Thesis
Drawing from Proverbs 16:1–3 and John 6, Pastor Bill challenges the congregation to examine whether their version of success is built around worldly gain — possessions, power, and prestige — or around God's goal for their lives. Just as the crowds followed Jesus for free food rather than for eternal life, many Christians organize life on their own terms and then ask God to bless it. True success, Pastor Bill argues, begins with surrendering to the love of Christ, letting that love transform us from the inside out, and ordering our lives around the gospel rather than around comfort and self-interest.
Key points
- 1
We tend to order life the way we think it should be, but God has the right answer — our plans are not inherently His plans.
- 2
God examines our motives and the goals of our hearts, not just the outward religious actions we perform.
- 3
Committing our actions to the Lord means surrendering our plans to Him first — not making our own plans and then asking God to bless them.
- 4
The crowds followed Jesus for perishable gains like food rather than for eternal life, and many disciples deserted Him when His real mission didn't match their expectations.
- 5
Possessions, power, and prestige are not inherently wrong, but they are not adequate — they can never fill the God-shaped longing placed in every human heart.
- 6
True success is knowing and showing the love of Jesus — you live not for His love but from it, and that love transforms you into someone who loves others.
- 7
What looked like total failure — Jesus crucified on a cross — became the most successful act in history three days later, because God's definition of success is entirely different from the world's.
Outline
Introduction: Bartholomew Roberts and the Wrong Goal
Pastor Bill introduces the historical pirate Black Bart — the most effective sea captain who ever lived — to illustrate the difference between being great at something and being truly successful. The big idea is stated: success is about the goal, not the gain.
Proverbs 16:1–3 — How We Order Life
Pastor Bill walks through three verses in Proverbs 16, showing that humans naturally order life wrongly, God examines the motives of the heart, and committing to the Lord means surrendering plans to Him — not asking Him to bless plans we've already made.
John 6 — The Crowd That Followed Jesus for the Wrong Reason
Through the account of Jesus feeding 5,000 and its aftermath in John 6, Pastor Bill traces how the crowds — and eventually many disciples — chased Jesus for perishable gains rather than eternal life, ultimately deserting Him when His mission didn't match their expectations.
The World's Big Three: Possessions, Power, and Prestige
Pastor Bill identifies the three things the world runs after and explains that they are not evil in themselves but are entirely inadequate — they can never fill the God-given longing for eternity, and when made the goal rather than a byproduct, they become idolatry and a false identity.
Peter's Answer and the Right Goal
After the crowd departs, Jesus turns to the Twelve and Peter declares, 'Lord, to whom would we go?' Pastor Bill uses this moment to call the congregation to make a decision — to trust Jesus' love as the foundation of true success, not to perform for God but to live from His love.
Personal Testimony: Albania and the Shopkeeper Moment
Pastor Bill shares how his wife and family's mission trip to Albania turned into a series of disasters — delayed flights, lost luggage, missing supplies — yet God used their faithfulness to bless a local shopkeeper in an unexpected and moving way, illustrating that true success is faithfulness even when things go wrong.
Nothing Fails Like Success and the Workout Analogy
Pastor Bill confesses his own recent struggle with spiritual complacency, using the analogy of working out when you don't feel like it to show that faithfulness is a discipline chosen regardless of feeling, and that slowing down in comfort is how we begin to trip.
Conclusion: The Cross as God's Definition of Success
Pastor Bill returns to Black Bart's death — headless, forgotten, his crew indifferent — as a picture of worldly success that ends in nothing, contrasting it with the cross, which looked like the ultimate failure but was the greatest victory, and leading into Communion as a remembrance of Jesus' love.
Memorable moments
Success is about the goal, not the gain
If you don't surrender to Jesus, you will surrender trying to follow Jesus
You don't live for my love. You live from it
If you don't lean in and trust God when it makes no sense, you'll never have those shopkeeper moments
nothing fails like success
else would we go? He goes, you have the words that give eternal life. We believe and know that you are the holy one of God
Application
Pastor Bill calls every person in the room to stop organizing life around worldly gain — possessions, power, and prestige — and to make a genuine decision to trust Jesus' love as the foundation of everything. The practical starting point is honest self-examination: What does your prayer life actually sound like? Are you bringing God a list of wants and complaints, or are you asking what He wants to do in and through you? If following Jesus feels frustrating or empty, the question to ask is not what is wrong with God, but what is wrong with how you are seeing His love. Like working out when you don't feel like it, faithfulness is a daily choice made not on the basis of emotion but on the knowledge of who God is. You please God not by performing for Him, but by trusting His love and letting that love flow outward — into your relationships, your generosity, and your willingness to stay faithful even when everything seems to be going wrong.
