successful. I sincerely hope that those of us in the church we learn lessons from the success of this man, and remember the same principles that Jesus taught us as he encouraged us to committed, to evangelize, and to not be lazy.

Gospel Meeting?

Gospel Meeting?

editors note: This is the first of three articles that will lead up to our upcoming gospel meeting in Elizabethtown.

In several weeks we will be having a gospel meeting here in Elizabethtown. The dates for the gospel meeting will be from Sunday, October 23^rd- Wednesday, October 25^th. Our guest speaker will be Mel Futrell. I can remember when I was but a little child being told by my parents that we were having a gospel meeting. I can remember that I was so excited about this meeting that I went and invited people. I even invited my favorite teacher at school, my gym teacher (and he came). I can also remember several years later when I wondered “why do I have to go to a gospel meeting every day this week and miss my normal activities?” I wish I had realized at that time the things that I know now. Which attitude describes your attitude about our upcoming gospel meeting? Is it the attitude that I displayed as a little child, or the attitude that I displayed as an early teen? For the next several weeks I would like to look at the reasons we should be excited and come to the gospel meeting.

Knowledge:

The first reason that we should be excited about our upcoming gospel meeting is the knowledge that will be presented. I am so thankful for the eldership here at Elizabethtown and the great leadership that they provide, part of this leadership is selecting preachers to come who know the scripture. I am excited about our upcoming gospel meeting because knowledge will be presented to those in the audience who don’t know the scripture as well as they should, to those who have never heard the gospel, and it will be a great reminder to those whom know the scripture well. I am reminded in 2 Timothy 2:15 the responsibility that we have to “study to show ourselves approved unto God”! I have always been amazed at what happened in Jeremiah’s day under King Josiah. The people of that time had become so worldly that they had forgotten the law. The book of the Law was found when King Josiah restored the temple and when he read it he tore his clothes because they had been living so sinfully. We are in danger of letting history repeat itself if we fail to have a understanding of the Law of God. Gospel meetings are a great way of learning the knowledge that is in the scripture and using that newly learned knowledge as a motivation to go and study diligently and live for Him. Will you come learn at the gospel meeting?

To be continued…..